Norman Ravitch

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Norman Ravitch is a professor emeritus of history at University of California, Riverside. He formerly wrote occasional pieces for the Rockwell Foundation and other right-libertarian think-tanks. Ravitch is known for his assertion that "It remains more than doubtful that the black population of America, or the rest of us, have really benefited from integration and civil rights legislation." Also, writing a book review on WWII Poland, he states: "While the Nazis of course had treated the Poles in murderous fashion the Poles at least could take pleasure in the fact that the Germans were doing what they would like to have done but did not have the discipline or the means -- namely kill the Jews who had outlived their precarious welcome in the new Poland." And: "Yes, Zionism can be called racist. But so what! What Jews need to do in my humble opinion is to accept the valid Zionist challenge: go to Israel or cease to be Jews! That is the only solution to the Jewish Question." At the same time, Ravitch has frequently countered his "pro-Zionism" with statements such as "Israel violates international law . . . [and should] . . .go to hell!" Some see in Ravitch's political obsessions a personal motive--he himself abandoned the Judaism of his birth and has embraced a fundamentalist Catholicism which calls all non-Catholics "lost children condemned to hell." In recent years, however, Ravitch has come to see the nefarious effects of too much religion, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, and has largely abandoned his Catholic leanings. He has also come to find the Republican Party to be the closest thing to the Fascist party of America. Most become more conservative with age, he has become less so, very much less so. Living in the America of George W. Bush and seeing its fascist-like methods, strategies and proclivities is quite an education indeed.

Ravitch currently resides in Savannah, Georgia, with his wife, son, and standard poodle.