The anti-semitic moment : a tour of France in 1898 / Pierre Birnbaum ; translated by Jane Marie Todd.

Includes bibliographical references ([pages 341]-378) and index.

Introduction -- Is Paris burning? -- Journey to the center of France -- In Barrésian Lorraine -- Storm on the coast : Algerian Marseilles -- Radical Toulouse, nationalist Bordeaux -- Take arms, citizens of Vendée! -- The battle of Brest -- In the region of Normandy -- Good Superintendent Leproust : peacekeeping and prejudice among the police -- The "arrogance" of Rabbi Taubmann : passivitiy and resistance among the Jews -- Conclusion -- Chronology of events in the Dreyfus affair.

"In 1898, the Dreyfus Affair plunged French society into a yearlong frenzy. In small villages and big cities, angry crowds paraded through the streets, attacking Jews and destroying Jewish-owned businesses. Anger about the imagined power of Jewish capital, as well as fears of treason and racial degeneration, made anti-Semitism a convenient banner behind which many social and political factions could fall in line. The anti-Semitic feelings that had been simmering in France for decades came boiling to the surface." "Until now, the details of this pogrom have slumbered in local archives, but here Pierre Birnbaum, the first to study the full range of events set in motion during the Dreyfus crisis, guides the reader on a tour of France during a tumultuous year. His innovative study makes it clear why, though prolonged violence threatened to topple the government, the institution of the state did not give way. Birnbaum shows not only that many Jews defended themselves but also that police officers made mass arrests and protected Jewish lives and property. His analysis of how and why public order was maintained offers surprising new insights."--Jacket.