Tony Judt has passed
August 7, 2010 10:24 AM Subscribe
Historian Tony Judt has passed away at the age of 62. Suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Judt had recently published Ill Fares the Land, a call for the US to adopt social democratic policies.
Judt, by training a historian of the French Left, gained a large audience with his 2005 magnum opus Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. A veteran of the Six-Day War, Judt became a critic of the State of Israel's foreign policy, with an attendant controversy. Previously on the Blue.
Judt, by training a historian of the French Left, gained a large audience with his 2005 magnum opus Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. A veteran of the Six-Day War, Judt became a critic of the State of Israel's foreign policy, with an attendant controversy. Previously on the Blue.
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ALS is a horrible disease. I hoped Judt would be able to stick around a lot longer.
posted by vickyverky at 10:30 AM on August 7, 2010
ALS is a horrible disease. I hoped Judt would be able to stick around a lot longer.
posted by vickyverky at 10:30 AM on August 7, 2010
A complete obituary will soon appear on nytimes.com.
posted by availablelight at 10:30 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by availablelight at 10:30 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by languagehat at 10:33 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by languagehat at 10:33 AM on August 7, 2010
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I know what you mean, vickyverky. Much too soon.
posted by inoculatedcities at 10:34 AM on August 7, 2010
I know what you mean, vickyverky. Much too soon.
posted by inoculatedcities at 10:34 AM on August 7, 2010
A gifted person; this is a terrible loss. May he rest in peace.
posted by Azaadistani at 10:34 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by Azaadistani at 10:34 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:41 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:41 AM on August 7, 2010
"sod it, I intend to do something. Well, what'll I do?"
I'm going to print that out in very big letters.
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posted by holgate at 10:48 AM on August 7, 2010
I'm going to print that out in very big letters.
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posted by holgate at 10:48 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by a small part of the world at 10:50 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by a small part of the world at 10:50 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by jan murray at 10:52 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by jan murray at 10:52 AM on August 7, 2010
I'd been following his articles in the NYRB for a few months now (starting with 'Night'), and Postwar is at the top of my to-read list.
It's comforting to know he left behind a fairly awesome son:
See here, here and, most awesomely, here.
posted by domakesaypat at 10:54 AM on August 7, 2010 [4 favorites]
It's comforting to know he left behind a fairly awesome son:
See here, here and, most awesomely, here.
posted by domakesaypat at 10:54 AM on August 7, 2010 [4 favorites]
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posted by LobsterMitten at 11:01 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:01 AM on August 7, 2010
Just last month he published his essay "Words" in the New York Review of Books. His dazzling intellect and hallmark lucid prose there are undiminished, despite, as he confessed, the immense effort basic articulation of his thoughts had come to require. Now that he's gone, I cannot put together the words to express the loss.
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posted by Doktor Zed at 11:04 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by Doktor Zed at 11:04 AM on August 7, 2010
If you can listen to this interview without tearing up, you're stronger than I am.
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posted by lukemeister at 11:07 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by lukemeister at 11:07 AM on August 7, 2010
Oh man, I'm about 1/3 of the way through Postwar right now and am amazed that something like this could be the work of just a few years. The command of the material and the coherency of the presentation of an enormous, complicated topic is amazing. And unlike some authors, he doesn't make the simplifications glib, but rather communicates them as the backbone of a more nuanced history. It's amazing, and I am excited to read more from him. I'm terribly sorry to see him pass away and in such a harrowing manner, but I'd be even more sorry if I knew of him not at all and couldn't feel the pangs of sadness at his death.
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posted by Schismatic at 11:21 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by Schismatic at 11:21 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by lalochezia at 11:38 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by lalochezia at 11:38 AM on August 7, 2010
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posted by AwkwardPause at 11:54 AM on August 7, 2010
posted by AwkwardPause at 11:54 AM on August 7, 2010
A paragon of honesty, intelligence, and courage in the face of soul-killing adversity. It is sad to contemplate what else he might have shared with us had ALS not stolen him away so soon.
posted by rdone at 12:02 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by rdone at 12:02 PM on August 7, 2010
"I'm regarded outside New York University as a looney tunes leftie, self-hating Jewish communist; inside the university, I'm regarded as a typical, old-fashioned, white male liberal elitist," he said recently. "I like that. I'm on the edge of both, it makes me feel comfortable."
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posted by homunculus at 12:37 PM on August 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
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posted by homunculus at 12:37 PM on August 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
ALS is a horrible disease. I hoped Judt would be able to stick around a lot longer.
I'm not sure he did, given the things he wrote about his condition.
Very sad regardless.
posted by Epenthesis at 12:52 PM on August 7, 2010
I'm not sure he did, given the things he wrote about his condition.
Very sad regardless.
posted by Epenthesis at 12:52 PM on August 7, 2010
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As Epenthesis notes, Judt didn't really want to stick around in the twilight world of ALS - still a tragedy the whole thing had to happen. His essay Night was haunting, to the point where I don't know that I'd wish he "stuck around longer," but it's a shame the whole thing had to happen.
posted by graymouser at 1:17 PM on August 7, 2010
As Epenthesis notes, Judt didn't really want to stick around in the twilight world of ALS - still a tragedy the whole thing had to happen. His essay Night was haunting, to the point where I don't know that I'd wish he "stuck around longer," but it's a shame the whole thing had to happen.
posted by graymouser at 1:17 PM on August 7, 2010
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I could feel this coming...
