Discover new kitchen selections
$15.33 with 41 percent savings
Digital List Price: $25.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
eBook features:
  • Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
  • In this edition, page numbers are just like the physical edition
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Tony Judt
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century Kindle Edition

by Tony Judt (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 out of 5 stars 45 ratings
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.

"An eloquent and instructive study of intellectual courage in the face of what the author persuasively describes as intellectual irresponsibility."—Richard Bernstein, New York Times
Previous slide of product details
  1. ISBN-13
    978-0226414201
  2. Publisher
    The University of Chicago Press
  3. Publication date
    November 15, 2008
  4. Language
    English
  5. File size
    4.1 MB
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Intellectuals, virtually by definition, are expected to think for themselves. But the spectacle of intellectuals subordinating their independence of mind to dogmatic ideologies, whether left or right, is dismayingly common in the 20th century. The French call it la trahison des clercs. In The Burden of Responsibility, Tony Judt discusses three inspiring French intellectuals--Leon Blum, Albert Camus, and Raymond Aron--who courageously lived up to their political, moral, and intellectual responsibilities. Their courage, Judt notes, is all the more impressive since they were all outsiders: Blum and Aron were Jews, while Camus was reared and educated in Algeria, far from the training grounds of the French intelligentsia.

The longest, and arguably most exciting, chapter is devoted to Blum, whose efforts against extremists on the Left and the Right are truly remarkable. As the moral center of the Socialist Party, Blum was instrumental in keeping it independent of Moscow. When France fell in 1940, the Vichy government put him on trial, but he defended himself so adroitly that the German authorities, fearing embarrassment, ended the proceedings abruptly; subsequently, Blum survived two years in Buchenwald and Dachau, serving briefly as prime minister after the war. The chapter on Camus is, understandably, less dramatic, even despite his work in the Resistance; the chapter on Aron, best known for his work on the philosophy of history, is positively anticlimactic. Nevertheless, Judt's juxtaposition of these three intellectuals provides enlightenment not only about modern French history but also about the role of the responsible intellectual in society. --Glenn Branch

From Publishers Weekly

New York University European studies professor Judt (Past Imperfect: French Intellectuals 1944-1956) fashioned this book from three lectures he gave at the University of Chicago that presented an overview of some of the more complex political currents of modern France. He starts with a much vilified figure of the 1930s who is now largely ignored?the first Jewish (and Socialist) French premier, Leon Blum. Judt argues?not entirely convincingly?that Blum was more of a politician and less of an esthete than is generally thought. After Blum, Judt turns to a nemesis of the 1968 generation, the French conservative Raymond Aron. While Judt's discussion of individuals' changing fortunes provides an interesting view of the French intelligentsia, he overstates matters when he claims that Aron was universally accepted in France at the time of his death. In a somewhat less original contribution, Judt discusses the familiar figure of Albert Camus, apparently because he serves as a chronological link between the other two. Naturally, the brushstrokes are very broad in these brief studies, and many of Judt's assertions, particularly those that speculate about motive, are open to argument (Does anyone else think that Camus' journals are "funny"?). Since full-length studies of Blum and Aron are still awaiting translation from the French, these opinionated lectures serve as a useful incentive to read further on their subjects.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003IZ7UGQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of Chicago Press (November 15, 2008)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 15, 2008
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.1 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 195 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 45 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Tony Judt

Tony Judt

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Tony Judt was born in London in 1948. He was educated at King's College, Cambridge and the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, and has taught at Cambridge, Oxford, Berkeley and New York University, where he is currently the Erich Maria Remarque Professor of European Studies and Director of the Remarque Institute, which is dedicated to the study of Europe and which he founded in 1995. The author or editor of twelve books, he is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, The New York Times and many other journals in Europe and the US. Professor Judt is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Permanent Fellow of the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Vienna). He is the author of "Reappraisals: Reflections On The Forgotten Twentieth Century"" and Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945," which was one of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of 2005, the winner of the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
45 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers praise the book's intellectual content, with one review highlighting the compelling essays on Albert Camus and Raymond Aron. The book receives positive feedback for its reading value.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

5 customers mention "Intellectual content"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the intellectual content of the book, with one review highlighting the compelling essays on Albert Camus and Raymond Aron, while another notes the influence of three 20th century Frenchmen.

"THE BURDEN OF RESPONSIBILITY is a marvelous book of intellectual history -- specifically 20th-Century French intellectual history, although some of..." Read more

"...sketches per se, it has done more to bring these great twentieth-century Frenchmen to life for me than any other work I've read...." Read more

"...Overall, this book serves as an interesting introduction to the thought, character and influence of three 20th century Frenchmen who deserve to be..." Read more

"Still reading it - some of the best minds of my time - got to be worthwhile" Read more

4 customers mention "Reading value"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book excellent, with one mentioning it is more entertaining than expected.

