audiobook Slavery and the Economy of Sao Paulo; 1750-1850 by Francisco Vidal Luna; Herbert S. Klein in History

Description

Ivan Jablonka's grandparents' lives ended long before his began: although Matès and Idesa Jablonka were his family; they were perfect strangers. When he set out to uncover their story; Jablonka had little to work with. Neither of them was the least bit famous; and they left little behind except their two orphaned children; a handful of letters; and a passport. Persecuted as communists in Poland; as refugees in France; and then as Jews under the Vichy regime; Matès and Idesa lived their short lives underground. They were overcome by the tragedies of the twentieth century: Stalinism; the mounting dangers in Europe during the 1930s; the Second World War; and the destruction of European Jews. Jablonka's challenge was; as a historian; to rigorously distance himself and yet; as family; to invest himself completely in their story. Imagined oppositions collapsed―between scholarly research and personal commitment; between established facts and the passion of the one recording them; between history and the art of storytelling. To write this book; Jablonka traveled to three continents; met the handful of survivors of his grandparents' era; their descendants; and some of his far-flung cousins; and investigated twenty different archives. And in the process; he reflected on his own family and his responsibilities to his father; the orphaned son; and to his own children and the family wounds they all inherited. A History of the Grandparents I Never Had cannot bring Matès and Idesa to life; but Jablonka succeeds in bringing them; as he soberly puts it; to light. The result is a gripping story; a profound reflection; and an absolutely extraordinary history.