Are There Discussions On 'People Love Dead Jews'?

The title of Dara Horn’s new essay collection, “People Love Dead Jews,” has become a sort of specter haunting the fringes of bookish discussions on the Internet lately, eliciting a sort of involuntary salute or, just as commonly, sustained aggression. As a sort-of-influencer who generally stakes out neutral ground between various strands of tepid extremity, I happen to take an interest in this sort of material: Horn does a great job laying out the many ways in which Jews are reduced to a series of dead persons whose suffering can be comfortably registered by others; her narrative moves between personal reminiscence and historical analysis with great facility, making for a sort of unpleasant rollercoaster ride that will leave you either deeply validated or profoundly and persisting uncomfortable.

These same themes play out in many online discussions of the book. Some people appreciate Horn’s critique of how Holocaust history is presented to non-Jews, while others worry that she does not leave room for adequate remembrance of the dead. What becomes clear, though, is the amount of space there is for exploration of how Jewish life outside of tragedy is typically not examined or understood by the public. A difficult read, perhaps, but this book will stick with you long after you finish it.