  | Book Details Title: Genius and Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847–1947 |
Book DescriptionAbout the Author Norman Lebrecht is the world’s bestselling author on classical music. His Whitbread Award-winning novel, The Song of Names, is currently being developed into a feature film. Aside from the history of Western music, he has a lifelong passion for the culture and chronicles of the Jewish people. He lives in London. Read more Customers Review:Genius and Anxiety is one of the best and most interesting books I’ve ever read, and I have read thousands of books, many on music, music history, Jewish history, and cultural history, and among then, Lebrecht stands in the very finest. Why do think this? He delineates the central problems of Jewish identity in the context of Jewish responses to cultural forces. His chapters on Mendellson taught me things I never realized about that composer, and his exploration of the conflicts that drove Franz Kafka to death are made not only clear, but inevitable. Hanging over all Lebrecht’s discussion of music, art and literature are the politics of Europe that lead to both the Holocaust and to the founding of Israel. If you are at interested in the cultural foundations of our culture, you had ought to read this book and this is especially true to my fellow Jews, many of whom don’t understand under what pressure we live under, even in the United States, even in the 21st century. As Lebrecht points out, the record speaks for itself. Not only is this book disturbing in a good way, but Lebrecht writes in clear, fluid prose that makes this a pleasure to read. | |
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