"...an interest in either Albert Camus or Raymond Aron, the book is virtually essential reading. A sad postscript...." Read more

"Excellent book a much maligned politician, a sainted but very flawed novelist and an obscure (to the laymam) intellectual...." Read more

"Still reading it - some of the best minds of my time - got to be worthwhile" Read more

"A superb book..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • R. M. Peterson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and highly readable intellectual history
    Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    THE BURDEN OF RESPONSIBILITY is a marvelous book of intellectual history -- specifically 20th-Century French intellectual history, although some of the ideas discussed remain relevant today and have a truly global reach. Essentially the book consists of three moderately long essays (each about 50 pages) on Léon Blum, Albert Camus, and Raymond Aron. Judt attempts to connect the three figures under the umbrella of "responsibility". That effort is a little strained, although all three certainly rejected the role of an intellectual as commentator or kibitzer on his times and instead took seriously, at least on some issues, the notion of social engagement. Also in common among the three was a decidedly liberal political orientation that nonetheless firmly excluded communism (at least for most of their respective public lives), so much so that each was excoriated by the principal cliques of the French Left for his anti-communism. Finally, each was led by his principles and integrity to positions that he had to maintain virtually alone; each was in a sense an outsider.

    I previously knew very little about Léon Blum. From the essay on him I learned a lot about French politics in the first half of the 20th-Century, including how thoroughly and disgustingly permeated it was by virulent anti-Semitism. (Vichy France certainly was not solely and simply the handiwork of the occupying German Nazis, foisted upon the French wholly against their inclinations.) But Blum, admirable though he was, is not one of the intellectual heroes of the 20th-Century, and the essay on him does not provide compelling reason to buy and read this book.

    But the essays on Albert Camus and Raymond Aron are compelling, and each by itself is reason for reading the book. I would be pleasantly surprised to find a better discussion of either man's thinking.

    At bottom, Albert Camus was not really an intellectual. "He could not match Aron for intellectual firepower, nor challenge Sartre's merciless polemical ascendancy. But then neither Aron nor Sartre shared Camus's comprehensive sensitivity to his time and its troubles." Camus had both a sensuality and a fundamental morality that were basically inimical to an intellectual. He also had an elemental honesty, so that as the world after WWII and into the `50s became more and more complex Camus was unable, in good conscience, to offer guidance or opinions and he gradually retreated into silence.

    Aron, on the other hand, was better equipped, intellectually, to dispassionately analyze the complexities of 20th-Century politics. Indeed, Judt's essay convinces me that Aron was one of the great intellectuals and clear-headed thinkers of the Century. Aron's acceptance of the relativism of historical knowledge yet simultaneous insistence on the necessity (actively or by default) of making choices and taking actions with consequences is invigorating, as is his realism. The human political condition "is never a struggle between good and evil, but between the preferable and the detestable."

    If you believe in the possibility of rational and humanistic politics you probably will find THE BURDEN OF RESPONSIBILITY rewarding. And if you have an interest in either Albert Camus or Raymond Aron, the book is virtually essential reading.

