William I. Brustein provides a systematic comparative and empirical examination of anti-Semitism in Europe before the Holocaust. Brustein studies the evolution of the four principal roots of anti-Semitism--religious, racial, economic, and political--and demonstrates how these roots became ignited in the decades before the Holocaust. The book explains the epidemic rise of modern anti-Semitism, societal differences in anti-Semitism, and how anti-Semitism varies from other forms of prejudice. The book draws upon an extensive body of data from Europe's leading newspapers and the American Jewish Year Book.