Volume 8, Number 10 · June 1, 1967
Foul Play
By Leonard Schapiro
Blood Accusation: The Strange History of the Beiliss Case
by Maurice Samuel
Knopf, 286 pp., $5.95
It is more than thirty years since the English translation appeared of Alexander B. Tager's detailed study of the framing, trial, and acquittal of Mendel Beiliss. There was need for another study, for another look at this chapter in the long history of Russian anti-Semitism in the light of what has happened both to Russia and to the Jews in the past decades. Mr. Samuel has now admirably fulfilled the task. His work leans heavily on that of Tager, as one would indeed expect. But he has made a scrupulous study of all the available primary sources and has diligently questioned those survivors of the witnesses in the wings of the drama who could be of any help to him. He tells his story with passion, but with dignity. Some faults apart, which will be noted below, this is a most valuable book for the historian both of Russia and of the Jewish people; and, for those not so directly involved, a stirring account of those ever-fascinating themes—the folly, depravity, cowardice, vice, and, at the same time, dignity and courage of man. It is a theme which calls for the talents of Dostoevsky or Galdos. It is no disparagement of Mr. Samuel to say that he has not their gifts, and that his story must be read more for its content than for the form in which he has cast it.
Review, 1698 words
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