#AcademicRunPlaylist - 1/18/25

I had some fun skating with the younger child unit, and after rediscovering my skating skills I was also able to listen to some books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was "Allergic" by Theresa MacPhail, who goes through the scientific history of the identification and investigation of allergies, following with a good examination of the biological mechanisms at play. There's still a lot we don't know here and this book embraces that uncertainty, running through experiments and the data and then making it clear where the science currently stands. The effects of different allergies on people and their treatments was illuminating as well. Highly recommend https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/636231/allergic-by-theresa-macphail/

Last was "Europe Against the Jews: 1880-1945" by Götz Aly, who traces the arc of antisemitism in Europe, showing the Holocaust as an evolution of previous practices across most of the continent (particularly in the east). The details here are genuinely shocking in both their breadth, seeming randomness, and then the systematic oppression that was heaped on top of pogroms through legal dispossession and professional and educational restrictions. The genesis of Zionism is also examined here, and while Aly is sympathetic to many of that movements motivations given the atrocities constantly flaring up against Jews across the continent, he clearly identifies the colonial fingerprints in it - particularly the blatant disregard for the Muslims that lived in Palestine.

I could've done without the sections on the Holocaust itself, mostly because that history has already been well covered in other volumes. The short sections on post-WW2 were equal parts interesting and horrific to read, though. Highly recommend https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250170170/europeagainstthejews18801945/