Geography of Hope: Exile, the Enlightenment, Disassimilation
Intellectuals of Jewish origin have long been well represented in the social sciences, although very few of the most prominent among them have devoted any of their work to the fact of being Jewish itself. At the same time, the founding role of Jewish theoreticians has been thought to derive from their dual position as both outsiders faced with the possibility of anti-Semitism and insiders assimilated into behaving according to the norms of a dominant "code of civility." In Geography of Hope,...
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In Geography of Hope, French sociologist and historian Pierre Birnbaum examines the work of the some of the prominent Jewish social scientists of the past two centuries in order to analyze their range of responses to the tensions between the Enlightenment call for universalism and the reality of Jewish particularism.
Introduction: Toward a Counterhistory 1Around a Surprising Encounter with Heinrich Graetz Karl Marx 36The Memory of Masada Emile David Durkheim 83The Stranger, from Berlin to Chicago Georg Simmel 123An "Authentic French Jew" in Search of His Roots Raymond Aron 169Hannah and Rahel, "Fugitives from Palestine" Hannah Arendt 203The Awakening of a Wounded Nationalism Isaiah Berlin 242The End of Whispering Michael Walzer 288A Home for "Fallen Jews" Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi 332Conclusion: Exile, the Enlightenment, Disassimilation 374Notes 385
\ From the Publisher"Pierre Birnbaum's Geography of Hope is a penetrating analysis of the grappling of eight prominent Jewish social thinkers. . . Birnbaum's scholarship is meticulous and uncompromising. The book is detailed and well argued. . . And as in other grand interpretations, the well-versed scholar will be surprised to learn how the great experiment of humanity—the Enlightenment—reproduced anti-Semitic attempts to abolish Judaism while promising it new avenues for regeneration. In his thorough and compassionate analysis, Birnbaum charts the geography of this historical movement, suggesting that perhaps true enlightenment is indeed coming."—Gad Yair, American Journal of Sociology\ "Birnbaum offers a fascinating rendering of the last hundred years of Jewish self-fashioning in the diaspora founded on what one might call the reversal of Jewish modernity....It is the beginning, perhaps, of a new canon, making social theory, if not the new 'theology of Judaism.'"—Shaul Magid American Historical Review\ "Pierre Birnbaum's Geography of Hope: Exile, the Enlightenment, disassimilation is a rich, complex, and occasionally perplexing book. ...clearly, a prodigious amount of research and thought has gone into the making of it. This sprawling, multi-subject volume is also a deeply personal and passionate book."—Times Literary Supplement\ \ \
