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Diego Lpez
Mr. Crossman
AP English Language & Composition
2 November 2015
The Holocausts Genesis
As opposed to his usual commentary on current political disputes and debacles, the
seventy-four year old Republican pens his thoughts on what seems to be uncharted territory for
him. George Wills latest piece chronicles a topic that encompasses not only current events and
foreign policies, but also those of the past: anti-semitism. When Black Earth: The Holocaust as
History and Warning was published, Will felt it was appropriate to assimilate those concepts
discussed within regarding the morose events of the Holocaust to what is currently happening
with the Iran-Israel relations. Will poses several perspectives which address the origins of antisemitic influenced actions. With these perspectives, the general population of readers, ranging
from political connoisseurs to history fanatics, can infer and come to their own conclusions on
the pressing matter at hand: Can Irans anti-semitism yield results as destructive and gory as
Hitlers reign? Can it be deterred?
Beginning in the second paragraph, Will immediately establishes a didactic, ubiquitous
tone. Unlike many of his other pieces which are based purely on his opinion, this one closely
resembles a history and philosophy lecture that leaves no room for his quirky or sardonic
comments. Acknowledging that history perhaps isnt his strong suit, Will keeps his composure
and avoids any and all remarks that might ridicule him. He also resorts to extensive citing of

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other works; after calculating, 15% of his total words were actually cited material. The act of
citing a considerable amount of content gives the air that this particular topic is outside the realm
of his expertise and that this specific piece isnt truly an opinionated conglomeration of insults,
but a disquisition built upon firm evidence collected from an array of sources.
Normally, Will would construct his arguments in the shape of a funnel: stating a premise
and then descending the abstraction ladder until he reached the essence of the idea that wished to
elucidate. Alternatively, with this piece, he used what resembles an hourglass as a template. He
initiated and concluded his essay with wide premises, while the medial portion of the essay was
narrow and detailed. He often conveyed some of the most important details between two dashes;
a trademark that can be observed in all of his works. In fact, there was an instance in which he
went out of his way to place a dash where a colon wouldve sufficed. Perhaps, since he had little
room for discussing his own opinions, he drops an abundance of dashes as a form of small
autographs that allow him to tweak the language according to his stylistic preferences.
Many of Wills selection of words can be traced back to political, philosophical, or
religious roots. For instance, in the third paragraph he states Snydershould be heeded
concerning the Holocausts genesis. His use of genesis serves a higher purpose than to just be
recognized as a neat word to use: it alludes to the overall subject of the essay. Jews and
Zionist, genesis and anti-semitism, acculturation and Marxism these omnipresent
terms not only highlight the thematic aspects associated with the historic phenomenon, but also
help the reader delve into or assimilate to the minds of those leaders that influenced global
culture without precedent or portent.

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After discussing a handful of reasons as to why the Holocaust might have been triggered,
Will concludes with a chilling statement: Muchdepends on the nature of Irans anti-semitism.
His final words on the issue express a certain level of uncertainty that remind the reader that
despite all the accessible data that is used to measure a countrys capabilities and calculate the
probabilities of such a horrid event occurring again, a considerable portion is purely speculative
and hidden behind a veil of unpredictability.