New Releases by John Lukacs

¿Cuántos años duró el siglo XX? ¿Qué potencia ha definido la historia de este siglo? ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre ''estado'' y ''nación''? ¿Qué grandes imperios desaparecieron tras la Primera Guerra Mundial? Toda África era en 1914 colonia europea, excepto dos países. ¿Cuáles? ¿Cuándo abandonaron el patrón oro las grandes potencias? ¿Quién dijo ''yo era nacionalista, pero no patriota''? ¿Cuál fue la última gran cumbre entre líderes de la Segunda Guerra Mundial? ¿Quién dijo ''el problema de Hitler es que no sabe cuándo detenerse''? ¿Qué fue ''la crisis de los misiles'' y cómo se resolvió? ¿Cuándo y cómo acabó la guerra fría? ¿Hubo guerras entre países de Sudamérica a lo largo del siglo XX? ¿Cómo definiría con una frase el siglo XX?

Un maestro de historiadores nos brinda la elocuente y personal autohistoria de su vida y sus ideas. Países, recuerdos, familia, amores y amigos, éxitos, libros, trabajos, casas... Ochenta y cinco años (los que tenía su autor cuando este libro se publicó originalmente) dan para mucho. El genio de Lukacs, el mismo que anima sus extraordinarias obras históricas, es saber condensar esta larga vida dedicada a la literatura y la historia en unas páginas breves, ligeras, en las que desgrana a la vez el relato de su vida y su profunda visión de la historia y del conocimiento.

Collection of comments, essays, lectures, and other writings.

In a career spanning more than sixty-five years, John Lukacs has established himself as one of our most accomplished historians. Now, in the stimulating book History and the Human Condition, Lukacs offers his profound reflections on the very nature of history, the role of the historian, the limits of knowledge, and more. Guiding us on a quest for knowledge, Lukacs ranges far and wide over the past two centuries. The pursuit takes us from Alexis de Tocqueville to the atomic bomb, from American “exceptionalism” to Nazi expansionism, from the closing of the American frontier to the passing of the modern age. Lukacs’s insights about the past have important implications for the present and future. In chronicling the twentieth-century decline of liberalism and rise of conservatism, for example, he forces us to rethink the terms of the liberal-versus-conservative debate. In particular, he shows that what passes for “conservative” in the twenty-first century often bears little connection to true conservatism. Lukacs concludes by shifting his gaze from the broad currents of history to the world immediately around him. His reflections on his home, his town, his career, and his experiences as an immigrant to the United States illuminate deeper truths about America, the unique challenges of modernity, the sense of displacement and atomization that increasingly characterizes twenty-first-century life, and much more. Moving and insightful, this closing section focuses on the human in history, masterfully displaying how right Lukacs is in his contention that history, at its best, is personal and participatory. History and the Human Condition is a fascinating work by one of the finest historians of our time. More than that, it is perhaps John Lukacs’s final word on the great themes that have defined him as a historian and a writer.

Tras más de treinta libros y toda un vida dedicada a escribir y enseñar historia, John Lukacs vuelve la vista atrás y reflexiona sobre el ayer y el hoy de su oficio, sobre las muchas mudanzas en las modas y las costumbres que ha presenciado durante su larga carrera. Y trata de imaginar un futuro, un espacio donde su labor siga teniendo sentido. Con esta sencilla base, Lukacs firma la que quizá sea su obra maestra: un libro agridulce, realista y certero, escéptico pero cargado de ilusiones. El futuro de la Historia es el legado de un hombre al que durante toda su vida le obsesionó que la historia sea ante todo literatura de la mejor calidad, que ha reflexionado a fondo sobre los vínculos entre historia y la narrativa, que descree de las “ciencias sociales” y de las modas historiográficas, y que brinda por los grandes historiadores jóvenes, por el futuro. Emocionante, irónico, a veces desconcertante, a veces capaz de generar grandes preguntas con una reflexión aparentemente azarosa, Lukacs demuestra con El futuro de la Historia su maestría como prosista... y como historiador. “Una obra imprescindible para cualquiera que se interese por la historia en el siglo xxi”. Stanley G. Payne, hispanista “Nadie ha hecho más que John Lukacs por convertir la narración histórica corta en una forma de arte”. Antony Beevor, autor de Berlín. La caída: 1945 y Stalingrado John Lukacs (1924) Nacido en Hungría y residente en Estados Unidos, John Lukacs está considerado como uno de los principales expertos del mundo en la historia de las dos guerras mundiales. Ha compaginado durante casi cinco décadas la labor docente, como profesor de historia en diversas universidades estadounidenses, con su carrera de escritor. En esta colección se han publicado cuatro de sus obras anteriores.

