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1 Remote Warehouse Biography- Political

Power and the Idealists: Or, the Passion of Joschka Fischer, and Its Aftermath

by Paul Berman

Power and the Idealists: Or, the Passion of Joschka Fischer, and Its Aftermath Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The author of the best-selling Terror and Liberalism on the rise to power of the generation of 1968.

The student uprisings of 1968 erupted not only in America but also across Europe, expressing a distinct generational attitude about politics, the corrupt nature of democratic capitalism, and the evil of military interventions. Yet, thirty-five years later, many in that radical generation had come into conventional positions of power: among them Bill Clinton (who reportedly stayed up all night reading this book) and Joschka Fischer, foreign minister of Germany. During a 1970s street protest, Fischer was photographed beating a cop to the ground; during the 1990s, he was supporting Clinton in a NATO-led military intervention in the Balkans.

Here Paul Berman, "one of America's best exponents of recent intellectual history" (The Economist), masterfully traces the intellectual and moral evolution of an impassioned generation—and gives an acute analysis of what it means to go to war in the name of democracy and human rights.

Synopsis:

The author of the best-selling Terror and Liberalism on the rise to power of the generation of 1968.

Synopsis:

In January 2001, a scandal erupted when a series of photos from 1968 emerged showing German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and a group of leftist street toughs assaulting a cop. Paul Berman, one of the leading essayists and intellectual historians of the New Left, uses this event as a springboard to reflect on a crucial question for Western democracies today: was the violence-tinged radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s a force for social good or for social ill? This wide-ranging history of anti-totalitarianism explores the Left's response to human rights abuses around the world, tracing the intellectual evolution of figures as various as Polish dissident Adam Michnik and Azar Nafisi ("Reading Lolita in Tehran) to argue that liberals willing to use power to protect human rights are the true heirs of the radical sixties, and that the Islamic totalitarian impulse he identified in the "New York Times" bestseller "Terror and Liberalism must be opposed with vigor.

About the Author

Paul Berman writes about politics and literature for The New Republic, the New York Times Book Review, and other magazines. His books have been translated into thirteen languages. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780393330212
Subtitle:
Or, the Passion of Joschka Fischer, and Its Aftermath
Author:
Berman, Paul
Foreword:
Holbrooke, Richard
Author:
Berman, Paul
Author:
Holbrooke, Richard
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Subject:
Political
Subject:
History & Theory - General
Subject:
Political Ideologies - Conservatism & Liberalism
Subject:
Civil Rights
Publication Date:
April 2007
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
317
Dimensions:
7.40x4.44x.85 in. .49 lbs.

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