Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten 20th Century
By Tony Judt
(Penguin Press, 2008)
In Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century, Tony Judt, Erich Maria Remarque Professor of European Studies, looks at the tendency to view history in terms of myth rather than true understanding. Through the lens of the book’s 24 essays, he argues that these sacrifices can have negative effects on the way we view our future.
In Reappraisals, Judt examines the Holocaust, Marxism, the increase in state involvement in politics and economics in Western societies, the accelerated progress in globalization, and U.S. foreign policy. Using these and other instances of history, Judt, who directs NYU’s Remarque Institute, shows that in today’s world we often lose sight of the very recent past—even before beginning to make sense of it.