The Official ISCA Podcast Pamela Nadell: "Antisemitism, an American Tradition"
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Oct 27, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, historian Pamela Nadell delves into her impactful book, exploring the long history of antisemitism in America. She traces early colonial anti-Jewish sentiments and reveals how concepts like assimilationism emerged as misguided remedies. Nadell connects past injustices, like the Leo Frank case and Henry Ford's anti-Jewish propaganda, to contemporary issues, including the rise of white nationalism and campus debates around anti-Zionism. Her insights challenge listeners to reassess the historical roots of this persistent hatred.
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Present Rooted In Historical Continuity
- Pamela Nadell argues that current antisemitism must be understood through a long American history stretching from colonial times to today.
- She wrote the book to incorporate antisemitism into the broader narrative of American Jewish experience.
First Jews In New Amsterdam
- Nadell recounts the 1654 landing of 23 Jews in New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant's plea to expel them as a "deceitful race."
- She shows early colonial tropes: Jews as usurers, blasphemers, and sources of contagion.
Conversion As Early 'Solution'
- Early American solutions to the "Jewish problem" focused on conversion and assimilation rather than rights.
- Organizations like the American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews sought to convert Jews into the new republic.
