Vadim Rossman. Intellectual Anti-Semitism in Post-Communist Era. Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. 309 pp. $55.00, cloth.Intellectual anti-Semitism has enjoyed a long tradition in imperial Russia and Union. Its birth as an ideology was closely related to rise of radical pan-Slavism in second half of nineteenth century. In early twentieth century, elements of tsarist officialdom found in popular anti-Semitism a convenient tool for stemming tide of revolution and buttressing claims of throne and altar with spontaneous mass action from below. Kishinev pogroms, publication of notorious fabrication, The Protocols of Elders of Zion, by Okhrana, rise of Union of People and other extreme right-wing organizations enjoying support of tsarist officialdom, and ritual murder Beilis case (resolved, however, in favour of defendant), were all elements of these political tactics. In reality, however, tactics merged with ideological conviction, as testified by anti-Semitism of members of tsarist family, activities of select Orthodox bishops, as well as other intellectual supporters of counter-revolution. new wave of pogroms in civil war was a logical consequence of a new extreme ethnic nationalism that saw Jews as a religiously alien and/or intrinsically subversive secular minority (indeed, often both at same time).The revolution promised to put an end to this state of affairs, both on account of Bolsheviks' internationalist ideology and prominent role of Jews in communist leadership. As is well known, however, anti-Semitism made a dramatic comeback under Stalin when fabricated Doctors' Plot almost led to a new wave of statesponsored pogroms. Subsequently, anti-Semitism became an integral (although subsidiary) part of Brezhnev's Soviet patriotism under thin guise of anti-Zionism. It was not until perestroika considerably loosened grip of state on society, however, that openly grassroots organizations like Pamyat made their appearance. Perhaps disturbing still was rise of a more respectable intellectual anti-Semitism, as manifested in public statements of some of Russia's best-known village prose writers (Rasputin, Belov), and subsequently codified in ideological manifesto of contemporary ethnic nationalism, Igor Shafarevich's Russophobia (1989). Henceforth, antiSemitic thoughts proliferated on pages of literary periodicals (Nash sovremennik, Molodaia gvardiia), while numerous right-wing newspapers and manifestos (however small in circulation) reproduced some of most grotesque stereotypical images of Jewish plutocrats and to be found anywhere in contemporary world. Nor were newly reconstituted communists immune to anti-Semitism: writings of Genadii Ziuganov and his associates (e.g., Yurii Belov, last head of Leningrad obkom and one of leaders of CPRF) constantly evoked cosmopolitan threat, while main communist daily, Sovetskaia Rossiia, opened its pages to notoriously Metropolitan of St. Petersburg, Ioann, and other Russian patriots of similarly dubious distinction.All this makes Vadim Rossman's study of roots and varieties of intellectual anti-Semitism a welcome contribution to analysis of a significant phenomenon on ideological and political scene. Rossman's focus is primarily on intellectual (not political or grassroots) anti-Semitism, i.e., on the views and arguments advanced to back up positions (pp. 1-2), as well as on the development of anti-Semitic discourse and its social functions in post-communist Russia. This explicit emphasis on post-communist era, however, is somewhat deceiving, as Rossman traces roots of modern anti-Semitism to pre-revolutionary era, 1920's, as well as to Stalin and Brezhnev periods. …