A Century of Horrors: Communism, Nazism, and the Uniqueness of the Shoah (Crosscurrents)
Two questions--Why are the crimes of communism forgotten while those of Nazism aren't? Why is the Shoah unique?--concern intellectual historian Besancon in this weighty little book, the preponderance of which, however, addresses the first. Emphasizing that communism and Nazism are "two species of the same genus, theideologicalgenus," Besancon compares how wielders of those ideologies wrought physical, moral, and political destruction wherever they ruled. Both ideologies mimmicked theology in their claims to be prosecuting perfection, and real religions must be brought into the discussion to understand the difference in how communism and Nazism are remembered. Communism had "generous intentions" widely shared by religious people, and it hasn't been appreciated that "Communism was fed by a massive Christian apostasy." Besancon's analysis allows seeing winking at communist enormities as the better part of just getting along, but that isn't his conclusion. As for the Shoah's uniqueness, it consists in Christian and Jewish theological views of it--redemptive to Christians, "pure scandal" to Jews--being irreconcilable. A brilliantly enlightening exposition.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.