Alfred Dreyfus

“The affair and its consequences, admirably and precisely presented in this study, compel us to be more vigilant when demagogues seek to divide us through the casual, and often purposeful, misuse of language.”—Ronald C. Rosbottom, Wall Street Journal

“Alfred Dreyfus is an admirable introduction not only to its nominal subject but to . . . great historical events.”—Geoffrey Wheatcroft, New York Review of Books

Featured in the Financial Times, “Best summer books of 2024: History”

“A short new book on Captain Alfred Dreyfus, . . . whose court cases divided France into two warring camps, could not have been better timed. . . . Samuels tells the story of the Dreyfus affair well.”—Ian Buruma, The Spectator

“A sensitive portrait of an intensely private man whose resistance and survival were truly heroic.”—Natasha Lehrer, Times Literary Supplement

“The evidence (or lack of it) that prompted Dreyfus’s initial arrest is a complex tale with many characters. Samuels provides a brilliant, detailed analysis . . . [and a man] capable of great strength, courage and sensitivity.”—JP O’Malley, Irish Independent

“A commendable overview of the life of Dreyfus and his promising career as a French Army officer.”—Robert Shiels, Scottish Legal News

“[An] engrossing biography [that] bears the imprint of our times.”—Peter McPhee, Australian Book Review

“A deeply sympathetic reexamination the life of Alfred Dreyfus and the role antisemitism played in the affair that enflamed the French Republic.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Authoritative. . . . In stressing both Dreyfus’s Jewishness and the forces brought to bear on him because of it, Samuels is offering a warning about complacency. Anti-Semitism will always be there, and it will always be capable of mass destruction. And it takes a mass mobilization by the forces of liberalism to hold it at bay.”—Sean Durns, Commentary

“We should take courage from this splendid work about how truth and justice triumphed over stupidity and prejudice, and how much the loyalty and love and determination of one remarkable family could accomplish 130 years ago.”—Roberta Silman, Arts Fuse

“By reading this concise new biography by Maurice Samuels, we realize how much the Dreyfus Affair has shaped antisemitism in the modern era. . . . Samuels writes so well that you don’t feel hit over the head with the message. But once you look at this history, you understand the present with new eyes.”—Bettina Berch, Jewish Book Council

“Lucid and elegantly written.”—Alessandra Stanley, Air Mail

“The author is to be commended for his thorough research in Alfred Dreyfus, which allows the views on all sides of L’Affaire to be given equal treatment. Hopefully, readers will come away from this work with a better understanding of the unique intricacies of the case and an awareness of French Jews’ ongoing struggle for acceptance.”—Andrew M. Mayer, Washington Independent Review of Books

“There is nuance and care in these pages, no rush to form a simple judgement. . . . Samuels offers a fresh lens on an old story in a carefully crafted book that is both searing social history and sensitive biography.”—Marissa Moss, New York Journal of Books

“The Dreyfus affair is one of the moments where both modern anti-Semitism and crusading journalism and mass protest were born. Maurice Samuels provides a complex, lucid, narrative retelling that will simultaneously enrage any reader and inspire them with its tales of the stubborn search for justice. Even if you’ve read about Dreyfus before, you need to read this.”—Adam Gopnik, author of The Real Work

“An intimate portrait of the defiant rectitude of Alfred Dreyfus, the wrongfully accused French military officer whom Mark Twain called ‘the most infamously misused Jew of modern times.’ At a time when truth is flouted, bigotry rampant, and nationalism resurgent, Maurice Samuels provides an important account of a French society inflamed and divided by hatred of a deeply patriotic Jew. Exiled, abused, left for dead, Dreyfus never wavered in his fight for truth and a society of equal treatment for all. That fight continues to this day.”—Roger Cohen, Paris bureau chief, New York Times

“In this pioneering biography, Maurice Samuels restores Alfred Dreyfus to the affair that bears his name. In doing so, he rehabilitates an often disregarded form of modern Jewish identity and shows how one Jewish life could matter so much to so many others. A triumph.”—Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism against Itself