Book picks similar to
Sweeping the German Nation: Domesticity and National Identity in Germany, 1870-1945 by Nancy Ruth Reagin
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philosophy
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Right-Wing Collectivism: The Other Threat to Liberty
Jeffrey Tucker - 2017
Most people of the current generation lack a sense of the historical sweep of the intellectual side of the right-wing collectivist position. Jeffrey Tucker, in this collection written between 2015 and 2017, argues that this movement represents the revival of a tradition of interwar collectivist thought that might at first seem like a hybrid but was distinctly mainstream between the two world wars. It is anti-communist but not for the reasons that were conventional during the Cold War, that is, because communism opposed freedom in the liberal tradition.Right-collectivism also opposes traditional liberalism. It opposes free trade, freedom of association, free migration, and capitalism understood as a laissez-faire free market. It rallies around nation and state as the organizing principles of the social order—and trends in the direction of favoring one-man rule—but positions itself as opposed to leftism traditionally understood.We know about certain fascist leaders from the mid-20th century, but not the ideological orientation that led to them or the ideas they left on the table to be picked up generations later. For the most part, and until recently, it seemed to have dropped from history. Meanwhile, the prospects for social democratic ideology are fading, and something else is coming to fill that vacuum. What is it? Where does it come from? Where is it leading?This book seeks to fill the knowledge gap, to explain what this movement is about and why anyone who genuinely loves and longs for liberty classically understood needs to develop a nose and instinct for spotting the opposite when it comes in an unfamiliar form. We need to learn to recognize the language, the thinkers, the themes, the goals of a political ethos that is properly identified as fascist."Jeffrey Tucker in his brilliant book calls right-wing populism what it actually is, namely, fascism, or, in its German form national socialism, nazism. You need Tucker’s book. You need to worry. If you are a real liberal, you need to know where the new national socialism comes from, the better to call it out and shame it back into the shadows. Now."— Deirdre McCloskey
Fracture: Life and Culture in the West, 1918-1938
Philipp Blom - 2014
In "Fracture: Life and Culture in the West, 1918-1938", critically acclaimed historian Philipp Blom argues that, amid this uncertainty, Europeans and Americans directed their energies inwards toward aesthetic and intellectual self-discovery. Europe produced strange new brands of art, science, and spirituality—such as Surrealism and Art Deco—while flocking to exciting but dangerous new ideologies including communism and fascism. In America, the Harlem Renaissance marked the flourishing of black culture, and flappers sparked new thinking about the place of women in society. Yet undercurrents of racial and class conflict were pronounced, fueled by immigration quotas and the poverty of the Dust Bowl."Fracture: Life and Culture in the West, 1918-1938" is a sweeping evocation of the tumultuous interwar period, and the sublime cultural movements and terrifying ideologies it spawned.
Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
Modris Eksteins - 1989
Recognizing that The Great War was the psychological turning point . . . for modernism as a whole, author Modris Eksteins examines the lives of ordinary people, works of modern literature, and pivotal historical events to redefine the way we look at our past and toward our future.
Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives
Natalie Zemon Davis - 1995
As women living in the seventeenth century, Glikl bas Judah Leib, Marie de l'Incarnation, and Maria Sibylla Merian, equally remarkable though very different, were not queens or noblewomen, their every move publicly noted. Rather, they were living "on the margins" in seventeenth-century Europe, North America, and South America. Yet these women--one Jewish, one Catholic, one Protestant--left behind memoirs and writings that make for a spellbinding tale and that, in Davis' deft narrative, tell us more about the life of early modern Europe than many an official history.All these women were originally city folk. Glikl bas Judah Leib was a merchant of Hamburg and Metz whose Yiddish autobiography blends folktales with anecdotes about her two marriages, her twelve children, and her business. Marie de l'Incarnation, widowed young, became a mystic visionary among the Ursuline sisters and cofounder of the first Christian school for Amerindian women in North America. Her letters are a rich source of information about the Huron, Algonquin, Montagnais, and Iroquois peoples of Quebec. Maria Sibylla Merian, a German painter and naturalist, produced an innovative work on tropical insects based on lore she gathered from the Carib, Arawak, and African women of Suriname. Along the way she abandoned her husband to join a radical Protestant sect in the Netherlands.Drawing on Glikl's memoirs, Marie's autobiography and correspondence, and Maria's writings on entomology and botany, Davis brings these women to vibrant life. She reconstructs the divergent paths their stories took, and at the same time shows us each amid the common challenges and influences of the time--childrearing, religion, an outpouring of vernacular literature--and in relation to men.The resulting triptych suggests the range of experience, self-consciousness, and expression possible in seventeenth-century Europe and its outposts. It also shows how persons removed from the centers of power and learning ventured in novel directions, modifying in their own way Europe's troubled and ambivalent relations with other "marginal" peoples.
