Jews, Race, and the Politics of Difference

Marina Mogilner holds the Edward and Marianna Thaden Chair in Russian and East European Intellectual History at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is cofounder and coeditor of the international journal Ab Imperio and author of Homo Imperii: A History of Physical Anthropology in Russia and A Race for the Future: Scientific Visions of Modern Russian Jewishness.

Acknowledgments Notes on Transliterations, Translations, and Names Introduction: When Race Is a Language and Empire Is a Context 1. Race, Zionism, and the Quest for Jewish Authenticity 2. Mediterranean as New European: Race and Europeanness in Zionism and Other New Nationalisms 3. Racial Purity versus Imperial Hybridity: Vladimir Jabotinsky against the Russian Empire 4. Jewish Race versus Russian Race 5. Nationalizing Politics in the Empire Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Mogilner's brilliant book defamiliarizes what was considered self-evident in the history of Jewish nationalisms and Jabotinsky's biography, placing emphasis on ideas, establishments, and events that are typically perceived as secondary. Jews, Race, and the Politics of Difference not only unveils new facets in Jabotinsky's writings and ideology but also provides a fresh methodological perspective for understanding the discourse of race as a political language. - Svetlana Natkovich - University of Haifa (H-Judaic)