skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Thinking The Twentieth Century by Tony Judt
Tony Judt was an intellectual's intellectual but don't let that put you off. He wrote clearly, he thought deeply, he was slow to take offense and quick witted to the very end. He died in 2011 of ALS and as he was dying he dictated Thinking The Twentieth Century to his friend and fellow historian Timothy Snyder, who prodded him along the way with searching questions about his own life and his ideals. The book is a curious mix of biography and a sort of intellectual autopsy of the twentieth century. Judt's specialities as a historian were France and Eastern Europe but his mind ranges widely. Unlike fellow Englishman Christopher Hitchens, Judt was not a gadfly, in fact he was an introvert and this introversion allowed him to avoid distracting dinner parties and spend more time in libraries reading original sources - the meat and potatoes of the serious historian. Judt and Hitchens were, of course, on opposite sides of the Iraq War debate and it's quite stimulating to place this book alongside Hitchens's Arguably which I read about this time last year. Hitchens, I think, is the better writer but Judt is the most circumspect and deeper thinker; to read Judt's criticisms of the apologists for the invasion of Iraq, particularly Michael Ignatieff and The New York Times's two great frauds Tom Friedman and David Brooks, is like watching a controlled demolition.
...
Some of you will lose interest in this book when it wades into the French political debates of the 1930's but you should stick with it, Thinking The Twentieth Century is a grand tour around the thoughts, loves, lives and opinions of one of the best of our contemporary historians and commentators, a man, who, like Hitch, left us far too soon.
33 comments:
I'd pay cash money (as opposed to money money?) for someone to openly debate Brooks and Friedman. Or one of them anyway. But the Judt book looks like I'm going to have to pay cash money to read the takedown. Ok.
Adrian,Another author to add to my reading list.The list of outside men ( Lorca Gay and non-anglophone in New York,Judt castigating the Zionist Nationalists and French Vichy amnesia) grows. it is not easy to stand outside the collective tribalism and criticize the provincialism of the culture you inhabit. I am sure that unless one lives in a very cosmopolitain setting e.g. New York,London or Paris or stages an emotional retreat into family or work daily life in a parochial close knit environment can bring a series of emotional assaults that take their toll.Bring on Sean Duffy to fight the battle .Best Alan
Us lose interest in the political debates of France in the 1930s? Sacre bleu! How little you know us.
Seriously, though, thanks for the rec. I've seen Judt's books for quite some time, and may even have read an essay or two of his in the NYRB, but it's good to have some context. This sounds like a pretty heroic endeavor on both his and Snyder's part.
Sheiler
Judt is pretty contemptuous of all of them. I studied with Ignatief briefly and I know he's smart and Brooks has a little more depth to him, I feel, but Friedman is such an obvious huckster and charlatan I'm amazed to see him on things like Charlie Rose pontificating away like he knows what he's talking about.
Alan
Oh yes they go into Judt's critique of Israel in some depth. Its funny, having lived in Israel for year and read the Iraeli press and watched Israeli TV and talked to Iraelis, nothing Judt says would be at all remarkable in Israel. Israel has one of the rowdiest, most argumentative press cultures in the world where you can say anything and no one gets that shocked; but say something mildly critical of Israel in New York or Washington and you're up shit creek.
Seana
I liked Thinking The Twentieth Century so much I went out and got the 45 hour audiobook of Judt's Postwar. I reckon that will keep me going for a while...
If you're listening to it on your bike, just don't forget to turn around at the halfway point, or you may find yourself out in Adrian Hyland territory. Not that that would be such a bad thing.
Seana
I AM listening to it on my bike, but I think I'll stay out of Adrian Hyland country until at least April when it should be a little cooler.
I saw on the news how they had to designate a new color for the temperature map for that region, and have no idea how people are holding up.
Was TJ at all hopeful about a shared, secure future for Israelis and Arabs?
Seana
Well its been normal for the last few weeks, but it does give one food for thought when they have to invent a new colour for temperatures above 50 degrees celsius...
