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Ill Fares The Land (2010)

by Tony Judt(Favorite Author)

4.04 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1594202761 (ISBN13: 9781594202766)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

The Penguin Press HC

review 1: I love Tony Judt because he wrote with deep respect for the West - Europe and the United States - which provides my tradition and my culture. Yet, he does not close his eyes to the paradoxes. He wrote not only in the context of the West's wonderful, incomparable monuments of art, science, and philosophy, not to mention the depth of its religion. He wrote also of its grief, evildoings, and sorrows. And all the while, he wrote in a style of great periodicity and simplicity. He always wrote the right word, and a split infinitive never marred the smooth texture of the page. I am so sorry he has passed away. But even his passing was evidence of his integrity and honesty. May God keep him.Why then do I give this book only three stars. The book has a wonderful theme: why... more has our sense of mutual dependence and uplift since the 1940's been replaced in the past 30 years (since roughly 1980) by an extreme individualism and distrust of government, accompanied by personal greed and lip service only to the concept of equality. How has our polity become so shallow? And why do we not even know it?Tony Judt addresses these questions head-on. His discussion of Keynes and particularly of Hayek and modern misunderstanding of the Austrian school's economic theory is thought-provoking, especially in the face of the overweening, self-confident Chicago School. His theory that the current generation has no memory of what required our realtively more social democratic past and therefore is unaware that there are different ways to organize a nation or society and that there have been circumstances that current theories cannot cope with. In other words, it is unaware of the economic needs and anxieties of the past altogether and is unaware that a relatively more simple society in the USA reached remarkable levels of prosperity for all classes.But I think that he has left out two factors that influenced the generations of the 60's and 70's who are really the mentors of the current generation. Many people through the later 60's and into the whole of the 70's lost respect for government in the USA. The two factors are so obvious. The first are the lies and the bloodshed of the Vietnam War which were eventually felt so closely because of universal conscription. And, remember, more than 50,000 Americans died in the Vietnam whatever-it-was. Second were the venality and manipulations of the political process represented by the low machinations of the Watergate Affair which led to the actual resignation of a US president who had committed crimes. I do not think that our institutions ever recovered respect after these events. In short, our very concept of polity was injured and weakened. Therefore, when added to the failure of universal education in the USA, we became apathetic and were manipulated.I still recommend that this book be read because reading the voice of Tony Judt is a wonderful experience, and his message of the value of social democracy is something we need to hear.
review 2: O livro é um alerta direcionado aos jovens sobre os rumos da humanidade que tem, nos últimos 30 anos, cegamente adorado um modelo que exalta a acumulação de riquezas do indivíduo em detrimento da coletividade e do bem-estar social. Nessa tentativa de abrir os olhos das pessoas, são apresentados alguns números sobre a relação da desigualdade social e os vários problemas existentes nos dias atuais, tanto em países ricos como em desenvolvimento, e como essas relações vem evoluindo ao longo do tempo. Judt também apresenta ao leitor o conceito de "Confiança" e como este é fundamental em qualquer sociedade democrática e de direito. O liberalismo econômico e a social-democracia, embora sejam retratados com parcialidade, não são apresentados como solução definitiva, são apenas analisados. A ideia aqui é "Olhem para o passado e aprendam com ele, pois não estamos tão diferentes de 100 anos atrás".Comprei este livro recentemente, não por conhecer as outras obras de Tony Judt (o que não conheço) ou por ter recebido recomendação de alguém que o admira, mas pelo fato de seu título ter me chamado a atenção quando o vi na prateleira. Há tempos gostaria de ler algo que abordasse o que venho claramente presenciando no Brasil: o estado de caos de uma sociedade que cada vez mais se segrega e busca o sucesso financeiro como meta de vida e existência. Perguntas como "Por que no Brasil os serviços básicos são tão ruins? Por que obter lucro com a prestação de serviços que são básicos para a população?" fizeram com que eu chegasse a este livro. Se você possui os mesmos questionamentos e procura entender o que estamos passando, mas não quer apenas a opinião de um blogueiro qualquer e sim uma análise de fatos e acontecimentos históricos elaborada por um PhD em história, recomendo fortemente a sua leitura.Com certeza lerei as outras obras de Judt! less

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