Gentleman Agreement eBook Laura Z Hobson
Download As PDF : Gentleman Agreement eBook Laura Z Hobson 
When a reporter pretends to be Jewish, he experiences anti-Semitism firsthand in the New York Times bestseller and basis for the Academy Award–winning film.
Journalist Philip Green has just moved to New York City from California when the Third Reich falls. To mark this moment in history, his editor at Smith’s Weekly Magazine assigns Phil a series of articles on anti-Semitism in America. In order to experience anti-Semitism firsthand, Phil, a Christian, decides to pose as a Jew. What he discovers about the rampant bigotry in America will change him forever.
Gentleman Agreement eBook Laura Z Hobson
This is one of those books I meant to get to for years, decades even, but it never seemed to be quite the right time. Recently though, I found it in one of those book deals newsletters (Of which I read about a bazillion every day. No, really!) and decided that it was time to dive in.It’s odd how a book can seem both dated as well as shockingly timely. This is clearly a mid-century book, right down to the vocabulary. And yet the themes are so completely contemporary — anti-semitism, shades of prejudice, racism — that there were times I had to stop reading because I would begin to feel sick that we’ve progressed so little since the post-WWII era.
It’s the story of a reporter who is assigned a series of articles on anti-semitism in contemporary America, and who goes undercover as a Jew to get an authentic feel for his subject. He doesn’t seem to do much research, rather he wings it by announcing to people that he’s Jewish and waiting to see how they react. Responses range from surprise to withdrawal, to not-so-subtle rejection; all unsurprising responses from strangers and even acquaintances. But what he finds is that with only a couple of exceptions, friends, family, and even his fiancee show a range of discomfort with what he’s doing. He discovers that even Jews are prejudiced against certain perceived “types,” and that his best friend, a Jew, has spent years never showing how angry he is about the systemic prejudice he and his family and friends have suffered.
Whatever technical problems I found in this book, they were mitigated by both the message, and the fact that the characters, though flawed, were adults, not dewy-eyed kids with a mission, or schoolyard bullies. They had real lives, loves, problems, fell in and out of love, and had sex lives that were their own business. They were capable of noble behavior and base behavior all within the scope of this story. They sometimes just reacted, but they also took time to think about things.
In the end, Hobson’s most important message is this: When good people are afraid to rock the boat, nothing ever gets accomplished. When they’re afraid to call their friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and even family members on prejudice, either overt or covert, they become part of the problem.
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Gentleman Agreement eBook Laura Z Hobson Reviews
This book has been around for a long time. The protagonist, Phil Green is a writer recently home after serving in World War II. He is not Jewish.
It's not so much about the blatant forms of prejudice that hurts. It's worse when the slights come from friends who can't invite you to a party because of your religion. You can't get a reservation for your honeymoon because your name sounds Jewish. Phil Green's assignment is to seek out the prejudicial behaviors of society toward Jews and people who believe they aren't prejudiced.
Phil has come to New York with his mother and son. He lost his wife seven years ago. He comes to New York for a new job as a writer for a magazine company. He finds himself involved in a complex situation when he gets the idea to become a Jew for a certain amount of time to get the feel of what this particular nationality is facing. This shortly after World War II. He meets Kathy at a party and they hit it off and are inseparable. But the role he is playing day in a day out as a Jew gets into his very soul and complicates his life in such a way that it brings on problems with he and Kathy. An eye opener of what antisemitism is all about.
This book was published in 1947, the year I was born, yet almost seventy years later the problem of antisemitism still exists. The issue of racism has taken over the spotlight to an extent, during the last half of the twentieth, and certainly the first years of the twenty-first century. But given this passage of time and the persistence of antisemitism and racism, the persistence of fear and hatred of "the other", particularly during the current election campaign, one has to wonder if things will ever change, if human nature will ever change for the better.
There were times I found it difficult to follow the thought processes of the individuals engaged in conversation. I attributed that to the "slang", for lack of a better word, of the day, and the writing style of the times and the author.
Regardless, the issues are timeless, it seems, and so I would recommend this book, particularly to young people, high school or early college. For myself, it made me take a look at my own behavior and wonder how I may (probably) have committed prejudiced acts of omission or commission, and not even realized it. Lots and lots of food for thought.
This is one of those books I meant to get to for years, decades even, but it never seemed to be quite the right time. Recently though, I found it in one of those book deals newsletters (Of which I read about a bazillion every day. No, really!) and decided that it was time to dive in.
It’s odd how a book can seem both dated as well as shockingly timely. This is clearly a mid-century book, right down to the vocabulary. And yet the themes are so completely contemporary — anti-semitism, shades of prejudice, racism — that there were times I had to stop reading because I would begin to feel sick that we’ve progressed so little since the post-WWII era.
It’s the story of a reporter who is assigned a series of articles on anti-semitism in contemporary America, and who goes undercover as a Jew to get an authentic feel for his subject. He doesn’t seem to do much research, rather he wings it by announcing to people that he’s Jewish and waiting to see how they react. Responses range from surprise to withdrawal, to not-so-subtle rejection; all unsurprising responses from strangers and even acquaintances. But what he finds is that with only a couple of exceptions, friends, family, and even his fiancee show a range of discomfort with what he’s doing. He discovers that even Jews are prejudiced against certain perceived “types,” and that his best friend, a Jew, has spent years never showing how angry he is about the systemic prejudice he and his family and friends have suffered.
Whatever technical problems I found in this book, they were mitigated by both the message, and the fact that the characters, though flawed, were adults, not dewy-eyed kids with a mission, or schoolyard bullies. They had real lives, loves, problems, fell in and out of love, and had sex lives that were their own business. They were capable of noble behavior and base behavior all within the scope of this story. They sometimes just reacted, but they also took time to think about things.
In the end, Hobson’s most important message is this When good people are afraid to rock the boat, nothing ever gets accomplished. When they’re afraid to call their friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and even family members on prejudice, either overt or covert, they become part of the problem.
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