Ill Fares the Land Ill Fares the Land

Ill Fares the Land

    • 3.8 • 26 Ratings
    • $8.99
    • $8.99

Publisher Description

Something is profoundly wrong with the way we think about how we should live today.

In Ill Fares The Land, Tony Judt, one of our leading historians and thinkers, reveals how we have arrived at our present dangerously confused moment. Judt masterfully crystallizes what we've all been feeling into a way to think our way into, and thus out of, our great collective dis-ease about the current state of things.

As the economic collapse of 2008 made clear, the social contract that defined postwar life in Europe and America - the guarantee of a basal level of security, stability and fairness -- is no longer guaranteed; in fact, it's no longer part of the common discourse. Judt offers the language we need to address our common needs, rejecting the nihilistic individualism of the far right and the debunked socialism of the past. To find a way forward, we must look to our not so distant past and to social democracy in action: to re-enshrining fairness over mere efficiency.

Distinctly absent from our national dialogue, social democrats believe that the state can play an enhanced role in our lives without threatening our liberties. Instead of placing blind faith in the market-as we have to our detriment for the past thirty years-social democrats entrust their fellow citizens and the state itself.

Ill Fares the Land challenges us to confront our societal ills and to shoulder responsibility for the world we live in. For hope remains. In reintroducing alternatives to the status quo, Judt reinvigorates our political conversation, providing the tools necessary to imagine a new form of governance, a new way of life.

GENRE
History
RELEASED
2010
March 18
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
256
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
1.1
MB

Customer Reviews

Lakotabird ,

Superlative Retort

I'll Fares the Land is a exemplary argument for the need of the left to use moral persuasion in their battle against conservative ideologues who have lost their way in the battle to retain community and an ethical and well balanced economy that promotes equality and places the role of government above the private unaccountable efforts of the private sector. It correctly points out that the pendulum of deregulation and privatization has gone too far in destroying (in the name of liberty) the social fabric of Western society. As we look to true conservatism, it is ironic that a return to many of our social democratic historical roots found in the 20th century may just offer us a way out of many of the perplexing and destructive trends of the 21st century. First, we must study our history and retain what has worked instead of rejecting all those hard-fought battles against the extremes of our past.

More Books Like This

Anti-Pluralism Anti-Pluralism
2018
The Age of Acquiescence The Age of Acquiescence
2015
Voltaire's Bastards Voltaire's Bastards
2012
Liberty Lost: America's History of Slippery Slopes Liberty Lost: America's History of Slippery Slopes
2011
Imperialism: A Study Imperialism: A Study
2011
The Lion and the Unicorn The Lion and the Unicorn
2022

More Books by Tony Judt & Ta-Nehisi Coates

Postwar Postwar
2005
Past Imperfect Past Imperfect
2011
Reappraisals Reappraisals
2008
When the Facts Change When the Facts Change
2015
A Grand Illusion? A Grand Illusion?
2011
El refugio de la memoria El refugio de la memoria
2012

Customers Also Bought

How Democracies Die How Democracies Die
2018
The Ministry for the Future The Ministry for the Future
2020
When Breath Becomes Air When Breath Becomes Air
2016
Caste Caste
2020
A Promised Land A Promised Land
2020