I have been Hoovering through the writings of Judt after having picked up, and being unable to put down, Reappraisals.
The world grows dimmer for the loss of him.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 2:20 PM on August 7, 2010
I could feel this coming...
I have been Hoovering through the writings of Judt after having picked up, and being unable to put down, Reappraisals.
The world grows dimmer for the loss of him.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 2:20 PM on August 7, 2010
Postwar was excellent. I hadn't known he was ill.
A great loss to the study of history and to the world.
posted by AdamCSnider at 2:54 PM on August 7, 2010
A great loss to the study of history and to the world.
posted by AdamCSnider at 2:54 PM on August 7, 2010
Ill Fares the Land should really be read by anyone who cares about America. We could actually have a much more equitable, kind and productive society.
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posted by Maias at 3:31 PM on August 7, 2010
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posted by Maias at 3:31 PM on August 7, 2010
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posted by piratebowling at 3:48 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by piratebowling at 3:48 PM on August 7, 2010
Oh shit shit shit. I had hoped he would be with us for so much longer.
RIP.
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posted by jokeefe at 7:03 PM on August 7, 2010
RIP.
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posted by jokeefe at 7:03 PM on August 7, 2010
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posted by postagepaid at 7:17 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by postagepaid at 7:17 PM on August 7, 2010
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posted by dealing away at 8:54 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by dealing away at 8:54 PM on August 7, 2010
He was one of my first professors at NYU. It was an honor and a pleasure to listen to his lectures.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 9:38 PM on August 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by DrGirlfriend at 9:38 PM on August 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
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posted by a sourceless light at 10:17 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by a sourceless light at 10:17 PM on August 7, 2010
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I just finished Post War this morning. It was uniformly excellent and I can imagine reading it again and again.
posted by girlgenius at 10:18 PM on August 7, 2010
I just finished Post War this morning. It was uniformly excellent and I can imagine reading it again and again.
posted by girlgenius at 10:18 PM on August 7, 2010
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posted by Mister Bijou at 12:36 AM on August 8, 2010
posted by Mister Bijou at 12:36 AM on August 8, 2010
Oh no. :(
Damn, damn, damn. He was a smart, passionate man and an amazing writer. Was so upset when I heard he had ALS.
I disagreed with him politically. Have read a good deal of his work, and still feel he deliberately ignored or diminished certain harsh realities and historical facts to reach some of his conclusions regarding Israel and Zionism. That said, what the American Jewish community did to him after his essay advocating a one-state solution and his subsequent warning that criticism of Israel should not be automatically equated to antisemitism was a sin. They could have met him as an intellectual equal, respected him for taking a principled stand, disagreed with him and continued a dialogue. Instead, they ostracized him and drummed him out. And we all suffered for it.
There would have been tremendous value in such a dialogue for America's Jews. The ADL's ideological monomania does not speak for all of us. Nor does the AJC. But because so many believe that Israel is the only thing standing between them and extinction, they view reasonable (reasonable!) criticism of it as a threat. We are far poorer for that attitude.
Judt's writings speak eloquently about the dangers of ethnic ideology -- of giving any government carte blanche to do as they wish by holding them above critique. He was absolutely right.
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posted by zarq at 12:43 PM on August 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Damn, damn, damn. He was a smart, passionate man and an amazing writer. Was so upset when I heard he had ALS.
I disagreed with him politically. Have read a good deal of his work, and still feel he deliberately ignored or diminished certain harsh realities and historical facts to reach some of his conclusions regarding Israel and Zionism. That said, what the American Jewish community did to him after his essay advocating a one-state solution and his subsequent warning that criticism of Israel should not be automatically equated to antisemitism was a sin. They could have met him as an intellectual equal, respected him for taking a principled stand, disagreed with him and continued a dialogue. Instead, they ostracized him and drummed him out. And we all suffered for it.
There would have been tremendous value in such a dialogue for America's Jews. The ADL's ideological monomania does not speak for all of us. Nor does the AJC. But because so many believe that Israel is the only thing standing between them and extinction, they view reasonable (reasonable!) criticism of it as a threat. We are far poorer for that attitude.
Judt's writings speak eloquently about the dangers of ethnic ideology -- of giving any government carte blanche to do as they wish by holding them above critique. He was absolutely right.
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posted by zarq at 12:43 PM on August 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Excerpts of Judt at a 2006 debate on the power of the Israeli Lobby.
posted by homunculus at 10:51 AM on August 9, 2010
posted by homunculus at 10:51 AM on August 9, 2010
Judt turned into a man who believed that of all the dictatorships, genocidal regimes, and tyrannies in the world, it was little Democratic Israel that deserved to be eliminated and replaced. To his lasting shame, he took this belief to his grave.
posted by AdmiralAdama at 1:35 PM on August 16, 2010
posted by AdmiralAdama at 1:35 PM on August 16, 2010
Tony Judt turned into a man who, for all his good works and clarity of ethought, was the whipping boy for a fascist mentality that one would think would not exist in people who were the victims of a fascist mentality.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 8:59 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Jimmy Havok at 8:59 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]
haha so not wanting your state to be eliminated and absorbed into surrounding countries is a "fascist mentality"? interesting.
posted by AdmiralAdama at 2:59 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by AdmiralAdama at 2:59 PM on August 18, 2010
haha demonizing your victims is fascist.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 7:13 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by Jimmy Havok at 7:13 PM on August 18, 2010
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posted by joedan at 10:28 AM on August 7, 2010