Product Description

From one of our greatest historians and public intellectuals, reflections on a twentieth century that is turning into ancient history, when it's not being displaced by myth or forgotten entirely, with unprecedented speed and at great cost

The accelerating changes of the past generation have been accompanied by a comparably accelerated amnesia. The twentieth century has become "history" at an unprecedented rate. The world of 2007 is so utterly unlike that of even 1987, much less any earlier time, that we have lost touch with our immediate past even before we have begun to make sense of it. In less than a generation, the headlong advance of globalization, with the geographical shifts of emphasis and influence it brings in its wake, has altered the structures of thought that had been essentially unchanged since the European industrial revolution. Quite literally, we don't know where we came from.

The results have proved calamitous thus far, with the prospect of far worse. We have lost touch with a century of social thought and socially motivated social activism. We no longer know how to discuss such concepts and have forgotten the role once played by intellectuals in debating, transmitting, and defending the ideas that shaped their time. In Reappraisals, Tony Judt resurrects the key aspects of the world we have lost in order to remind us how important they still are to us now and to our hopes for the future.

Reappraisals draws provocative connections between a dazzling range of subjects, from the history of the neglect and recovery of the Holocaust and the challenge of "evil" in the understanding of the European past to the rise and fall of the "state" in public affairs and the displacement of history by "heritage." With his trademark acuity and Žlan, Tony Judt takes us beyond what we think we know to show us how we came to know it and reveals how many aspects of our history have been sacrificed in the triumph of mythmaking over understanding, collective identity over truth, and denial over memory. His book is a road map back to the historical sense we so vitally need.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80231 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-17
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Historian and political commentator Judt warns against the temptation to look back upon the twentieth century as an age of political extremes, of tragic mistakes and wrongheaded choices; an age of delusion from which we have now, thankfully, emerged. In this collection of 24 previously printed essays (nearly all from the New York Review of Books and the New Republic), Judt, whose recent book Postwar was a Pulitzer finalist, pleads with readers to remember that the past never completely disappears and that the coming century is as fraught with dangers as the last. Buttressing his argument, Judt draws upon an impressively broad array of subjects. He begins by describing the eclipse of intellectuals as a public force (for instance, the steep decline in Arthur Koestler's reputation) before reminding his audience of the immense power of ideas by discussing the now inexplicable attractions of Marxism in the 20th century. In the book's penultimate section, Judt examines the rise of the state in the politics and economics of Western nations before finally tackling the United States, its foreign policy and the fate of liberalism. As a fascinating exploration of the world we have recently lost—for good or bad, or both—this collection, despite its lack of new content, cannot be bested. (Apr. 21)
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From Booklist
A collection of book reviews with a sprinkling of essays, this volume collects the praises and pans of historian Judt (Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945, 2005). Reprised largely from the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books and including lengthy treatments addressed to a highbrow audience, they cover works and biographies related to twentieth-century history that were published in the past decade. A dozen and a half in all, they encompass the spate of titles about Communists (historian Eric Hobsbawm), ex-Communists (Arthur Koestler and Whittaker Chambers), and the cold war. A decidedly declarative writer, Judt advances his views like an experienced intellectual fencer, although his palpable sense of proprietorship over the subjects tends to reduce the author in question to a launching platform for Judt’s opinions. These include negative perspectives on Tony Blair, U.S. foreign policy, and Israel. Whether lauding or loathing, Judt proves provocative. --Gilbert Taylor

Review
“Exhilarating . . . brave and forthright.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Perhaps the greatest single collection of thinking on the political, diplomatic, social, and cultural history of the past century.”
—Forbes

“By turns fascinating [and] edifying . . . Judt is one of our foremost historians of Europe, an elegant writer and subtle thinker.”
—Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews

Very Good
This is a collection of essays from the historian most famous for " Postwar" a history of Europe from 1945 to the present. Judt's earlier book was very good and explained the establishment of the European welfare state as a reaction to the Second World War. Politicians of both sides wanted to ensure that the underlying causes which led to Fascism and Communism never arose in their countries so that they tried to establish mechanisms to ensure that a decent life was available for all. One of the points Judt made was the key role of conservative and Christian democratic parties in the creation of modern Europe.

