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Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Tapa dura

Todorov, Tzvetan

 
9780691096582: Hope and Memory: Lessons from the Twentieth Century
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ISBN 10: 0691096589 ISBN 13: 9780691096582
Editorial: Princeton University Press, 2003

Sinopsis

Both a political history and a moral critique of the twentieth century, this is a personal and impassioned book from one of Europe's most outstanding intellectuals. Identifying totalitarianism as the major innovation of the twentieth century, Tzvetan Todorov examines the struggle between this system and democracy and its effects on human life and consciousness.


Totalitarianism managed to impose itself because, more than any other political system, it played on people's need for the absolute: it fed their hope to endow life with meaning by taking part in the construction of a paradise on earth. As a result, millions of people lost their lives in the name of a higher good. While democracy eventually won the struggle against totalitarianism in much of the world, democracy itself is not immune to the pitfall of do-goodery: moral correctness at home and atomic or "humanitarian" bombs abroad.


Todorov explores the history of the past century not only by analyzing its spectacular political conflicts but also by offering moving profiles of several individuals who, at great personal cost, resisted the strictures of the communist and Nazi regimes. Some--Margarete Buber-Neumann, David Rousset, Primo Levi, and Germaine Tillion--were deported to concentration camps. Others--Vasily Grossman and Romain Gary--fought courageously in World War II. All became exemplary witnesses who described with great lucidity and humanity what they had endured.


This book preserves the memory of the past as we move into the twenty-first century--arguing eloquently that we must place the past at the service of a just future.

"Sinopsis" puede pertenecer a otra edición de este libro.

Acerca del autor

Tzvetan Todorov is Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris and the author of many books, most recently Imperfect Garden: The Legacy of Humanism and The Fragility of Goodness (both Princeton).

De la contraportada

"Almost alone among contemporary critics, Tzvetan Todorov has chosen to apply his prodigious talents to the literature of twentieth-century totalitarianism. His unique gift is his ability to elucidate the memoirs and writings of some of the century's greatest survivors, not merely discovering their literary qualities but also finding in their works moral and political lessons relevant to us all."--Anne Applebaum

"This is a very rich book, full of interesting--and often highly controversial--conversation as well as moving portraits of striking figures of the century that has just passed. It is addressed to a general public very much engaged in discussing what the twentieth century was all about and where we are going from here."--Charles Taylor

De la solapa interior

"Almost alone among contemporary critics, Tzvetan Todorov has chosen to apply his prodigious talents to the literature of twentieth-century totalitarianism. His unique gift is his ability to elucidate the memoirs and writings of some of the century's greatest survivors, not merely discovering their literary qualities but also finding in their works moral and political lessons relevant to us all."--Anne Applebaum

"This is a very rich book, full of interesting--and often highly controversial--conversation as well as moving portraits of striking figures of the century that has just passed. It is addressed to a general public very much engaged in discussing what the twentieth century was all about and where we are going from here."--Charles Taylor

"Sobre este título" puede pertenecer a otra edición de este libro.

Editorial
Princeton University Press
Año de publicación
2003
Idioma
Inglés
ISBN 10 
0691096589
ISBN 13 
9780691096582
Encuadernación
Tapa dura
Número de páginas
362
Contacto del fabricante
Princeton University Press
https://press.princeton.edu/books

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Persona responsable
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