This work investigates the historical conflation of antisemitism and anti-Black racism, examining how these two distinct forms of prejudice intersected within the Western imagination from the Renaissance through the Third Reich. Tudor Parfitt, a scholar of Jewish history and racial theory, utilizes a wide array of historical texts, colonial records, and racial science literature to trace the evolution of the 'Black Jew' as a symbolic figure. The book argues that the shifting perceptions of these groups were central to the development of European racial hierarchies and the eventual solidification of exclusionary ideologies.

Scholars recognize this text as a rigorous examination of the intersectional nature of racial and religious hatred in the Western canon. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a foundational understanding of European intellectual history to fully navigate the author's arguments.