Reflects upon the discipline of history, claiming that the writing and teaching of history in higher education is in decline, and explores ways in which the future of the discipline can thrive.

In this brilliant, strikingly original book, historian John Lukacs delves to the core of Adolf Hitler''s life and mind by examining him through the lenses of his surprisingly diverse biographers. Since 1945 there have been more than one hundred biographies of Hitler, and countless other books on him and the Third Reich. What happens when so many people reinterpret the life of a single individual? Dangerously, the cumulative portrait that begins to emerge can suggest the face of a mythic antihero whose crimes and errors blur behind an aura of power and conquest. By reversing the process, by making Hitler''s biographers--rather than Hitler himself--the subject of inquiry, Lukacs reveals the contradictions that take us back to the true Hitler of history. Like an attorney, Lukacs puts the biographies on trial. He gives a masterly account of all the major works and of the personalities, methods, and careers of the biographers (one cannot separate the historian from his history, particularly in this arena); he looks at what is still not known (and probably never will be) about Hitler; he considers various crucial aspects of the real Hitler; and he shows how different biographers have either advanced our understanding or gone off track. By singling out those who have been involved in, or co-opted into, an implicit "rehabilitation of Hitler," Lukacs draws powerful conclusions about Hitler''s essential differences from other monsters of history, such as Napoleon, Mussolini, and Stalin, and--equally important--about Hitler''s place in the history of this century and of the world.

A master historian offers an eloquent and personal auto-history of his life and his ideas Twenty years ago, John Lukacs paused to set down the history of his own thoughts and beliefs in Confessions of an Original Sinner, an adroit blend of autobiography and personal philosophy. Now, in Last Rites, he continues and expands his reflections, this time integrating his conception of history and human knowledge with private memories of his wives and loves, and enhancing the book with footnotes from his idiosyncratic diaries. The resulting volume is fascinating and delightful--an auto-history by a passionate, authentic, brilliant, and witty man. Lukacs begins with a concise rendering of a historical understanding of our world (essential reading for any historian), then follows with trenchant observations on his life in the United States, commentary on his native Hungary and the new meanings it took for him after 1989, and deeply personal portraits of his three wives, about whom he has not written before. He includes also a chapter on his formative memories of May and June 1940 and of Winston Churchill, a subject in some of Lukacs''s later studies. Last Rites is a richly layered summation combined with a set of extraordinary observations--an original book only John Lukacs could have written. Praise for Confessions of an Original Sinner: "[Lukacs] is an often witty and always fascinating--even entertaining--writer."--Washington Post

El 13 de mayo de 1940, Winston Churchill pronunció su primer discurso como Primer Ministro. Europa estaba en crisis: Hitler acababa de invadir Francia y Holanda. El gobierno inglés, muy tocado, confió el mando a Churchill entre el escepticismo general. "Nunca he creído en él", declaraba un parlamentario. "Es un desastre", decía otro. Pero Churchill fue el único que supo medir el riesgo que encarnaba Hitler. "Sangre, sudor y lágrimas" fue una de sus primeras promesas, y el punto de partida de una narración apasionante en la que se relatan los entresijos de un momento que cambió la historia. «Luckacs ha capturado este momento histórico con precisión meticulosa.» Booklist«Un perspicaz análisis de un momento clave de la historia mundial.» Library Journal

"Churchill''s first speech as Prime Minister"--Jkt.

