0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > History > World history > From 1900

Not currently available

The Jewish Century (Paperback, New Ed) Loot Price: R772
Discovery Miles 7 720
You Save: R196 (20%)
The Jewish Century (Paperback, New Ed): Yuri Slezkine

The Jewish Century (Paperback, New Ed)

Yuri Slezkine

 (sign in to rate)
List price R968 Loot Price R772 Discovery Miles 7 720 | Repayment Terms: R72 pm x 12* You Save R196 (20%)

Bookmark and Share

Supplier out of stock. If you add this item to your wish list we will let you know when it becomes available.

This masterwork of interpretative history begins with a bold declaration: The Modern Age is the Jewish Age--and we are all, to varying degrees, Jews.

The assertion is, of course, metaphorical. But it underscores Yuri Slezkine's provocative thesis. Not only have Jews adapted better than many other groups to living in the modern world, they have become the premiere symbol and standard of modern life everywhere.

Slezkine argues that the Jews were, in effect, among the world's first free agents. They traditionally belonged to a social and anthropological category known as "service nomads," an outsider group specializing in the delivery of goods and services. Their role, Slezkine argues, was part of a broader division of human labor between what he calls Mercurians-entrepreneurial minorities--and Apollonians--food-producing majorities.

Since the dawning of the Modern Age, Mercurians have taken center stage. In fact, Slezkine argues, modernity is all about Apollonians becoming Mercurians--urban, mobile, literate, articulate, intellectually intricate, physically fastidious, and occupationally flexible. Since no group has been more adept at Mercurianism than the Jews, he contends, these exemplary ancients are now model moderns.

The book concentrates on the drama of the Russian Jews, including emigres and their offspring in America, Palestine, and the Soviet Union. But Slezkine has as much to say about the many faces of modernity--nationalism, socialism, capitalism, and liberalism--as he does about Jewry. Marxism and Freudianism, for example, sprang largely from the Jewish predicament, Slezkine notes, and both Soviet Bolshevism and American liberalism were affected in fundamental ways by the Jewish exodus from the Pale of Settlement.

Rich in its insight, sweeping in its chronology, and fearless in its analysis, this sure-to-be-controversial work is an important contribution not only to Jewish and Russian history but to the history of Europe and America as well."

General

Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of origin: United States
Release date: August 2006
First published: 2006
Authors: Yuri Slezkine
Dimensions: 235 x 152 x 33mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 456
Edition: New Ed
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12760-6
Categories: Books > Humanities > History > European history > General
Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Jewish studies
Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > General
Books > History > European history > General
Books > History > World history > From 1900 > General
LSN: 0-691-12760-3
Barcode: 9780691127606

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

Partners