Although Iraqi Jews saw themselves as Iraqi patriots, their community-which had existed in Iraq for more than 2,500 years-was displaced following the establishment of the state of Israel. New Babylonians chronicles the lives of these Jews, their urban Arab culture, and their hopes for a democratic nation-state. It studies their ideas about Judaism, Islam, secularism, modernity, and reform, focusing on Iraqi Jews who internalized narratives of Arab and Iraqi nationalisms and on those who turned to communism in the 1940s. As the book reveals, the ultimate displacement of this community was not the result of a perpetual persecution on the part of their Iraqi compatriots, but rather the outcome of misguided state policies during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Sadly, from a dominant mood of coexistence, friendship, and partnership, the impossibility of Arab-Jewish coexistence became the prevailing narrative in the region-and the dominant narrative we have come to know today.
"This is a major contribution to the study of Iraqi Jews in modern times, shedding light on Jewish involvement in Iraqi intellectual and political life as part of the Iraqi nation until regional politics forced an abrupt breach and the annihilation of the community. The book is recommended for academic libraries with collections on Middle Eastern, Jewish and minorities' studies."
Association of Jewish Libraries
"Bashkin recounts the last chapter in the history of the oldest Jewish Diaspora community in the Arab world, in Baghdad. . . Recommended."
CHOICE
"Orit Bashkin's riveting new book is, without doubt, the first attempt at providing a full portrait of the rise and fall of the Baghdadi Jewish community in the course of the eventful 20th Century. The book is based on rich documentation, memoirs, communal, and school records. Bashkin's narrative is a shining example of solid scholarship and, at the same time, a coherent account of the vicissitude