Este es un novedoso relato de las tensiones entre los dos adversarios m s poderosos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial: Hitler y Stalin. Sus relaciones culminaron con la invasi n de Rusia por el ej rcito alem n la madrugada del 22 de junio de 1941. el autor desaf a las ideas com nmente aceptadas en torno a la mayor ofensiva militar que ha conocido la historia y propone que el objetivo ltimo de Hitler era Inglaterra. Si la Rusia comunista era derrotada, tanto Inglaterra como Estados Unidos se replantear an su decisi n de enfrentarse a Alemania. Lukacs nos transporta a Berl n, Londres y Mosc en las horas previas inmediatas al desenlace de la Operaci n Barbarroja y nos descubre a un Hitler perturbado por negros presagios y a un Stalin lento en reaccionar pero que termin asumiendo el papel de estadista que le permiti salir victorioso en la guerra. Iron as de la historia narradas con talento y gran audacia intelectual.

A man of impressive mental powers, of extraordinary intellectual range, and—last but not least—of exceptional integrity, George Frost Kennan (1904-2005) was an adviser to presidents and secretaries of state, with a decisive role in the history of this country (and of the entire world) for a few crucial years in the 1940s, after which he was made to retire; but then he became a scholar who wrote seventeen books, scores of essays and articles, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir. He also wrote remarkable public lectures and many thousands of incisive letters, laying down his pen only in the hundredth year of his life. Having risen within the American Foreign Service and been posted to various European capitals, and twice to Moscow, Kennan was called back to Washington in 1946, where he helped to inspire the Truman Doctrine and draft the Marshall Plan. Among other things, he wrote the ''X'' or ''Containment'' article for which he became, and still is, world famous (an article which he regarded as not very important and liable to misreading). John Lukacs describes the development and the essence of Kennan''s thinking; the—perhaps unavoidable—misinterpretations of his advocacies; his self-imposed task as a leading realist critic during the Cold War; and the importance of his work as a historian during the second half of his long life.

A masterful account culminating in the fateful days before Hitler''s invasion of the Soviet Union, "June 1941" offers penetrating insights and a new portrait of Hitler and Stalin.

"This intensely interesting-and troubling-book is the product of a lifetime of reflection and study of democracy. In it, John Lukacs addresses the questions of how our democracy has changed and why we have become vulnerable to the shallowest possible demagoguery. Lukacs contrasts the political systems, movements, and ideologies that have bedeviled the twentieth century: democracy, Liberalism, nationalism, fascism, Bolshevism, National Socialism, populism. Reflecting on American democracy, Lukacs describes its evolution from the eighteenth century to its current form-a dangerous and possibly irreversible populism. This involves, among other things, the predominance of popular sentiment over what used to be public opinion. This devolution has happened through the gigantic machinery of publicity, substituting propaganda-and entertainment-for knowledge, and ideology for a sense of history. It is a kind of populism that relies on nationalism and militarism to hold society together. Lukacs''s observations are original, biting, timely, sure to inspire lively debate about the precarious state of American democracy today." http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0618/2004058450-d.html.

Remembered Past draws together Lukacs''s scattered and diverse writings on history. The volume serves at once as an introduction to this essential aspect of Lukacs''s thought and an indispensable compendium of his most important writings on the subject. In the essays, reviews, commentaries, and book chapters collected in Remembered Past, Lukacs addresses the problem of historical knowledge and concludes with a consideration of the twentieth century and the task of reading, writing, and teaching history. Significantly, this authorized "reader" also includes a complete bibliography of Lukacs''s writings through 2003.

