1st Edition

Optimism in Politics Reflections on Contemporary History

By Walter Laqueur Copyright 2014
    276 Pages
    by Routledge

    274 Pages
    by Routledge

    This new collection by Walter Laqueur, one of the most distinguished historians and political commentators of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, vividly brings to life his perspective on fifty years of political life. The essays in this volume deal with events ranging from more than seventy years ago to some that have not yet happened, but may in years to come. Laqueur divides his writings into five main areas: optimism in politics, the topic that unites this volume; Europe; the Arab Spring; Israel and Jewish affairs; and recollections of the past.

    This volume addresses an increasingly important question: How much optimism do we need in politics? Some neuroscientists believe that many of our assessments rest on an excess of optimism amounting to a dangerous bias. Another school of cognitive scientists sees the main danger in being influenced too much by negative conclusions. Although these competing perspectives have been only rarely investigated, Laqueur argues that such psychological factors play a decisive role in the assessment of political trends, and they should.

    Laqueur also reminds readers that there is a connection between writing history and commenting on current affairs, but it is not remotely as close and simple as often thought. The idea that the historian is somehow better qualified than others to interpret the present, let alone predict the future, is certainly not borne out by the evidence. Some great historians have been good and reliable political commentators, others have been miserable failures. Laqueur definitely falls in the former camp, as these reflections attest.

    Acknowledgments
    Introduction

    Part 1: Optimism in Politics
    Optimism in Politics
    The Marxism Renaissance
    Reflections on the Next Revolution
    On Youth Movements (1970)
    Young Germany

    Part 2: Europe
    Preface
    European Futures
    Night Thoughts on Europe
    Europe United: An Essay in Counterfactual History (April 1, 2012)

    Part 3: Middle East: The Arab Spring
    Preface
    The Arab Spring
    Arab Autumn
    Revolution in the Middle East?
    Cassandra in Cairo
    An Interview

    Part 4: Israel and Jewish Affairs
    The New Million
    The Kibbutz at 100
    Recollections of Jerusalem
    Bloodlands The Snyder Version
    George Mosse: Berlin to Madison
    Guttentag: Breslau to Cochabamba
    The Kaiser's Spy, Jihad, and the Jewish Nazis

    Part 5: Departure and Arrival
    Preface
    1938
    Homecoming (1963)
    Caucasian Diary

    Index

    Biography

    Walter Laqueur