It’s been a rough week. In addition to being injured and dependent on my elderly mother for transportation and dealing with the pain of this stupid Achilles strain, which I don’t recommend at all. I’ve been getting around to doing some of those tasks that I don’t always want to, and one of those involved checking my inbox on my social media accounts. I encountered something that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, and I am so angry and sad and disappointed all at once. 

I’m going to talk about something that I am absolutely enraged about: the double standards found in the publishing world. To clarify, I want to talk about the way authors who include harmful or appropriative content in their book, which is something I’ve seen all over. If you keep up with author controversy, it feels like once a year, some author includes problematic content in their book, they are dragged on social media, and readers pressure the publisher to correct their mistake. Typically, this ends up with the author being cancelled, and sometimes the book is pulled from shelves or changed to cut out the harmful influences. 

However, there is a double standard when it comes to addressing racist or problematic content in books. All week long, I have been following the drama that can’t be missed if you are in Jewish areas of social media. For those that aren’t aware of this, two authors teamed up to write a book that was recently published by Del Rey Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. I learned about this through Gillian @ Bookishly_Vintage on threads and instagram, and I’ve included that post here so you can see all the things that make this book problematic. Basically, the authors managed to include a wide range of harmful tropes that have been weaponized against Jewish people since the Middle Ages right through Nazi-era propaganda. Basically, the description itself is full of the anti-Jewish stereotypes prevalent throughout the Third Reich. Here’s a copy of the description from Goodreads:

“A delightful queer romantic fantasy full of friends-to-lovers chemistry, found family, rival family drama, and cozy garden magic from two acclaimed YA authors making their debut in the adult space.

Yael Clauneck is the only scion of an obscenely wealthy banking family with its fingers in every pie in the realm. They’re on the precipice of a predetermined life when they flee their own graduation party, galloping away in search of…well, they’re not sure, but maybe the chance to feel like life can still be a grand adventure.

Margot Greenwillow—talented plant witch, tea lover, and greenhouse owner—has never felt further from adventure in her life. She’s been desperately trying to keep what remains of her family’s magic remedies business afloat. So when her childhood friend and former crush, Yael, rides back into her life, she’s shocked. But perhaps this could be a good thing. After all, Margot could use an assistant in the greenhouses.

Yael has no experience or, honestly, practical skills, but they’re delighted to accept. They can lay low for a while, flirting with Margot while they figure out what to do next. Meanwhile, Margot has plans of her own—but plans are notoriously unreliable things, unlikely to survive a swiftly blooming mutual attraction, not to mention the machinations of parents determined to get their heir back . . . no matter the cost.”

Basically, this tells us that one of the main characters is Jewish, and plays directly into the trope of “the global Jew,” one who is a capitalist and pulls strings behind the curtain, meddling in anything from world politics and wars to controlling the weather (yes, that is a real stereotype). This trope is best depicted using a propaganda poster that is dated to the WWII period, most likely. You can learn more about why this image and what it says here, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Jewish readers and allies have been commenting on how this book is problematic and insulting, to the book publishing imprint and the parent company. So far, comments were deleted, but at some point, they simply removed the ability to comment at all on this book, but all other books are open to comments. From what I saw, comments were respectful, and demanding the same responses that other types of racism and harmful stereotypes get from the publishing industry.

Ultimately, all of us deserve to leave in peace and safety. That’s my personal belief. But when there are many Jewish readers directly explaining why it is problematic (inside, they include the ‘poisoning the well’ trope from the 14th century, which you can learn about here. Just in case it wasn’t hateful enough, they also used the mistranslation by a Christian saint trope of Jews having horns. All you have to do is see the Hero Forge Mini Instagram here, and you can see the Jewish character with her horns clearly visible, the one who is descended from a long line of evil caricatures of Jews. 

After all of this, one author played victim and claimed to be “attacked by trolls” who disagree with her political stances. The publishing house has yet to respond, but I am forced to wonder how this managed to get past any readers without *someone* noticing that it was basically a collection of stereotypes that have been used as an excuse to massacre and exile Jews for nearly 1000 years. Not one single person.

On the other hand, I did want to talk about the responses that I’ve seen to other authors, who have been called out for racism or appropriated content.

