Obstinate Hebrews : Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815 / / Ronald Schechter

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910450058103321
• Autore: Schechter Ronald
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, CA : , : University of California Press, , [2003]; ©2003
• ISBN: 1-282-35695-X; 9786612356957; 0-520-92935-7; 1-59734-780-9
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (346 p.)
• Collana: Studies on the History of Society and Culture ; ; 49
• Disciplina: 305.892/4044/09033
• Soggetti: Jews - France - Social conditions - 18th century; French literature - 19th century - History and criticism; Jews in literature; Public opinion - France - History - 19th century; Public opinion - France - History - 18th century; Jews - Public opinion; Jews - France - Identity; Electronic books.; France Ethnic relations
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-317) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. A Nation within the Nation?: The Jews of Old Regime France -- 2. Jews and Philosophes -- 3. Jews and Citizens -- 4. Contrapuntal Readings: Jewish Self-Representation in Prerevolutionary France -- 5. Constituting Differences: The French Revolution and the Jews -- 6. Familiar Strangers: Napoleon and the Jews -- Conclusion: Jews and Other "Others" -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Enlightenment writers, revolutionaries, and even Napoleon discussed and wrote about France's tiny Jewish population at great length. Why was there so much thinking about Jews when they were a minority of ; less than one percent and had little economic and virtually no political power? In this unusually wide-ranging study of representations of Jews in eighteenth-century France-both by Gentiles and Jews themselves-Ronald Schechter offers fresh perspectives on the Enlightenment and French Revolution, on Jewish history, and on the nature of racism and intolerance. Informed by the latest historical scholarship and by the insights of cultural theory, Obstinate Hebrews is a fascinating tale of cultural appropriation cast in the light of modern society's preoccupation with the "other." Schechter argues that the French paid attention to the Jews because thinking about the Jews helped them reflect on general issues of the day. These included the role of tradition in religion, the perfectibility of human nature, national identity, and the nature of citizenship. In a conclusion comparing and contrasting the "Jewish question" in France with discourses about women, blacks, and Native Americans, Schechter provocatively widens his inquiry, calling for a more historically precise approach to these important questions of difference.

The devil in history [[electronic resource] ] : communism, fascism, and some lessons of the twentieth century / / Vladimir Tismaneanu

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910785618603321
• Autore: Tismaneanu Vladimir
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2012
• ISBN: 1-283-57149-8; 9786613883940; 0-520-95417-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (335 p.)
• Disciplina: 335.43
• Soggetti: Communist state - History; Communism - History - 20th century; Fascism - History - 20th century; Totalitarianism - History - 20th century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Prologue: Totalitarian Dictators and Ideological Hubris -- 1. Utopian Radicalism and Dehumanization -- 2. Diabolical Pedagogy and the (Il)logic of Stalinism -- 3. Lenin's Century: Bolshevism, Marxism, and the Russian Tradition -- 4. Dialectics of Disenchantment: Marxism and Ideological Decay in Leninist Regimes -- 5. Ideology, Utopia, and Truth: Lessons from Eastern Europe -- 6. Malaise and Resentment: Threats to Democracy in Post- Communist Societies -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: The Devil in History is a provocative analysis of the relationship between communism and fascism. Reflecting the author's personal experiences within communist totalitarianism, this is a book about political passions, radicalism, utopian ideals, and their catastrophic consequences in the twentieth century's experiments in social engineering. Vladimir Tismaneanu brilliantly compares communism and fascism as competing, sometimes overlapping, and occasionally strikingly similar systems of political totalitarianism. He examines the inherent ideological appeal of these radical, revolutionary political movements, the visions of salvation and revolution they pursued, the value and types of charisma of leaders within these political movements, the place of violence within these systems, and their legacies in contemporary politics. The author discusses thinkers who have shaped contemporary understanding of totalitarian movements-people such as Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Albert Camus, François Furet, Tony Judt, Ian Kershaw, Leszek Kolakowski, Richard Pipes, and Robert C. Tucker. As much a theoretical analysis of the practical philosophies of Marxism-Leninism and Fascism as it is a political biography of particular figures, this book deals with the incarnation of diabolically nihilistic principles of human subjugation and conditioning in the name of presumably pure and purifying goals. Ultimately, the author claims that no ideological commitment, no matter how absorbing, should ever prevail over the sanctity of human life. He comes to the conclusion that no party, movement, or leader holds the right to dictate to the followers to renounce their critical faculties and to embrace a pseudo-miraculous, a mystically self-centered, delusional vision of mandatory happiness.