"Nobody in their right mind denies that Wagner was an anti-Semite, and a virulent one at that. But is there actual evidence of anti-Semitism in the works themselves? . . . Weiner's brilliant book gathers the evidence more meticulously and comprehensively than any has done before, and is essential reading."-Barry Millington, Opera. "A serious attempt to place Wagner's dramatic work into proper context both in the field of music and in the repertoire of antisemitic literature-and it deserves to be studied carefully."-Cecil Bloom, Judaism Today. "A tremendous advance in the study of Wagner and the cultural influences that informed his work."-Hillary Hope Herzog, Modern Language Notes. "An immensely informative cultural history."-German Life. "Certainly the most important work on Wagner that I have read in the last decade. It opens up fresh approaches and is likely-no, certain-to have a major impact on Wagner studies as well as the history of antisemitic mentality."-Paul Lawrence Rose, author of Wagner: Race, Revolution and Redemption. Marc A. Weiner is a professor of Germanic studies and film studies at Indiana University and the author of Undertones of Insurrection (Nebraska 1993).