I forwarded the book review of Mark Twain and the Jews to a friend of mine.
I thought she posed an interesting question some of you might wish to
respond to.

Wes

Thanks for the Twain article.  Given the time frame and location in which he
was writing...(must admit I haven't read his work to the extent I've read
other
authors)...Twain's opinion of Jews is neither startling nor grave.  There
are certainly some far more offensive images of Jews to be found in other
American
writers.
In fact, Twain's journal entries from his trip to the Middle East have
become highly prized by defenders of Israel in that they offer verification
on the
poor state of the land and the lack of native Arab population in Jewish holy
sites such as Hebron (West Bank) and the upper Galilee (Golan).
Academic literary analysis aside, I'd be more interested to know if you
think Twain was a flaming anti-semite or, more importantly, what his
writings communicate
about Jews to the non-Jews who read him.
speak to you soon. kol tuv, h.