Hertzberg develops his daring thesis that the "modern, secular,anti-Semitism was fashioned not as a reaction to the Enlightenment and theRevolution, but within the Enlightenment and Revolution themselves." He findsthat modern anti-Semitism owes less to Christian theological mentality thanto doctrinaire libertarianism of figures such as Voltaire, d'Holbach,Diderot, and Marat.