    A sad postscript. While I was in the midst of reading this book, I read a short piece in the January 14, 2010 issue of "The New York Review of Books", the import of which is that Tony Judt suffers from ALS, which has progressed to its final debilitating stages. Life can be cruel.
    10 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jon L Albee
    5.0 out of 5 stars Monumental figures as human beings.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2000
    Verified Purchase
    Though this book is not intended to offer three character sketches per se, it has done more to bring these great twentieth-century Frenchmen to life for me than any other work I've read. Judt is able to bring some continuity to the idea of intellectual integrity by not only describing what each of these men stood for but also what they stood against. Yes, they all stood against Communism (with a big C), but each of them stood against elements of political and intellectual fashion in defense of their own convictions as well. Blum stood against malice. Camus, against moral relativity. And Aron, against intellectual ignorance and conformity. Together they did more to defend the human condition from political and intellectual tyranny than all other twentieth century French intellectuals. This is a powerful look at how the temptations of intellectual and political affiliation need not take the place of rigor and conviction. And, to be honest, it's lucid presentation of each character nearly brought this one to tears. Deserves to be read by a general audience, or anyone who continues to be mystified by these great French figures.
    40 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Peter Monks
    4.0 out of 5 stars Independent-minded French Intellectuals
    Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    In "The Burden of Responsibility", Tony Judt has written three pen portraits of Leon Blum, Albert Camus and Raymond Aron that portray the independence of mind of these French leftist thinkers and (to varying degrees) participants in public affairs. For the reader not overly familiar with French 20th century intellectual and political life, Judt does an excellent job of explaining how each of the three sought to reconcile their left-of-centre sensibilities with a real awareness of the dangers of both left and right-wing totalitarianism, rejecting the dogmatic pro-Stalin orthodoxy of the Paris salons while endeavouring to reconcile their idealism with a sense of responsibility to their fellow citizens that Orwell would have thoroughly approved of. I had expected something more of a coherent narrative tying all three together in a unifying French Social Democratic vision that eschewed the excesses of French revolutionary tradition or Sartre-like exculpation of Stalinist terror - instead Judt's individual examination of each man thoroughly illustrates the independence of thought and differences in their views and approaches, together with an explanation of their limited effectiveness and/or acceptance as either policymakers or advocates. Unlike many accounts of French intellectual and political thought from a similar political tradition (such as Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism, "The Burden of Responsibility" is not overly self-referential and absorbed in the insular world of French intelligentsia and places all three firmly and appropriately in the context of their times. Overall, this book serves as an interesting introduction to the thought, character and influence of three 20th century Frenchmen who deserve to be more widely known and considered in the English-speaking world today.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • old man
    5.0 out of 5 stars Judt takes Sartell and the Left Banke to task
    Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Excellent book a much maligned politician, a sainted but very flawed novelist and an obscure (to the laymam) intellectual. Judt has addressed the problems of post war French intellectual life before in "Past Imperfect". This is a much more entertaining book. The portraits of Blum, Camus and Aron are perfect in that the discussion is of the individuals in their times not latterly hero worship. A very subtle explanation for French irrelevance in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Femerepi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on July 28, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Highly recommended.
    Report
  • Dr. R. Brandon
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Demanding But Highly Rewarding Read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a highly intelligent and, at times, quite difficult book to read as it demands a lot from the reader in terms of concentration and understanding. Tony Judt employs his immense erudition to exam three fascinating cases of intellectual courage in modern France; the politician and leader of the 1936 Patriotic Front government in France, Leon Blum, the writer Albert Camus and the philosopher Raymond Aron. Far be it for me to be able to do justice to the closely argued theses put forward by Judt. Briefly, he examines the role Blum was to play in keeping the Socialist Party in France out of the hands of the popular Communist party of the day. Judt looks at the courage of Blum in recommending caution and defending Vichy against the howling mob in their headlong rush to exterminate those supposed to be collaborators with Hitler’s Germany.
    Perhaps the least satisfactory part of the book is the section on Camus which is possibly too long for the content. Judt provides a defence of the disagreement Camus had with the fellow travellers of the Soviet Union, Sartre and de Beauvoir, and their hypercritical and vitriolic outpourings against Western values. The author also considers the ‘moralist’ stance adopted by Camus with regard to the 1954 to 1962 war in Algeria and the terrorist actions by both sides, for each of which he held some sympathy. Finally Judt looks at the magnificently gifted philosopher and columnist Raymond Aron. Aron went out of favour after his critical articles on the somewhat ‘vacuous’ French student riots of 1968. He also failed to support or agree with the predominantly left of centre philosopher community of 1960s and 70s Paris. Hindsight and a better understanding of the true nature of the Soviet Union has lead to a recent reappraisal of Aron’s work and he certainly finds favour with Tony Judt.
    This is an invaluable work for those who want a much better understanding of these three important French figures without necessarily tackling full scale biographies, not all of which are available in English. It is a great pleasure simply to immerse yourself in this book and experience the great intellect and range of knowledge displayed by Judt in these three beautifully crafted essays. Judt is that rarity, a completely objective left of centre writer who is not afraid to state inconvenient truths associated with socialist movements. The loss of Judt to the academic community and his readership in 2010 was a tragedy.
    Report
  • M. Rance
    5.0 out of 5 stars A history of moral commitment and its costs
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Judt details the lives and work of three men caught up in the turmoil of French politics from the late 20s through to the end and after WWII. What you learn is the cost to answering the challenge to maintian your moral compass in times when that commitment may mean death or complete ostrasization from society. Camus is the star here, Aron the survivor and Blum the man of the moment when his moment arrives. The failures of those around them only accentuate their strengths and perhaps the inevitability of their various fates. This is instructive history that challenges the reader by asking the question, without ever asking it directly, what would you have done?
    Report
  • Jake Goldsmith
    5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I have an indebtedness to the late Tony Judt, who helped arouse in me this engrossed appreciation for a recent history of ideas.
    As something specific, beyond a broader philosophical investigation, I became enamoured with these acclaimed outsiders of the last century and sensed a nervous proximity to them, an accordance, in part with tinted-glasses as I could romanticise an era yet too with finding a type of studied devotion that was applicable, pragmatic, and tangible to my life and actions unlike so many theorists I was bent towards otherwise.

    A wonderful book for anyone interested in intellectual history, Camus, or Raymond Aron.
    Report
  • Jose G.
    5.0 out of 5 stars It is a must
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I will recomend this book anytime for it is above all the honest, uncompromising and informed overview of our very recent past.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report