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Tony Judt (1948–2010)

Author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945

28+ Works 6,606 Members 131 Reviews 24 Favorited

About the Author

Tony Judt was born in London, England on January 2, 1948. He was educated at King's College, Cambridge University and the École Normale Supérieure, Paris. He taught at numerous colleges and universities including Cambridge University; St. Anne's College, Oxford; the University of California, show more Berkeley and New York University. He was the author or editor off over fifteen books including Ill Fares the Land, Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century, and Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award. He was also a frequent contributor to numerous journals including The New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, and The New York Times. He was diagnosed with ALS in 2008. He died on August 6, 2010 at the age of 62. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Tony Judt in Washington Square Park, 2001.

Works by Tony Judt

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005) — Author — 2,993 copies
The Memory Chalet (2010) 636 copies

Associated Works

The Plague (1947) — Editor, some editions — 18,385 copies
L'eredità della rivoluzione francese (1987) — Contributor — 6 copies

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Reviews

Took me forever to read. At least 70 years…quite an amazing book. Thorough, detailed, insightful. The journey from the moving of borders after WW1 to the mass moving of people post WW2, the fall of communism, the rise of Europe, the long denial of the holocaust and the defeat of fascism always tenuous (now sadly born out) just an amazing book. It could only take it in small chunks. Much of it does not stick in my porous brain. But what does. Wow.
 
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BookyMaven | 44 other reviews | Dec 6, 2023 |
This book put a lot of my thoughts in order for me. He answered a lot of questions I had about how we've come, as a society, to where we are. My only problem with the book was the lack of offered solutions beyond 'Young people need to get involved and reform from within.' (I'm paraphrasing.)
 
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bookwrapt | 33 other reviews | Mar 31, 2023 |
Tony Judt saw what was coming. I remember some of these as essays in the New York Review of Books. Written partially in response to the financial crises of 2008, along with the neoliberal crises of the decades before, the book reads as prescient now. Judt correctly predicts that leaders failing to solve real problems will lead to leaders attempting to solve fake problems, and here we are.
 
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kcshankd | 33 other reviews | Feb 25, 2023 |
If you ever wanted to understand today's Europe better, read this book. It is not a superficial history of postwar Western Europe, but covers all of Europe in some depth (as much as 900 pages will allow). Nor is it a simple political history, Judt covers cultural and social movements and changes as well.

But, beyond these things, the book is a joy to read. Judt is a wonderful writer with a sharp wit and deft wryness. Combined with his encyclopedic knowledge of European history, the resulting book is not one you will want to put down nor to end.… (more)
 
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qaphsiel | 44 other reviews | Feb 20, 2023 |

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Works
28
Also by
4
Members
6,606
Popularity
#3,710
Rating
4.0
Reviews
131
ISBNs
260
Languages
20
Favorited
24

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