Anti-semitism, Madame, Writers and Writing

I read a lot of material since I last posted. I read Julia Cartwright's Madame, a biography of the Duchesse d'Orleans, Princess Henriette of England. It was at least a historical treatment, not a novelized version like the other book by Margaret Irwin's Royal Flush/The Story of Minette. I also read Five Stuart Princesses, by Robert Rait, another turn of the century money-maker. On an entirely different subject,I read Key Houses of the 20th Century, by Colin Davies: these are the canon of 20th century architecture, complete with plans and pictures. It was extremely interesting, once I figured out how to read the plans and some of the technical terms. I was flabbergasted at the modern houses built before 1920! I read the two volumes of Janet Sternberg's The Writer and her Work, which was quite interesting although the political correctness got to me after a bit. I also read Sol Stein's How to grow a novel, but I preferred Alfred Knopf's advice as an editor to writers than Stein's. I also read the third and fourth series of Writers at Work, the interviews from the Paris Review. Not all writers are articulate about their work. I laughed out loud at Nabokov's dissing a wide range of other writers in the most animated language. I thought David Morell had a few good points in his Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing, especially about the structure of writing and the proportionality. Finally, I read the three volumes of Histoire de l'anti-semitisme by Leon Poliakov. This was a real eye opener -- I didn't realize that Montaigne was the son of a Marrano, a concealed Jew, or that the Crusades included what I can only call pogroms against the Jews, or that Voltaire and so many others were anti-Semitic. I was floored. I'm really glad I read it, there were some fascinating passages about Jews beginning the diaspora before the destruction of the Temple and their influence all over north Africa.