Description
Book SynopsisThis wide-ranging collection of academic essays examines the various undertakings by modern intellectuals and ideologues in the process of propaganda and political debate. Matthew Feldman calls attention to the substantial role played in post-Great War Europe and the US by religionsboth familiar monotheisms like Christianity and secular political faiths -- over the last century of upheaval and revolutionary change. While the first part considers Ezra Pound as a case study in fascist ʼconversion in Mussolinis Italy, leading to extensive propaganda, the second half examines other fascist ideologues like Martin Heidegger to fascist murderer Anders Behring Breivik, before turning to other leading ideologies in modern Europe and the US, communism and liberalism, covering key figures from Thomas Merton and Albert Camus to the Russian Constructionists and Samuel Beckett, with especial focus on the subjects of modern warfare, political terrorism, and genocide, ranging from Stalinist gulags to the war in Iraq. With thought-provoking discussion of the interplay between belief and modern politics as understood by familiar intellectual voices, this volume will be of interest to scholars and general readers alike.
Trade Review"We all know Kafkas letter about the effect books should exert: 'If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?' This question underpins Matthew Feldmans ethical rigor. With a slap in the face or a blow to the head,Politics, Ideology, and Faithreminds us of the need to reopen old and new archives so as to assess key texts of modernism and recent acts of terrorism. One needs to examine to what degree they have been tainted by fascism, denial, totalitarianism, and intolerance. There is a lot to learn from these courageous explorations of the darker sides of our modern and contemporary culture." Professor Jean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania, American Academy of the Arts and Sciences