In this book he is not a historian but an essayist strongly arguing for the left. He covers a number of topics but his key message is that the end of utopian models of government does not mean a end to the role of government in society. Government still has the power to solve problems and to shape societies to so that breakdown and dislocation do not occur. He is clearly a supporter of the welfare state although his intelligence is such that any of his positions are hedged rather than dogmatic. In facing problems there are no simple answers.

Some of the essays are rather strident attacks on Israel. He appears to have some first hand experience living in Israel in his youth. His attacks are rather simple. He says that Israel is a strong modern state which keeps large numbers of Arabs living in Bantustans. It uses collective punishments and violates international law. Whilst doing these things it trumpets a ideology that it is a state facing extinction and its actions are simply in self defence. It is also the only democracy in an area in which autocracy is the norm.

All of his essays about Israel have been stridently attacked in America where support for Israel is strong. Ironically it would seem that they have been better received in Israel were there is strong debate about how the future should play out. From the point of view of a reader he is able to articulate the arguments around the issue and meld it with the historical record.

Coming from a family of Marxists he is aware of the limitations of it as an ideology and what a disaster it has been. His previous work has been some of the most articulate criticisms of modern communism and in this work he deals not only with it but with its fellow travellers.

All of the essays in the book, although previously published are first rate and readable as well. Thoroughly recommended.

Praise for 'REAPPRAISALS'
I give this book 5 stars, not because I agree with everything its author says but because it's such a good read. The book is comprised of essays published between 1997 - 2006. The first two sections contain a series of portraits of some of the most influential people of the 20th century; Koestler, Arendt, Camus and others. Tony Judt, who Christopher Hitchens calls a former 'kibbutznik', also writes a sympathetic piece on Edward Said. This is one of the reasons why he's not so kindly received in some quarters. Even though Said apparently didn't advocate political violence (in contrast with for example Sartre), he is sometimes referred to by his adversaries as the 'Professor of Terror'. Judt is also highly critical of modern-day Israel. This is sure-fire way to lower the ratings. We all know that you should not judge a book on your own political preferences but there you go.
These are the actual reappraisals, I suppose, and the remainder of the book reflects on Europe, the United States and Israel since WW II. In an essay called 'The Silence of the Lambs: On the Strange Death of Liberal America', Judt laments the tacit consent by leading liberals of President Bush's 'catastrophic foreign policy'. Some intellectuals even trip over each other in order to praise the war in Iraq in particular and the GWOT (Global War On Terror) in general. The Left, as represented by Tony Blair, has lost its credibility, perhaps even its raison d'être. In order to survive, it has to shoulder its responsibility for the failures of the 20th century and reassess many of its central themes. In absence of a clear vision the Left will simply stagnate and wither away. As Judt acutely observes: 'to be on the left is to be a conservative'.
I highly recommend 'Reappraisals' to anyone interested in recent history - and in the future, however gloomy it might appear.

Insightful, Profound and Important
This book is not an easy reading to get through as it is a compilation of Tony Judt's essays (mostly book reviews). It took me some careful note-taking and re-reading most of the chapters to "comprehend" to my satisfaction what Judt is trying to convey. The comprehension at the end was worth all the efforts I put in. It is similar to the experience in scientific discovery when a simple hypothesis explains all of what appeared to be disjointed, disparate data points. To me, Judt is advising us to be aware of the inherent biases each writer brings to the table as well as the cultural milieu in which he/she lived. Furthermore, he warns us that there are different levels of "truths" that writers address. Judt, of course, tries to insist that the role of a true intellectual is to address universal truth/standard and the concept of good/evil that can be applied as uniformly as possible. He abhors the selective use what is right and proper based on convenience and one's partiality. Thus,for example, I surmise that most Israel supporter will dislike the message in this book. On the other hand, if one wants to be challenged to "reappraise" conventional wisdom based on the "popular" Western intellectual viewpoints, the book provides a remarkable starting point. One easily forgets while reading books (primarily in the English language) in the American and British circles, the overwhelming tilt of American/British bias--particularly on controversial topics i.e. Israel. As someone who reads regularly in Chinese and Japanese language press in addition to English, the discrepancy is obvious. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about contemporary Western biases, the apparent paucity of intellectual integrity, the presence of strong institutional pressures, and apparent lack of courage on many writers' part to speak up and address universal truths/standards. It seems that Tony Judt is screaming to me the motto of my alma mater, Cal Tech: "Truth Shall Make You Free" but many (in the US especially) are scared of the prevailing wind.