This is the first comprehensive book in English on the fate of the homosexuals in Nazi Germany. The author; a German refugee; examines the climate and conditions that gave rise to a vicious campaign against Germany's gays; as directed by Himmler and his SS--persecution that resulted in tens of thousands of arrests and thousands of deaths.In this Nazi crusade; homosexual prisoners were confined to death camps where; forced to wear pink triangles; they constituted the lowest rung in the camp hierarchy. The horror of camp life is described through diaries; previously untranslated documents; and interviews with and letters from survivors; revealing how the anti-homosexual campaign was conducted; the crackpot homophobic fantasies that fueled it; the men who made it possible; and those who were its victims; this chilling book sheds light on a corner of twentieth-century history that has been hidden in the shadows much too long.
#1102822 in Books Giorgio Agamben 2013-09-18 2013-09-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .70 x 5.50l; .50 #File Name: 0804784043176 pagesOpus Dei
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy CustomerGreat work!6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. On the Maligned Ethics of OperativityBy StreetlightReaderContinuing his recent engagement with the rich and labyrinthine inheritance of the Christian tradition; in Opus Dei (‘work of God’); Giorgio Agamben traces the way in which; from its obscure origins in the early institutionalization of the Church; the concept of ‘duty’ was incorporated into the sphere of modern ethics. While it’s clear that Agamben is no fan of duty (referring to its appropriation in Kant as an ‘aberrant idea’); his antipathy towards the notion doesn’t hamper the sensitivity and subtlety with which he explores its modulations from Aristotle to Kant via doctrinal teachings of the Church. Indeed; although Kant marks the zenith point at which duty and ethics become inseparably bound; Agamben argues that it’s only thanks to a ‘centuries-long praxis and theorisation’ on the part of the Church that Kant was able to get his ethical project off the ground to begin with. And it's just to this historically extended elaboration that Opus Dei investigates.Specifically; Agamben traces the germinal seeds of ethical duty to the way in which the ‘priesthood’ of Jesus – in whom the work of salvation coincided with his deific person – was slowly but surely transformed by the Church in order to define the function of the clergy – whose priestly ‘office’; by contrast; remained utterly indifferent to his individual character or person. In this way; the priest becomes something like an instrument of God; in whom and through which God works. As a result; the office of the priest in turn becomes conceived of in terms of duty: the priest is the one who; occupying the office of the priest; carries out his duty as a priest (Christ; in comparison; was anything but duty-bound: as Word made flesh; his very being coincided without remainder to his salvific action - a coincidence of which the monastic orders attempted to emulate; as charted in meticulous detail by Agamben's previous offering; The Highest Poverty).Key for Agamben here is the circular structure that defines the function of the priest; obligated to carry out his office as a priest; he is nonetheless a priest only insofar as he carries out his office. This circularity - between 'being' (a priest) on the one hand; and 'acting' (as a priest) on the other - is paradigmatic of what Agamben understands to be the defining ontology of modernity; an ontology of 'effectivity'. Such an ontology - the introduction of which is tracked by Agamben (in a move very reminiscent of Heidegger) to the fickle translation of key Greek philosophical terms into the Latin vocabulary - is one in which being (ontology) and praxis (action) slowly resolve themselves into indistinguishability. Placed beside Agamben's analysis of power in The Kingdom and the Glory (in which power analogously shuttles endlessly and circuitously between the 'being' of the divine Kingdom and the praxis of the sublunary 'government'); Opus Dei's full import can be seen to lie in its isolation of the sort of 'ethical fall out' that results from just such an articulation of power and being.If it isn't clear by now; there is simply a massive deal of philosophical work that Opus Dei juggles with in its slim 130 or so pages. And indeed; it's easily - in my opinion - one of the most challenging of Agamben's recent books. Not only because of its cross-fertilisation of ideas with Agamben's other works (anyone looking for clarification on his frequent but enigmatic use of the term 'operativity' absolutely needs to read this book); but also because of its rather strange structure; which shuffles between reflections on the Christian liturgy; scholastic interpretations of Aristotle's doctrines of potentiality and virtue; a genealogy of 'office'; and a reading of Kant's ethics; in a way that can be frankly bewildering to anyone without a prior background into Agamben's general project. Still; insofar as it constitutes an extension and deepening of the Homo Sacer series; Opus Dei does its job admirably; and is a welcome addition to the Agambinian reserve.1 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Carlaperfect
