Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters (Why X Matters S.) - Softcover

Louis Begley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300168144 ISBN 13: 9780300168143

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2010

Synopsis

From the prize-winning author of Wartime Lies, an anatomy of the infamous prosecution of a Jewish officer attached to the French Army's General Staff, with profound implications for our own time. In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a brilliant French artillery officer and a Jew of Alsatian descent, was court-martialed for selling secrets to the German military attache in Paris based on perjured testimony and trumped-up evidence. The sentence was military degradation and life imprisonment on Devil's Island, a hellhole off the coast of French Guiana. Five years later, the case was overturned, and eventually Dreyfus was completely exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart, pitting Dreyfusards-committed to restoring freedom and honor to an innocent man convicted of a crime committed by another-against nationalists, anti-Semites, and militarists who preferred having an innocent man rot to exposing the crimes committed by ministers of war and the army's top brass in order to secure Dreyfus's conviction. Was the Dreyfus Affair merely another instance of the rise in France of a virulent form of anti-Semitism? In Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, the acclaimed novelist draws upon his legal expertise to create a riveting account of the famously complex case, and to remind us of the interest each one of us has in the faithful execution of laws as the safeguard of our liberties and honor.

About this title

Review:

"Begley['s] prose is as crisp as his resume is distinguished. His book is a fluid, confident survey that clearly sketches the chronology, main players, and historical and literary legacy of the affair while making a provocative comparison to the war on terror."--Michael O'Donnell, Washington Monthly--Michael O'Donnell "Washington Monthly "

"Commendable for its narrative clarity."--Thomas Kselman, The Review of Politics--Thomas Kselman "The Review of Politics "

"In thousands of political battles--including those over the Iraq war--Western publics have relived the Dreyfus Affair ever since."--Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

--Andrew Moravcsik"Foreign Affairs" (01/31/2010)

"Particularly powerful in drawing lessons for American society after September 11."--;I>New York Review of Books

--Robert Gildea "New York Review of Books "

"A brave new book [and] a pointed warning and reminder of how fragile the standards of civilized conduct prove in moments of national panic."--Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

--Adam Gopnik"New Yorker" (09/01/2009)

"Concise and precise."--;I>The Morning News
--Robert Birnbaum "The Morning News "

"Begley provides a lucid and beautifully written account of L'affair Dreyfus from beginning to end."

--Steven Lubet, The Green Bag

--Steven Lubet "The Green Bag "

"As a primer on the affair, this is a first-rate narrative and a heartfelt plea to modern democracies to stick to their values and defend basic liberties, however threatened they feel." -- The Economist--Economist

"I can't imagine a more unequivocal, socially acute, or legally astute book about the whole hateful Dreyfus Affair than Louis Begley's "Why Dreyfus Matters." Add to that the limpidity, the novelist's eye, the moral passion, and the very considerable narrative gifts that have made Begley's fiction famous, and you have one of French history's most tellingly muddled moments, distilled and restored to the drama it in fact was for the country it divided."--Jane Kramer

--Jane Kramer

"Begley's riveting details and unremitting passion make this book a worthy successor to J'accuse."--Jewish Book World

--Jewish Book World

About the Author:

Louis Begley is a bestselling novelist and a lawyer who retired after a 45-year career as partner in a prominent law firm. His fiction includes Wartime Lies, About Schmidt, and Matters of Honor.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0300168144
• ISBN 13: 9780300168143
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272