German: Biography of a Language
Ruth H. Sanders - 2010
She sheds light on the influence of such events as the bloody three-day Battle of Kalkriese, which permanently halted the incursion of both theRomans and the Latin language into northern Europe, and the publication of Martin Luther's German Bible translation, a People's Bible which in effect forged from a dozen spoken dialects a single German language. The narrative ranges through the turbulent Middle Ages, the spread of the printingpress, the formation of the nineteenth-century German Empire which united the German-speaking territories north of the Alps, and Germany's twentieth-century military and cultural horrors. The book also covers topics such as the Gothic language (now extinct), the vast expansion of Germanic tribesduring the Roman era, the role of the Vikings in spreading the Norse language, the branching off of Yiddish, the lasting impact of the Thirty Years War on the German psyche, the revolution of 1848, and much more.Ranging from prehistoric times to modern, post-war Germany, this engaging volume offers a fascinating account of the evolution of a major European language as well as a unique look at the history of the German people. It will appeal to everyone interested in German language, culture, or history.
German Philosophy 1760-1860: The Legacy of Idealism
Terry P. Pinkard - 2002
In this rich and wide-ranging book, Terry Pinkard interweaves the story of "Germany"--changing during this period from a loose collection of principalities into a newly-emerged nation with a distinctive culture--with an examination of the currents and complexities of its developing philosophical thought. He examines the dominant influence of Kant, with his revolutionary emphasis on "self-determination," and traces this influence through the development of romanticism and idealism to the critiques of post-Kantian thinkers such as Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard. His book will interest a range of readers in the history of philosophy, cultural history and the history of ideas. Terry Pinkard is professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and is the author of the acclaimed Hegel: A Biography (Cambridge, 2000). He is honorary Professor of the Philosophy Faculty of TUbingen University, Germany and serves on the advisory board for the Zeitschrift fUr Philosophique Forschung.
China, India, and the United States: The Future of Economic Supremacy
Peter Rodriguez - 2011
A moment that will be defined by the economic trajectories of three key players. A moment whose outcome will have a deep and lasting impact on the way you live. Recent years have seen a dramatic, unprecedented transformation in the landscape of the global economy. And the catalyst of this transformation-destined to create a new economic order that will scarcely resemble that of the last 300 years-is undoubtedly the rise of China and India. Both nations, which represent around 37% of the world's population, have experienced a rapid surge in annual economic growth of 7% to 10% in the last decade alone-a growth rate that is nothing short of miraculous.Just as important as this amazing story are its implications for the United States. Long seen as the central driving force behind the world's economy, the United States is emerging from the greatest recession in more than 80 years. For the first decade of the 21st century, its average per capita income growth was a paltry 0.53% per year. As China and India continue to gain a dominant foothold in the 21st-century marketplace, America's role in it will continue to evolve in unprecedented ways. Knowing what to possibly expect from the future of the global economy presents an enormous opportunity for you to better prepare yourself for the momentous challenges and possibilities of tomorrow. Now you can, with China, India, and the United States: The Future of Economic Supremacy. This provocative six-lecture course, delivered by noted economist and award-winning Professor Peter Rodriguez of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, is your opportunity to preview what the next few decades of the global economy may look like. Offering you pointed looks at the economic past, present, and possible futures of these three powerful nations, these lectures will have you finally grasping the intricate nature of our world economy and the driving forces responsible for where it will stand in years to come.Get Answers to Pressing Questions about These Economic GiantsIn the last 20 years the incremental economic growth of China and India has been the equivalent of adding another United States to the world economy-and it could happen again in just 12 years, or even fewer. The implications of such a statistic demand to be better understood, and Professor Rodriguez's lectures are the perfect way to witness just how these three economies have gotten where they are today.Central to this course are revealing answers to some of your most pressing questions about the current state of the global economy and its future. How long will the United States remain at the top of the global economic ladder, and what will happen when that time passes? What economic, political, and cultural forces are responsible for China's and India's spectacular growth over the last two decades? When and why might China's and India's rapid annual growth rates slow down? What strategies and policies can these three nations undertake to weather the current global recession? Discover the Future of the 21st-Century Global EconomyIn addition to bringing you up to speed with the economic stories of these three world powers, China, India, and the United States: The Future of Economic Supremacy also provides you with insights into the next decades of the world economy and the new economic order currently being forged. Throughout the lectures, Professor Rodriguez uses his keen economist's eye to report ideas, trends, and possible outcomes you can expect to see as China and India continue to reach (and possibly even supersede) the economic power of the United States.Here are just a few of the many predictions and possibilities you'll explore in depth. China's particular challenge to sustain solid economic growth, more so than the two other countries, will be highly political in nature. India cannot rely solely on information technology to continue growing; rather, it must also achieve global prowess in manufacturing to truly strengthen its internal and external economic power. The United States must reemerge as a global exporter and must retain its preeminent status in financial markets to ensure its near-term economic future. Most important, you'll investigate how the great changes in the coming years will also bring with them a range of benefits and opportunities for each of these three countries. According to Professor Rodriguez, the coming decades of the new global economy will be a bumpy ride, but there is much to remain positive and hopeful about for the United States and the rest of the world.Learn What to Expect-Before Everyone ElseIn addition to being a skilled educator whose awards include Princeton University's Teaching Excellence Award, Professor Rodriguez possesses significant real-world business experience working with multinational companies, including Rolls Royce and Visa. This know-how, combined with his vast knowledge of global macroeconomics and international business, makes him an authoritative guide to this pressing subject and its implications for your future. So join him for this chance to find out, before everyone else, just what to expect from the economies of China, India, and the United States. This course is a piercing look at the economic future being shaped right at this very moment.