A review by stiricide
The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner
4.0
I'd like to give this more stars, as this is Eisner's last work and it's a fascinating, important, convoluted story that I'd never heard before, but I think the story itself gets lost in the heavy presence of primary source documents within the retelling. That shouldn't be a complaint, I know! Actually, in writing that, I just kicked it up to 4 stars. Just because *I* get bored by 17th century philosophic debates doesn't mean that they're *actually* boring, or unimportant. And lord knows I'd never even heard of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion before this book, let alone read them, so yeah, including them (or at least parts of them) is probably pretty important.
ANYWAY.
So what I learned from this book is that the weird conspiracy of Jews taking over the world isn't just weird back channel gossip, it actually has an origin story. Literally, an entire book of propaganda used to create that rumor.
Like TMZ for Czarist Russia.
It's a tough read, because the history itself is so convoluted and bizarre, but I think Eisner does his best with what's available. I'd definitely bring this to my Teens, given the opportunity.
ANYWAY.
So what I learned from this book is that the weird conspiracy of Jews taking over the world isn't just weird back channel gossip, it actually has an origin story. Literally, an entire book of propaganda used to create that rumor.
Like TMZ for Czarist Russia.
It's a tough read, because the history itself is so convoluted and bizarre, but I think Eisner does his best with what's available. I'd definitely bring this to my Teens, given the opportunity.