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

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In a hundred-year period, a handful of men and women changed the way we see the world. Without Karl Landsteiner there would be no blood transfusions or major surgery. Without Paul Ehrlich, no chemotherapy. Without Siegfried Marcus, no motor car. Without Rosalind Franklin, genetic science would look very different. What do these visionaries have in common? They all had Jewish origins. They all had a gift for thinking in wholly original, even earth-shattering ways. In 1847 the Jewish people made up less than 0.25% of the world's population, and yet they saw what others could not. Starting with the death of Mendelssohn and the birth of political anti-Semitism, Lebrecht takes us through the Jewish experience. The result is a celebration of Jewish genius and contribution