A Century of Ambivalence

2001 History

Author : Zvi Y. Gitelman
Release : 2001
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 112/5 ( reviews)

Book Synopsis A Century of Ambivalence by : Zvi Y. Gitelman

Download or read book A Century of Ambivalence written by Zvi Y. Gitelman. This book was released on 2001. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century ago the Russian Empire contained the largest Jewish community in the world, numbering about five million people. Today, the Jewish population of the former Soviet Union has dwindled to half a million, but remains probably the world's third largest Jewish community. In the intervening century the Jews of that area have been at the center of some of the most dramatic events of modern history -- two world wars, revolutions, pogroms, political liberation, repression, and the collapse of the USSR. They have gone through tumultuous upward and downward economic and social mobility and experienced great enthusiasms and profound disappointments. In startling photographs from the archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and with a lively and lucid narrative, A Century of Ambivalence traces the historical experience of Jews in Russia from a period of creativity and repression in the second half of the 19th century through the paradoxes posed by the post-Soviet era. This redesigned edition, which includes more than 200 photographs and two substantial new chapters on the fate of Jews and Judaism in the former Soviet Union, is ideal for general readers and classroom use.

A Century of Ambivalence

1988 History

Author : Zvi Y. Gitelman
Release : 1988
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis A Century of Ambivalence by : Zvi Y. Gitelman

Download or read book A Century of Ambivalence written by Zvi Y. Gitelman. This book was released on 1988. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A photographic history, based mainly on the New York YIVO Institute archives. Surveys Jewish life in Russia, focusing on the pogroms of 1881-82 and 1905 and their effects (e.g. the Jewish revolutionary movements, the Bund, and Zionism), and the Beilis trial of 1911. Pp. 96-108 discuss the ambivalent Jewish reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution. Although the Bolsheviks were hostile to Jewish concerns, the new regime offered great opportunities to literate Jews, while the Whites and the Ukrainians were responsible for pogroms and exploited antisemitism to rally anti-Bolshevik support. Ch. 4 (pp. 175-223) describes the fate of the Jews of the USSR during the Holocaust, Jewish resistance, participation in the partisan movement and in the Red Army. Also surveys Stalin's anti-Jewish campaign from 1948 on, the Doctor's Plot, Soviet anti-Zionism, the emigration movement, and prospects for Jewish life in the USSR.

Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century and the Shadow of the Past

2007-03-27 Political Science

Author : Robert Legvold
Release : 2007-03-27
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 171/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century and the Shadow of the Past by : Robert Legvold

Download or read book Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century and the Shadow of the Past written by Robert Legvold. This book was released on 2007-03-27. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Because the turbulent trajectory of Russia's foreign policy since the collapse of the Soviet Union echoes previous moments of social and political transformation, history offers a special vantage point from which to judge the current course of events. In this book, a mix of leading historians and political scientists examines the foreign policy of contemporary Russia over four centuries of history. The authors explain the impact of empire and its loss, the interweaving of domestic and foreign impulses, long-standing approaches to national security, and the effect of globalization over time. Contributors focus on the underlying patterns that have marked Russian foreign policy and that persist today. These patterns are driven by the country's political makeup, geographical circumstances, economic strivings, unsettled position in the larger international setting, and, above all, its tortured effort to resolve issues of national identity. The argument here is not that the Russia of Putin and his successors must remain trapped by these historical patterns but that history allows for an assessment of how much or how little has changed in Russia's approach to the outside world and creates a foundation for identifying what must change if Russia is to evolve. A truly unique collection, this volume utilizes history to shed crucial light on Russia's complex, occasionally inscrutable relationship with the world. In so doing, it raises the broader issue of the relationship of history to the study of contemporary foreign policy and how these two enterprises might be better joined.

Becoming Soviet Jews

2013-04-29 History

Author : Elissa Bemporad
Release : 2013-04-29
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 271/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Becoming Soviet Jews by : Elissa Bemporad

Download or read book Becoming Soviet Jews written by Elissa Bemporad. This book was released on 2013-04-29. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “endlessly rewarding” contribution to the study of Jewish life in the Soviet Union: “Fascinating . . . nuanced and respectful of human limitations” (Slavic Review). Minsk, the present capital of Belarus, was a heavily Jewish city in the decades between the world wars. Recasting our understanding of Soviet Jewish history, Becoming Soviet Jews demonstrates that pre-revolutionary forms of Jewish life in Minsk maintained continuity through the often violent social changes enforced by the communist project. Using Minsk as a case study of the Sovietization of Jews in the former Pale of Settlement, Elissa Bemporad reveals the ways in which many Jews acculturated to Soviet society in the 1920s and 1930s while remaining committed to older patterns of Jewish identity, such as Yiddish culture and education, attachment to the traditions of the Jewish workers’ Bund, circumcision, and kosher slaughter. This pioneering study also illuminates the reshaping of gender relations on the Jewish street and explores Jewish everyday life and identity during the years of the Great Terror. “Highly readable and brimming with novel facts and insights . . . [A] rich and engaging portrayal of a previously overlooked period and place.” —H-Judaic

On Ambivalence

2012-02-24 Philosophy

Author : Kenneth Weisbrode
Release : 2012-02-24
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 075/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis On Ambivalence by : Kenneth Weisbrode

Download or read book On Ambivalence written by Kenneth Weisbrode. This book was released on 2012-02-24. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise guide to ambivalence, from Adam and Eve (to eat the apple or not?) to Hamlet (to be or not?) to globalization (e pluribus unum or not?). Why is it so hard to make up our minds? Adam and Eve set the template: Do we or don't we eat the apple? They chose, half-heartedly, and nothing was ever the same again. With this book, Kenneth Weisbrode offers a crisp, literate, and provocative introduction to the age-old struggle with ambivalence. Ambivalence results from a basic desire to have it both ways. This is only natural—although insisting upon it against all reason often results not in "both" but in the disappointing "neither." Ambivalence has insinuated itself into our culture as a kind of obligatory reflex, or default position, before practically every choice we make. It affects not only individuals; organizations, societies, and cultures can also be ambivalent. How often have we asked the scornful question, "Are we the Hamlet of nations"? How often have we demanded that our leaders appear decisive, judicious, and stalwart? And how eager have we been to censure them when they hesitate or waver? Weisbrode traces the concept of ambivalence, from the Garden of Eden to Freud and beyond. The Obama era, he says, may be America's own era of ambivalence: neither red nor blue but a multicolored kaleidoscope. Ambivalence, he argues, need not be destructive. We must learn to distinguish it from its symptoms—selfishness, ambiguity, and indecision—and accept that frustration, guilt, and paralysis felt by individuals need not lead automatically to a collective pathology. Drawing upon examples from philosophy, history, literature, and the social sciences, On Ambivalence is a pocket-sized portrait of a complex human condition. It should be read by anyone who has ever grappled with making the right choice.

Popular eBooks

A Century of Ambivalence

A Century of Ambivalence

Russian Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century and the Shadow of the Past

Becoming Soviet Jews

On Ambivalence

You may also like...