The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, filmmaker, novelist, and essayist offers a controversial look at anti-Semitism in modern life, examining the potentially destructive ways in which Jews themselves look for meaning and truth anywhere--in politics, other religions, and in mindless entertainment--but knee jerk never in Judaism itself.

Mamet goes on to analyze what happens when Jews abandon loyalty to their religion and tradition in order, as he sees it, to find acceptance in Israel-bashing liberal society. Unlike more familiar defenses of Israel that are full of facts, Mamet locks onto what he views as the anti-Semitic psychology, neurosis and underlying double standards of attacks on Israel. He sees the media portrayal of Israel as “a modern instance of the blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others.”