---
product_id: 127697027
title: "Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947"
price: "$70.78"
currency: USD
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---

# Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947

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## Description

desertcart.com: Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947: 9781982134228: Lebrecht, Norman: Books

Review: The Personalities Behind the Enigma of Jewish Modernity - Genius and Anxiety is a masterpiece but in a particular genre. In a sweeping survey of some one hundred years of Western culture, Lebrecht carefully details the stories and personalities of the Jewish figures who did so much to shape it. While written from a rather typical high culture liberal perspective, Lebrecht discusses artists, scientists and rabbis from all parts of the cultural, political and religious spectrums. The book is so well-written and gripping it is sure to be a classic in the already crowded field of Judaic literature. One will learn the biographies of well-known characters like Proust and how his Jewish ethnicity influenced A Remembrance of Times Past and lesser known characters such as Eliza Davis who did much to correct Dickens’ latent anti-semitism. That said, the book also has its limitations. Lebrecht focuses so much on the personalities and stories of the Jews who shaped Western culture that his description of their actual contributions is rather shallow. Nor is the enigma of why the Jews, as opposed to some other people, contributed so much to modernity well explained. The title of the book is about as much as the author chooses to probe this question. Jews throughout this era were outsiders in a constant state of anxiety about their place in society and even their personal safety. As such, they were in a unique position to criticize and transform Western civilization. Genius and Anxiety is an original book about an already well-discussed era of history. By focusing on the personalities and stories of the Jewish shakers of the modern West, Lebrecht has written a genuine masterpiece. But excitement over what he has achieved should be measured by the fact that there are questions and topics left not only unanswered but also unexplored. Lebrecht concludes the work with a coda that the perennial Jewish question remains unsolved. But I would add that Lebrecht’s book raises many Jewish questions that still perplex modernity.
Review: Rich, multifaceted history - This is simply a delightful, engaging read. It's not so much that I learned much about most of these featured persons, but that I got a new context for their lives and interactions. This book extracts the persons from the historical figures in very entertaining ways. His treatment of Freud is priceless. The other thing that the book does with its emphasis on context is to make me less disturbed by our current world situation. Reading this makes me again cognizant that life has never been smooth and that, compared to how things were even in the last 150 years, we in the West are not doing so badly. We should complain less and focus far more on the parts of the world that are in the kind of turmoil that occurred between 1847 and 1947 (the span of this book). Those of us in the West do not have to fear dying at age 35 the way so many of the figures in this book did. Highly recommended.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #999,294 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #75 in Jewish Social Studies #169 in History of Judaism #189 in Jewish Biographies |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (521) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches |
| Edition  | First Edition |
| ISBN-10  | 1982134224 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-1982134228 |
| Item Weight  | 1.4 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 464 pages |
| Publication date  | December 3, 2019 |
| Publisher  | Scribner |

## Images

![Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41PX3yzEcVL.jpg)
![Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41zO9fMxz+L.jpg)
![Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947 - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/717GSLq3hBL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Personalities Behind the Enigma of Jewish Modernity
*by A***S on December 7, 2019*

Genius and Anxiety is a masterpiece but in a particular genre. In a sweeping survey of some one hundred years of Western culture, Lebrecht carefully details the stories and personalities of the Jewish figures who did so much to shape it. While written from a rather typical high culture liberal perspective, Lebrecht discusses artists, scientists and rabbis from all parts of the cultural, political and religious spectrums. The book is so well-written and gripping it is sure to be a classic in the already crowded field of Judaic literature. One will learn the biographies of well-known characters like Proust and how his Jewish ethnicity influenced A Remembrance of Times Past and lesser known characters such as Eliza Davis who did much to correct Dickens’ latent anti-semitism. That said, the book also has its limitations. Lebrecht focuses so much on the personalities and stories of the Jews who shaped Western culture that his description of their actual contributions is rather shallow. Nor is the enigma of why the Jews, as opposed to some other people, contributed so much to modernity well explained. The title of the book is about as much as the author chooses to probe this question. Jews throughout this era were outsiders in a constant state of anxiety about their place in society and even their personal safety. As such, they were in a unique position to criticize and transform Western civilization. Genius and Anxiety is an original book about an already well-discussed era of history. By focusing on the personalities and stories of the Jewish shakers of the modern West, Lebrecht has written a genuine masterpiece. But excitement over what he has achieved should be measured by the fact that there are questions and topics left not only unanswered but also unexplored. Lebrecht concludes the work with a coda that the perennial Jewish question remains unsolved. But I would add that Lebrecht’s book raises many Jewish questions that still perplex modernity.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rich, multifaceted history
*by R***R on June 19, 2023*

This is simply a delightful, engaging read. It's not so much that I learned much about most of these featured persons, but that I got a new context for their lives and interactions. This book extracts the persons from the historical figures in very entertaining ways. His treatment of Freud is priceless. The other thing that the book does with its emphasis on context is to make me less disturbed by our current world situation. Reading this makes me again cognizant that life has never been smooth and that, compared to how things were even in the last 150 years, we in the West are not doing so badly. We should complain less and focus far more on the parts of the world that are in the kind of turmoil that occurred between 1847 and 1947 (the span of this book). Those of us in the West do not have to fear dying at age 35 the way so many of the figures in this book did. Highly recommended.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A lot of very intersting information
*by J***W on July 12, 2020*

I am giving the book 4 stars instead of five because teh book has too much puff at the front. It tells how great we Jews are in general . The book covers a period my religious education glossed over, but mine was a long time ago so perhaps current Jewish HIstory course cover this. The stories of the people involved are deeply intersting and well told. There is a lot of speculation in the book on some very intersting people and the author clearly states to reasons to doubt the material. The material is very engrossing. Skip the introduction, the story tells the story

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*Last updated: 2026-02-12*