But the story of the Jews in Harbin, and of Harbin itself, begins with the railroad-because before the railroad, Harbin did not exist. Jews have lived in China for more than a thousand years, which is as long as they have lived in Poland. Horn is drawn to Harbin from TripAdvisor photos of the famous Ice Festival and also because of its Jewish history: the city, she writes, was “built by Jews”. Her widely-cast net extends to Asia and the book cover even shows a snowy photo of the Chinese city, Harbin, a city she (somewhat dismissively) prefaces with “… like most Chinese cities you’ve never heard of…”. Several chapters deal with antisemitism in the United States and one is devoted to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. The title of novelist Dara Horn’s new collection of essays, People Love Dead Jews: Reports From A Haunted Present, says it all and hints at Horn’s thesis that stories about Jews which receive the most traction are ones in which we are dead.Ī number of stand-alone essays were first published in magazines and newspapers before they were compiled into this book the commonality is the theme of the book’s title.
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