Kate
Not especially, no. I think we're looking at the status quo ante for the next decade or so. Demographic change will certainly stir things up though by the 2020s. The Haredi population of Israel will have increased dramatically putting pressure on the state and the Palestinian population will have increased dramatically too. Something will have to give.
Dear Adrian,The horrific Twentieth Century rise of totalitarianism,"The Holocaust" and its legacies is well worth more serious reading as the consequences are everywhere today.An Englishman Keith Lowe has undertaken a meticulous study of Eastern and Western Europe in the years after the Nazi defeat and debacle.Its a time of settling scores,retribution and opportunism as law and order has broken down and borders are being rearranged by "Nationalists" with Soviet puppeteering. The savagery that ensued in Eastern Europe has largely been ignored by most Western historians.I wonder if you know his work "Savage Continent"? I shall indeed by Tony Judt work to get my head further around the late century.Best Alan
Adrian, Judt's eulogy of Edward Said, reprinted in Reappraisals, praises Said among other things for coming around to support a one-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian territories. I remember thinking that a bit precious on Judt's part, as there did not seem to be much chance of that these days.
On the other hand, there have been since I read the essay pushes to chip away at the Haredi exemption from military service. One only knows what that will do to Israeli society.
You say Israeli society is argumentative. It's also very much more nuanced than one would be led to believe from following opinion here in America. It's not necessary to live there to figure this out, either. An hour's conversation with anyone who lives in Israel is sufficient.
The flip side of the opprobrium directed against criticism of Israel here is the ease with which "Palestinian" becomes an intellectual and political fashion accessory, keffiyehs sprouting like Che Guevara T-shirts in coffeeshops near some American college campuses.
Alan, I ought to look for Keith Lowe. On the other hand, my recent reading of fiction and non-fiction from Central Europe between the wars leads me to suspect that one should probably look at the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the migrations it set in motion, to figure out how Europe got itself so fucked up.
Alan
I'm about 3 hours into Judt's Postwar and its got a good bit of that too. He's especially good on the post 45 population and geographic changes (all of which as a geography geek I knew but which might be news to some readers).
Peter
I'm sorry that Haaretz has paywalled its website so that people could read just how nuanced the Israeli press can be...
I've noticed the Palestinian accessory fashion item as being especially prevalent in England where knowledge of the middle east, Israel and the Palestinian Territories is particularly uninformed. A few weeks ago the Sunday Times published an anti-semitic cartoon by Gerald Scarfe on Holocaust Memorial Day. Later that week on the BBC the Guardian's Steve Bell came on to defend the cartoon and Scarfe. Bell castigated someone from the English Jewish community who was offended as a hysterial nut, but his casual ignorance was absolutely remarkable, he had never heard of the blood libel and had no idea that it was a daily trope of the Arab press.
I've noticed that the English left likes its Jews to be thoroughly deracinated, apolitical or positively anti-Israel. Stephen Fry, Nigella Lawson, Mike Leigh etc. etc conform or are dutifully silent.
Judt was unfortunate that he chose to work in New York where he didn't fit in at all whereas if he'd lived in North London he would have. Actually knowing a little of Judt I think North London would not have interested him, whereas challenging the prevailing views on the Upper West Side (or God save us - the Upper East Side)was a lot more interesting.
The one state solution? Impossible. The two state solution? Next to impossible.
From what I can tell, you're probably right about the one- and the two-state solution, which is why I regarded, at send- or third hand, Judt's (and, if Judt was accurate, Said's) stance as a calculated bid to seem reasonable and, at the same time, a martyr, by proposing a supposedly commonsense but, in fact, utterly unrealistic solution.
My experience of nuance in the Middle East, and that does not even include an interesting meeting that I did not write about.
Peter
That was a nice piece. I've found that a very good way of getting rid of persistent touts, hawkers and "guides" in the Middle East is to put your hand over your heart, look them in the eye and say apologetically "la shukran, sadiq". It invariably works because you are being sincere, firm but also polite.
I'll keep that in mind. And I'm proud to say that I recognize what your reply means.
