Using the lives of the three outstanding French intellectuals of the twentieth century, renowned historian Tony Judt offers a unique look at how intellectuals can ignore political pressures and demonstrate a heroic commitment to personal integrity and moral responsibility unfettered by the difficult political exigencies of their time.

Through the prism of the lives of Leon Blum, Albert Camus, and Raymond Aron, Judt examines pivotal issues in the history of contemporary French society--antisemitism and the dilemma of Jewish identity, political and moral idealism in public life, the Marxist moment in French thought, the traumas of decolonization, the disaffection of the intelligentsia, and the insidious quarrels rending Right and Left. Judt focuses particularly on Blum's leadership of the Popular Front and his stern defiance of the Vichy governments, on Camus's part in the Resistance and Algerian War, and on Aron's cultural commentary and opposition to the facile acceptance by many French intellectuals of communism's utopian promise. Severely maligned by powerful critics and rivals, each of these exemplary figures stood fast in their principles and eventually won some measure of personal and public redemption.

Judt constructs a compelling portrait of modern French intellectual life and politics. He challenges the conventional account of the role of intellectuals precisely because they mattered in France, because they could shape public opinion and influence policy. In Blum, Camus, and Aron, Judt finds three very different men who did not simply play the role, but evinced a courage and a responsibility in public life that far outshone their contemporaries.

作者简介：

托尼·朱特（Tony Judt）

◎全球百大思想家

◎奥威尔终身成就奖获得者

◎21世纪初最顶尖的历史学家和思想家

著名历史学家，以其对欧洲问题和欧洲思想的深入研究而闻名于世。1948年出生于英国伦敦，毕业于剑桥大学国王学院和巴黎高等师范学校，先后执教于剑桥大学、牛津大学、加州大学伯克利分校和纽约大学。

1995年，创办雷马克研究所，专事欧洲问题研究；

1996年，当选美国文理科学院院士；

2007年，当选英国社会科学院院士；

2008年，入选美国《外交政策》评选的“全球百大思想家”；

2009年，以其卓越的“智慧、洞察力和非凡的勇气”获得奥威尔终生成就奖。

托尼·朱特长期为《新共和》《纽约时报》《纽约时报书评》《泰晤士报文学增刊》等欧美主流媒体撰稿，并以尖锐的自由主义批评文风成为备受尊重的知识分子，拥有“知识分子中的知识分子”之美誉。

其主要著作有《战后欧洲史》《沉疴遍地》《重估价值：反思被遗忘的20世纪》《责任的重负：布鲁姆、加缪、阿隆和法国的20世纪》《思虑二十世纪》等。其中，《战后欧洲史》被誉为“关于战后欧洲历史的最佳著作”“短时间内无法超越的伟大著作”。

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译者简介：

章乐天

独立记者、独立书评人和专栏作家。译作另有《开端》《思虑中国》《加缪和萨特》等。