A moving and unsettling exploration of a young man's formative years in a country still struggling with its pastAs a Jew in postwar Germany; Yascha Mounk felt like a foreigner in his own country. When he mentioned that he is Jewish; some made anti-Semitic jokes or talked about the superiority of the Aryan race. Others; sincerely hoping to atone for the country's past; fawned over him with a forced friendliness he found just as alienating.Vivid and fascinating; Stranger in My Own Country traces the contours of Jewish life in a country still struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich and portrays those who; inevitably; continue to live in its shadow. Marshaling an extraordinary range of material into a lively narrative; Mounk surveys his countrymen's responses to "the Jewish question." Examining history; the story of his family; and his own childhood; he shows that anti-Semitism and far-right extremism have long coexisted with self-conscious philo-Semitism in postwar Germany. But of late a new kind of resentment against Jews has come out in the open. Unnoticed by much of the outside world; the desire for a "finish line" that would spell a definitive end to the country's obsession with the past is feeding an emphasis on German victimhood. Mounk shows how; from the government's pursuit of a less "apologetic" foreign policy to the way the country's idea of the Volk makes life difficult for its immigrant communities; a troubled nationalism is shaping Germany's future.
#737662 in Books Farrar; Straus Giroux 2005-06-08 2005-05-19Ingredients: Example IngredientsFormat: Deckle EdgeOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 1.19 x 6.34 x 9.14l; #File Name: 0374289352336 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Extraordinary History and AdventureBy jfdFocusing on the story of Thomas Pellow; a young Cornishman who was enslaved by the Moors at age 11 -- but escaping after 23 years -- this fictionalized book of history also sets its context of the massive; systematic enslavement of white europeans and black Africans. Vast caravans raided black Africa and fleets of Corsairs raided the coasts of Europe. Morocco; Algiers; and Tripoli were wealthy through slavery; just like Spain had been earlier and the Ottoman Turks still were at the time. The book ends triumphantly with the British fleet commanded by a distant cousin of Pellow's destroying Algiers thereby suppressing the slave traders of the Maghreb. This tale reveals a crucial turning point in the eradication of human slavery; once nearly universal and "normal" practice of our species; now significantly restrained across this tired old globe.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Black Africans were not the only victims of the Slave TradeBy CustomerExcellent book that expands the knowledge of the Slave Trade. The extent that European Whites were also victims of brutal; barbaric Arab Sultans and others; is ignored or intentionally buried by Academia and Media. Could it be that the revelation of this inconvenient truth would disrupt the current narrative of the race hustlers? The truth that Arabs and Africans were slave masters of just as many white European slaves as there were black African Slaves in the Americas is heresy. Slavery was a way of life for 1000's of years of human existence. The narrative that ONLY evil white people of European decent were the only slave traders/owners is patently false. The academic and intellectual fraud in which this narrative has been perpetuated can only lead to two conclusions. Either the intellectual academic masters that regurgitate the fraudulent narrative are not really intellectuals but trained narrative teachers or they are involved in an agenda to impeach the social standing of white Europeans? I believe it's a little bit of both.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Very interesting bookBy Tabia AniThe time is long since over due of blaming "others" for our over all plight. Of course; I know the Moors did great things in Europe; yet I am also discovering that they were the main ingredient in our undoing...and eventual hardships in this country.