The closest I came to a pesky guide was a real guide, as it happened, who was less pesky than not yet well versed in smooth guide patter. This was at the Jazzer Pasha mosque in Akko, which I wanted to see, anyway. Among other things, he brushed off my offer to remove my shoes before we entered the mosque. Not necessary, he said--as long as one's shoes are clean.
The Hebron guide was all right. We talked a lot, more than I wrote about, and we stopped for lunch at a bustling shawarma place in Bethlehem where the sandwiches were THAT long, and not a word of English, French, or Hebrew was to be seen, so I figure it had good local cred.
The guy who wrote my guest posts about the history of crime fiction is Israel was a good native informant, too. He had read my posts from Jerusalem and asked if I would be passing through in Tel Aviv. I was, so we met for pizza and a good schmooze. He had served in the military, was active in peace and reconciliation causes, and was free of dogma and illusions about Israel or the Palestinians. And he was a James Ellroy fan, too.
So maybe James Ellroy is the answer. What someone referred to last week in a discussion group I go to as 'the third way'--though on an entirely unrelated matter.
Yes, that was a nice piece about your travels, Peter.
A former boss of mine made a trip back to his hometown of Riga. He left the city right before the Nazis closed the borders...and killed off the Jewish population. His son wrote up the experience - http://newpol.org/content/visit-bikernieki
I didn't understand why or how there was such a divide between US and Israeli and other nation Jewish peeps. But this article spelled out some things I hadn't heard before. Maybe I was just overwhelmed, because it's hard to jump in to something like that late to the game.
Sorry - I should have made an easy link like this:
http://newpol.org/content/visit-bikernieki
Good Post Adrian.
The lefts critique of mainstream corporate media in general and the Times in particular has been fairly consistent and strong for a number of years. Groups like FAIR have been doing it for over 25 years.
Does Judt mention anything about Judith Miller in his book. Her reporting of govt propaganda basically verbatim on the front page of the Times on Iraq in lead up to the invasion was so scandalous that the Times had to print a retraction regarding her reporting.
Here are few links you might like to read.
Have plenty more links but cant seem to post when to many links are attached...
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/02/05/where-are-they-now-the-reporters-who-got-iraq-so-wrong/
http://fair.org/media-beat-column/judith-miller-the-fourth-estate-and-the-warfare-state/
This is very good regarding the notion that everyone was in agreement regarding WMD and such.
Just nonsense and useful propaganda in order to justify the invasion..
http://fair.org/take-action/media-advisories/iraq-and-the-media/
Dear Adrian et al.There appears to be a rather unique element in the American Israel lobby that squeezes out moderation all too often.It appears to be the Conservative right wing religious Christian fundamentalists to whom the gathering of Jews in "Zion" is a precursor to "The Second Coming" of Jesus.They swamp the media daily and seem to have lots of money and dedication.As to who is using whom I can not say but does not bode well for moderation and diverse opinion amongst those who pander for votes.Unfortunately at least in the short run "The Arab Spring" has not opened much dialogue with those wishing some compromise with between moderate Palestinians and secular Israelis." Good article Peter and interesting topic Adrian.Best Alan
Sheiler
Thanks for the link. That's really fascinating. There's a good movie, not about Estonia, but about the Baltic states called The Partisans of Vilna if you ever come across it.
Very
Does he ever talk about Judith Miller. He recounts a dinner party in the Hamptons where he and Judith Miller went at it and everyone at the dinner (a lot of famous people) went after Judt for being some kind of interloper/traitor because Miller was a "respected journalist for the Times." He says that not one single person supported him at the dinner and he left embarrassed and humiliated.
Alan
The alliance between the Christian right and right wing Jews has always seemed bizarre to me. Christian Evangelists are very clear: the Jews must hasten to the Holy Land so that the millennium will come and they can be consumed by fire along with all the other unbelievers on the Day of Judgement.
well three cheers for Judt!!
Ill have to read the book I wonder what he was doing at a party in the Hamptons?? And he should have left proud of himself!
Great read by one of the best historians of the twentieth century. Not sure how much of Timothy Snyder is in there. And to think TJudt did all of this 'as he lay dying'...
Post a Comment