• Cait Corran was caught creating a ton of Goodreads accounts to rate books written by authors belonging to marginalized groups. She was dropped by her publisher and agent. In an ironic twist, her agent was Becca Podos, the Jewish author being called out for her own antisemitic content.
• Sophie Lark was recently called out for including language that harmfully portrayed immigrants, as well as perpetuating racist stereotypes and content that was pro-Elon Musk, who isn’t the hero of very many people. Her upcoming book and the rest of the series was pulled by her publisher.
• Naomi Novik, upon the release of the first book in the Scholomance series, was called out by readers on aspects of the book that are disparaging to or racist towards people of color. An apology was issued by the author and any further prints were changed to be more sensitive.
• Jack Gantos wrote a graphic novel that came under fire for having Islamophobic content and depictions of Muslim characters. The book was pulled before it ever published.
• Zachary Webber is a well-known audiobook narrator, told Zionists to kill themselves in a video on Instagram in October 2024. He has been increasingly antisemitic in the last year and a half. Despite massive outrage from Jewish readers, not a single author who has worked with him as a narrator has condemned his antisemitism. Chloe Liese removed him as narrator from her upcoming book, but she and another author condemned his language without condemning the antisemitism behind his words or the harm they inflict on Jews, specifically. Because when someone says “Zionists,” they mean “Jew.” The only action taken was for audiobook platform Quinn to remove any books narrated by Zachary Webber/Jacob Morgan. He continues to work as a narrator for major authors such as Abby Jimenez, Colleen Hoover, and Kendall Ryan, and no publisher, author, or agent has actually dropped him.

Those are just a few examples of the ways that publishers have handled books with problematic content. However, when it comes to antisemitic content, whether it involves Jay Kristoff, Emily Duncan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, or Becca Podos and Jamie Pacton, the same consequences aren’t on the table. There are plenty of authors that focus on WWII historical fiction, and have made a fortune on the trauma of Europe’s Jews, yet haven’t spoken out about the very real attacks on Jews that have been occurring around the world. Author Lisa Barr spoke up about this here. I can only speak for me personally and what I see being said within the Jewish book community, Homegrown Magic is going to continue to be hyped as a “fun, cozy fantasy” when instead it is going to feed antisemitic beliefs that are already flourishing. 

At this point in time, I can only assume that these things are done intentionally. There is no possible way that *this many* Jewish tropes were included in the book without being aware of the antisemitism and harmful representations. While I’m always shocked to see any type of racist elements pop up in a story, yet I’m never surprised that the response is negligible when the racist elements target Jewish people. While the Jewish minority comprises only 2% of the world’s population, we seem to be targeted for ever increasing hate and violence. At a time like this, we need books that aren’t going to further divisions, books that aren’t going to stoke hatred and incite violence against a population that has been experiencing increasing amounts of hate crimes. 

We are taught to let marginalized group define their own oppression, and allow members of that group to define what is harmful or not. Just as I would call out any kind of racism that I’ve seen, I would expect the publishing industry and authors to do the same when it comes to Jew hate, and pull the books that are harmful, or to have them reworked if possible. Instead of deleting comments from Jewish readers, maybe it’s time to stop talking over us and believe us. Instead of asking ‘well, what is the context?’ When Jewish readers can specifically list their concerns about harmful representation in the book, they shouldn’t be shut down, having comments deleted and being blocked unless they are being hateful or threatening. 

No marginalized group should ever have their concerns ignored by the author or the publisher. But why is it acceptable to ignore Jews? Why is the outrage specific to only certain minority groups? Are some marginalized groups more important than others? Who determines that? And how can we, as individuals, support a system that upholds wildly different responses to the exact same issue, depending on who it pertains to? I’m not sure I have an answer to most of these questions, except that I personally believe that we shouldn’t be willing to accept harmful behavior from anyone. Also, it is possible for a member of a marginalized group to have internalized the racism they have encountered, and be capable of doing harm to their own group. But I also think that sometimes things don’t change until we give it a little push. 

I want to apologize for what seems to have become a rant. It’s a topic that is really close to my heart, and part of this is because I have studied and understand history. I’ve also learned history from my father’s own lived experience as a Holocaust survivor. Antisemitism is known as ‘the world’s oldest hatred’ and has stuck around for more than 2 millennia. Sometimes it is openly accepted in society, such as the pogroms held on Easter fueled by charges that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood for matzah, and persecution or death at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. At other times, it is only whispered behind closed doors. But open expression of antisemitism without consequences has never been a sign of good things to come. There is a point where a society can’t turn back and change the path they are on, and I hope we haven’t passed it. 

Have you heard of these controversies before? Were you aware of the difference in reactions?