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Europe's second Thirty Years' War-an epoch of blood and ashes

About the Author

Enzo Traverso taught political science for almost twenty years in France. Since 2013, he has been Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in the Humanities at Cornell University. His publications, all translated into various languages, include more than ten authored and edited books, including The Marxists and the Jewish Question, The Jews and Germany, Understanding the Nazi Genocide and The Origins of Nazi Violence.

Reviews

Enzo Traverso's investigation is based on a brilliant--although controversial--idea. It is an
important book that deserved vast and interesting debates.
*Saul Friedländer*

One must admire Traverso's ambitious synthesis of theory and recent scholarship.
*Shelley Baranowski, University of Akron*

[T]his book ... cannot be neglected by anyone with the temerity to approach the subject in
future.
*Revolutionary History*

Enzo Traverso's provocative book poses a profoundly important question to modern history. How can we understand the "age of extremes" (1914 to 1945) from a present - our present day in the west - that is in general terms allergic to "ideology" and convinced that "there is no alternative"? What happens when an anodyne and self-satisfied liberalism projects its values back into an era of intense political struggle?
*Guardian*

In tracing the historical origins and logic of this civil war, Traverso offers a powerful indictment of how the collective memory of it emerged over time in ways that are still felt today.
*Socialism and Democracy*