superior historic suffering

[Damir Marusic]

all this fiery talk about the holocaust reminded me about a review i read a 
few months back, a review of a book i never ended up buying. the book: THE 
HOLOCAUST IN AMERICAN LIFE, by Peter Novick (not to be confused with 
Nozick). i tracked down the review:

http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/WWWarchdisplay.cgi?20000309019R

i was wondering if anyone here has read the book. a quick quotation from the 
review should suffice to arouse your interest:

"Novick, professor emeritus of history at the University of Chicago, and 
formerly a member of its Committee on Jewish Studies, wants to ask whether 
the "centering" of the Holocaust in American consciousness is good for 
anyone, including, and especially, American Jews. He believes it is not. He 
is openly dismayed by the current forms and applications of Holocaust 
memory. He deplores the use of transcendent rhetoric about the Shoah, with 
its implicit sacralization of horror, and is offended by the frequent 
insistence on that event's uniqueness—a claim he finds both vacuous and 
tacitly condescending in its suggestion of superior historic suffering. He 
thinks the often-invoked "lessons of the Holocaust" are either spurious, 
banal, or ineffectual."

it's an interesting premise, perhaps explaining the shrill and strident tone 
that discussion has taken in recent weeks. it also seems to be a dangerous 
one, as it seems to be easy fodder for anti-Semites and holocaust-deniers to 
pervert and latch on to.

i'm a newbie and i really don't want to rekindle the debate, as i'm very 
eager to continue with VV. just my two cents on a hopefully-dead thread.
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