We never met, he and I, though over the years we had a few civil e-mail exchanges, even at the height of his quarrel with Israel. A few months ago I sort of reviewed his magnificent Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
. Afterwords we had a last brief e-mail exchange, which was surprisingly warm and personal.His last 18 months have been hell, yet by all accounts he endured them with fortitude and courage.
In 1983, when Gershom Scholem died, David Hartman suggested we all read at least one thing he'd written to honor his memory. Some of the short and polemic things Judt wrote over the past decade or so need not be read nor remembered. His books, however, were another matter, and Postwar above them all. If you can find the time, you'll not be disappointed, and you'll find yourself spending the time with a very fine historian.
4 comments:
this is where I found the news first Eamonn McDonagh
then I had what I think was my first ever look at Mondoweiss where I scrolled through the comments
what's wrong with these people? can they do anything without hysterics?
Silke
Silke - the Mondoweiss crowd are truly sick. Demented. The first time I looked at the site was when Yakov mentioned the poisoned balloon conspiracy on that site. They are are quite mad.
These are clearly people with a personal grudge. The distilled, insane jealousy sipping through each and every post addressing the Medwinsky-Clinton wedding is both revealing and frightening.
If Medwinsky is successful and Phil Weiss is not, "the Zionists", "the Jews" are to be blamed. That's the bottom line.
Yaacov, I take the personal satisfaction of wishing him a warm arrival in hell.
Someone who advocated the destruction of Israel belongs there.
Tony Judt will never get a RIP salutation from me!
Post a Comment