Peter Beinart – författare

Enligt Peter Beinart dominerar en berättelse det judiska samhällslivet: berättelsen om förföljelse och en offerroll. Det är en berättelse som utplånar nyanserna i den judiska religiösa traditionen och förvränger förståelsen av Israel och Palestina. Efter Gazas förstörelse, där judiska texter, historia och språk har använts för att rättfärdiga massmord och svält, måste judarna enligt Beinart berätta en ny historia. Efter detta krig, vars fasor kommer att eka i generationer, måste nya svar sökas på den existentiella frågan: Vad innebär det att vara jude? Beinart föreställer sig en alternativ berättelse, som kan bygga på andra nationers ansträngningar för moralisk återuppbyggnad, och som utgår från en annan tolkning av den judiska traditionen. En berättelse där israeliska judar har rätt till jämlikhet men inte överhöghet, och där judars och palestiniers säkerhet inte utesluter varandra utan är sammanflätade. En berättelse som erkänner faran med att vörda stater på bekostnad av människoliv.    

Att vara jude efter Gazas förstörelse är ett lidelsefullt men avvägt verk som förenar Beinarts personliga erfarenheter, hans imponerande historiska kunskap och hans skarpa förståelse för politiska och moraliska dilemman. Därtill inne­håller boken en tydlig vision för framtiden.

Peter Beinart är en amerikansk författare och professor i journalistik och statsvetenskap vid City University i New York. Detta är hans första bok på svenska. Den har översatts av Daniel Pedersen.

Once upon a time, liberals knew what they believed. They believed America must lead the world by persuasion, not command. And they believed that by championing freedom overseas, America itself could become more free. That liberal spirit won America''s trust at the dawn of the Cold War. Then it collapsed in the wake of Vietnam. Now, after 9/11, and the failed presidency of George W. Bush, America needs it back.

In this powerful and provocative book, Peter Beinart offers a new liberal vision, based on principles liberals too often forget: That America''s goodness cannot simply be asserted; it must be proved. That American leadership is not American empire. And that liberalism cannot merely define itself against the right, but must oppose the totalitarianism that blighted Europe a half century ago, and which stalks the Islamic world today.

With liberals severed from their own history, conservatives have drawn on theirs -- the principles of national chauvinism and moral complacency that America once rejected. The country will reject them again, and embrace the creed that brought it greatness before. But only if liberals remember what that means. It means an unyielding hostility to totalitarianism -- and a recognition that defeating it requires bringing hope to the bleakest corners of the globe. And it means understanding that democracy begins at home.

Peter Beinart''s The Good Fight is a passionate rejoinder to the conservatives who have ruled Washington since 9/11. It is an intellectual lifeline for a Democratic Party lying flat on its back. And it is a call for liberals to revive the spirit that swept America, and inspired the world.

Read by David Slavin

In this passionate, provocative book, Peter Beinart offers a bold new vision and sounds the call for liberals to revive the spirit that once swept America and inspired the world.

“Peter Beinart has written a vivid, empathetic, and convincing history of the men and ideas that have shaped the ambitions of American foreign policy during the last century—a story in which human fallibility and idealism flow together. The story continues, of course, and so his book is not only timely; it is indispensable.” — Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars

Peter Beinart''s provocative account of hubris in the American century describes Washington on the eve of three wars: World War I, Vietnam, and Iraq—three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought tragedy.

But each catastrophe also imparted wisdom to a new generation of thinkers. These leaders learned to reconcile the American belief that anything is possible with the realities of a world that will never fully conform to this country''s will—and in their struggles lie the seeds of American renewal today.

“Peter Beinart has written a vivid, empathetic, and convincing history of the men and ideas that have shaped the ambitions of American foreign policy during the last century—a story in which human fallibility and idealism flow together. The story continues, of course, and so his book is not only timely; it is indispensable.” — Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars

Peter Beinart''s provocative account of hubris in the American century describes Washington on the eve of three wars: World War I, Vietnam, and Iraq—three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought tragedy.

But each catastrophe also imparted wisdom to a new generation of thinkers. These leaders learned to reconcile the American belief that anything is possible with the realities of a world that will never fully conform to this country''s will—and in their struggles lie the seeds of American renewal today.