An eminent historian offers his views on American democracy In A New Republic, one of America''s most respected historians offers a major statement on the nature of our political system and a critical look at the underpinnings of our society. American democracy, says John Lukacs, has been transformed from an exercise in individual freedom and opportunity to a bureaucratic system created by and for the dominance of special groups. His book, first published in 1984 as Outgrowing Democracy, is now reissued with a new introduction, in which Lukacs explains his methodology, and a new final chapter, which sums up Lukacs''s thoughts on American democracy today. Reviews of the earlier edition "A rich, subtle, and often ingenious argument . . . an eloquent, provocative, but disturbing book."--Edwin M. Yoder, Jr., Washington Post Book World "Mr. Lukacs is an original and subtle historian, and [this book] is an engaging intellectual surprise party. . . . I was continuously enchanted by the play of his ideas--by the sharpness of his distinctions and the acuteness of his descriptions."--Naomi Bliven, New Yorker "It has been a long time since Americans were offered such a provocative interpretation of their historical predicament. . . . We would be foolish not to examine it closely."--Laurence Tool, Society

"Each chapter of this book provides an essential portrait of Churchill at the height of his powers. In addition to vividly depicting his relationships with Stalin, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and other world leaders, Lukacs reflects on Churchill''s ability to foresee the coming of World War II and the Cold War; he weighs Churchill''s stature as a historian looking backward at the conflicts of which he was so much a part; and he examines the often contradictory ways Churchill has been perceived by critics and admirers alike. The last chapter is a powerful and deeply moving evocation of the three days Lukacs spent in London attending Churchill''s funeral in 1965, and it offers a final assessment of Churchill''s place in history through the prism of the varied individuals who came to honor him after his death. In Churchill: Visionary. Statesman. Historian., Luckacs sets forth the essence of this towering figure with consummate mastery."--BOOK JACKET.

At the End of an Age isa deeply informed and rewarding reflection on the nature of historical and scientific knowledge. Of extraordinary philosophical, religious, and historical scope, it is the product of a great historian''s lifetime of thought on the subject of his discipline and the human condition. While running counter to most of the accepted ideas and doctrines of our time, it offers a compelling framework for understanding history, science, and man''s capacity for self-knowledge. In this work, John Lukacs describes how we in the Western world have now been living through the ending of an entire historical age that began in Western Europe about five hundred years ago. Unlike people during the ending of the Middle Ages or the Roman empire, we can know where we are. But how and what is it that we know? In John Lukacs''s view, there is no science apart from scientists, and all of "Science," including our view of the universe, is a human creation, imagined and defined by fallible human beings in a historical continuum. This radical and reactionary assertion--in its way a summa ofthe author''s thinking, expressed here and there in many of his previous twenty-odd books--leads to his fundamental assertion that, contrary to all existing cosmological doctrines and theories, it is this earth which is the very center of the universe--the only universe we know and can know.

This absorbing study of the first phase of World War II tells not only how events happened but why. Eminent historian Lukacs presents an extraordinary narrative of these two years, followed by a detailed sequential analysis of the political, military, and intellectual relations and events.

A "gripping [and] splendidly readable" portrait of the battle within the British War Cabinet—and Churchill''s eventual victory—as Hitler''s shadow loomed ( The Boston Globe). From May 24 to May 28, 1940, members of Britain''s War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. In this magisterial work, John Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical events at 10 Downing Street, where Winston Churchill and his cabinet painfully considered their responsibilities. With the unfolding of the disaster at Dunkirk, and Churchill being in office for just two weeks and treated with derision by many, he did not have an easy time making his case—but the people of Britain were increasingly on his side, and he would prevail. This compelling narrative, a Washington Post bestseller, is the first to convey the drama and world-changing importance of those days. "[A] fascinating work of historical reconstruction."— The Wall Street Journal "Eminent historian Lukacs delivers the crown jewel to his long and distinguished career."— Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A must for every World War II buff."— Cleveland Plain Dealer "Superb...can be compared to such classics as Hugh Trevor-Roper''s The Last Days of Hitler and Barbara Tuchman''s The Guns of August."— Harper''s Magazine

Traces the decline of Anglo-American civilization and the concept of the gentleman in a fictionalized social history that follows a man named Kensington and the people who surround him from 1901 to 1969.