SOURCE: Hochstadt, Steve. Review of The Holocaust in American Life, by Peter Novick. Modern Judaism 21, no. 2 (May 2001): 184-92.

In the following review of The Holocaust in American Life, Hochstadt asserts that Novick's historical overview of American popular conceptions of the Holocaust is sound, but that Novick fails to adequately understand the significance of the Holocaust itself.

The Holocaust in American Life has already made a considerable impact among those in America most concerned with teaching the Holocaust. Due to Peter Novick's reputation as a prize-winning historian, his pointed and scholarly critique of the way the Holocaust is publicly discussed in America has been received respectfully in popular journalistic circles.¹ This critique rests upon a profound dissatisfaction with what he sees as unfortunate tendencies in American Jewish life and their connection to the Holocaust. The inward turn of Jews away from ecumenical participation towards a rigid defense of perceived...