Thinking the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

Snyder, Timothy; Judt, Tony

4.26

2,049 ratings by Goodreads

9780434017423: Thinking the Twentieth Century

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434017426 ISBN 13: 9780434017423

Publisher: William Heinemann, 2012

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The final book of the brilliant historian and indomitable public critic Tony Judt, Thinking the Twentieth Century unites the conflicted intellectual history of an epoch into a soaring narrative.

The twentieth century comes to life as an age of ideas - a time when, for good and for ill, the thoughts of the few reigned over the lives of the many. Judt presents the triumphs and the failures of prominent intellectuals, adeptly explaining both their ideas and the risks of their political commitments. Spanning an era with unprecedented clarity and insight, Thinking the Twentieth Century is a tour de force, a classic study of modern thought by one of the century's most incisive thinkers.

The exceptional nature of this work is evident in its very structure - a series of intimate conversations between Judt and his friend and fellow historian Timothy Snyder, grounded in the texts of the time and focused by the intensity of their vision. Judt's astounding eloquence and range are on display here as never before. Traversing the complexities of modern life with ease, he and Snyder revive both thoughts and thinkers, guiding us through the debates that made our world. As forgotten ideas are revisited and fashionable trends scrutinized, the shape of a century emerges. Judt and Snyder draw us deep into their analysis, making us feel that we too are part of the conversation. We become aware of the obligations of the present to the past, and the force of historical perspective and moral considerations in the critique and reform of society, then and now.

In restoring and indeed exemplifying the best of intellectual life in the twentieth century, Thinking the Twentieth Century opens pathways to a moral life for the twenty-first. This is a book about the past, but it is also an argument for the kind of future we should strive for: Thinking the Twentieth Century is about the life of the mind - and the mindful life.

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Review:

"Tony Judt's death last year was not only a personal tragedy but a public disaster, for he was one of the finest contemporary historians of ideas, and in this dark time we can ill-afford his loss. Thinking the Twentieth Century, a series of dialogues with the historian Timothy Snyder, is a triumphant conclusion to Judt's invaluable work." (John Banville)

"A magnificent achievement in intellectual history, Thinking the Twentieth Century is also the true last testament of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers on politics." (John Gray)

"Timothy Snyder's initiative has prompted a sparkling dialogue which, through following the stages of Tony Judt's life and emergence as an exceptional historian, offers important reflections on major currents of political thinking in the 20th century." (Ian Kershaw)

"That this book exists at all is remarkable...The parts in which Judt relates the themes of the book to his own life are particularly rich because they show how what we think can be a product of what we are...There is much brilliance here to enjoy, almost as if you were a guest at a wonderful dinner party where two of the company suddenly hold forth on everything from Vienna in 1900 to the Iraq war...The best kind of book: where you discover both what the authors intended and what they did not." (David Aaronovitch The Times)

"Brilliant to the bitter end...Tony Judt was combative and razor-sharp even as he was dying...A moving, enlightening and provocative read...It is impossible not to marvel at the dying man's extraordinary mental recall and moral integrity. To listen to his thoughts is to hear the smooth, confident purr of a Rolls-Royce engine...At the end of the book it is hard to banish a profound sense of loss. Though he was better known in New York than London, Judt was one of the foremost British historians of his generation...This book, bristling with learning, is a staggering achievement." (Dominic Sandbrook Sunday Times)

Book Description:

The final masterpiece by one of the leading historians and thinkers of his generation, the late Tony Judt.

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