The Sultan's Communists: An Introduction
1. Choices: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Interwar Morocco
2. Possibilities: World War II and Moroccan Jewish Belonging
3. Tactics: Jews and Moroccan Independence
4. Splinters: Disillusion and Jewish Political Life in the New
Morocco
5. Co-optation: The Moroccan Cold War, Israel, and Human Rights
Scarification: A Conclusion
Alma Rachel Heckman is Neufeld-Levin Chair of Holocaust Studies and Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
"With meticulousness and fervor, Alma Rachel Heckman offers a
unique historical entry to North Africa's Jewish communities.
Written from the perspective of a marginal group within the Jewish
community of Morocco, The Sultan's Communists provides a new and
refreshing understanding of minority politics in colonial and
post-colonial societies. A significant contribution to Jewish
studies in the Middle East and North Africa."—Aomar Boum,
University of California, Los Angeles
"The Sultan's Communists tells the paradoxical and largely unknown
story of a group of Moroccan Jewish militants who identified with
Morocco's national liberation movement and remained in Morocco as
patriotic citizens after independence when the majority of Jews
were emigrating to Israel. Alma Rachel Heckman's riveting account
of political activism, imprisonment, torture, exile, and cooptation
reveals the possibilities and limitations of Jewish belonging in an
Arab Muslim country."—Daniel J. Schroeter, University of
Minnesota
"In this innovative study about Moroccan communist Jews, Alma
Rachel Heckman explores radical leftist movements, their struggles
against fascism, and their battles for national liberation and
social justice. The book masterfully reconstructs the nonsectarian
vision these Jewish radicals developed, illustrating how communism
served as a patriotic option for Moroccan Jews. A unique and
compelling tribute to the activism and heroism of Moroccan radical
Jews."—Orit Bashkin, University of Chicago
"Alma Rachel Heckman has written an original and important book
concerning the role that radicalized Jews played in Morocco's
struggle for independence from France and in newly independent
Morocco."—Sheldon Kirschner, The Times of Israel
"As a historian, Heckman does a very fine job in offering to the
reader a detailed account of the delicate twists and turns of every
actor. She manages to see both the structural similarities between
them as well as the peculiar idiosyncrasies. Equally important, she
contextualizes these marginal actors so to comprehend their actions
and utterances in the broader picture. By doing so, she
demonstrates how one can focus on a marginal—some would say
neglected—group of people and understand grand-scale processes in
Morocco."—André Levy, Journal of Church and State
"Alma Rachel Heckman has written an original and important book
concerning the role that radicalized Jews played in Morocco's
struggle for independence from France and in newly independent
Morocco."—Sheldon Kirshner, Sheldon Kirshner Journal
"[The Sultan's Communists] is an outstanding study, which is based
on intensive research of a wealth of information that the author
gathered in archives, interviews, the contemporary press and
scholarly books. [Heckman] brings all these data together and
analyzes it brilliantly. Accordingly, the book is an essential
contribution to the historiography of Moroccan Jewry."—Orit
Ouaknine Yekutieli, Quest: Issues in Contemporary Jewish
History
"Alma Heckman provides a fascinating account that is meticulously
researched, with rich analysis and work in archives in Morocco,
Israel, France, Spain, and the US; brilliantly written in
compelling and beautiful prose, this book is recommended to readers
interested in Moroccan history, Jewish history, scholars of social
and popular movements, and more."—Lior Sternfeld, American
Historical Review
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