American Sociology and Holocaust Studies

“Adele Valeria Messina’s American Sociology and Holocaust Studies is a detailed examination of a broad range of social science traditions and their relationship to the study of the Holocaust. With a close reading of virtually every scholar who has ever written anything pertinent to the subject Messina supports her thesis that the alleged delay on the part of American sociology to come to grips with the Holocaust is, in fact, mistaken. Using a variety of methodologies, she unearths many less-known figures who had, even in the years prior to World War II, presaged the events of the war years. She then utilizes numerous sources, including biographical, to illustrate some of the controversies about how the day-to-day machinery of the Holocaust actually worked. Her work is evidence of an enormous command of sociological and historical research. Messina examines the many debates concerning what led up to the Holocaust, in particular controversies about its German roots, and how the events of those years should be understood. In this context she provides useful surveys of the histories of Germany and Eastern European countries as these pertain to the treatment of minorities, especially the Jews. Dr. Messina has fully succeeded in giving us, in her words, ‘a one-volume history of the sociology of the Holocaust.”
— Martin Oppenheimer, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Rutgers University