Sensationalizing the Jewish Question: Anti-Semitic Trials and the Press in the Early German Empire

Barnet Hartston, Ph.D. (1999) in History, University of California San Diego, is Assistant Professor of History at Eckerd College. He has published articles on anti-Semitism in Imperial Germany, and is currently conducting research on censorship and the German political press.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction1. An Empire Transformed: Politics, Anti-Semitism, and the Law in the Time of Bismarck2. Fighting Words: Libel Trials, Jews, and the Cult of Honor3. Arson in Neustettin: The Limits of Anti-Jewish Violence in the New Reich4. Ritual Murder Trials: Ancient Prejudice and Modern Propaganda5. A Matter of Debate: Scholars and Pseudo-Scholars Testify on the Nature of Judaism6. The New Demagogues: Hermann Ahlwardt and the Rise of Fanatical Anti-SemitismConclusionAppendix: An Overview of the German Press in the BismarckzeitBibliographyIndex

"[...] Barnet Hartston’s examination of antisemitic trials and the press in the early Imperial German context, Sensationalizing the Jewish Question [...] has much to offer scholars interested in a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of the Non-Jewish Question." - Lars Fischer, in: The Journal of Modern History Vol. 82 (2011), pp. 887-888."Barnet Hartston contributes to a more nuanced interpretation of antisemitism during the Bismarck era by concentrating on the courtroom. [...] His presentation of the opposing [historiographical] views is fair and succinct; his own positions are always cautious and balanced. The thorough archival research makes new and underutilized sources available to other scholars. In summary, the book delivers on its promises and is a welcome addition to the literature." - Richard S. Levy, in: H-German, H-Net Reviews, June, 2006"Hartston has written a fine book. Graced with clear prose and balanced judgment, it guides the reader through a maze of cases that, if now forgotten, were very much a part of the public vocabulary of late nineteenth-century Germany. [...] And he has set his contribution in the context of the considerable new literature on anti-Semitism in the German Empire—a literature that has significantly broadened our sense that electoral politics hardly exhausted the byways of prejudice." - Helmut Walser Smith, in: Central European History Vol. 39, No. 4 (December 2006), pp. 712–714