The book explores the complex interplay between idealism and terror during pivotal moments in history, specifically the French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917. Mayer critiques the contemporary dismissal of violence in favor of a belief in peaceful progress through human rights and capitalism. By revisiting these revolutions, he challenges the notion that violence is an outdated or ineffective means of enacting change, highlighting its significant role in shaping modern society.
Arno J. Mayer Book order (chronological)
Arno Mayer is a historian focused on modern Europe, whose work examines the tension between rapid economic modernization and a lagging political order. He posits that "The Thirty Years' Crisis" between 1914 and 1945 stemmed from the clash between a dynamic industrial society and a rigid aristocratic power structure. Mayer analyzes how the aristocracy's efforts to maintain power led to the major conflicts of the 20th century. His analyses offer a distinct perspective on the origins of the World Wars and the Holocaust.
Der Krieg als Kreuzzug
- 701 pages
- 25 hours of reading
In this classic work which analyzes the context in which thirty years of war and revolution wracked the European continent, the great historian Arno Mayer emphasizes the backwardness of the European economies and their political subjugation by aristocratic elites and their allies. Mayer turns upside down the vision of societies marked by modernization and forward-thrusting bourgeois and popular social classes, thereby transforming our understanding of the traumatic crises of the early twentieth century.