The Tyranny of Guilt : : An Essay on Western Masochism / / Pascal Bruckner.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Bruckner, Pascal,
• TeilnehmendeR: Rendall, Steven.
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Introduction --; Chapter One. Guilt Peddlers --; Chapter Two. The Pathologies Of Debt --; Chapter Three. Innocence Recovered --; Chapter Four. The Fanaticism Of Modesty --; Chapter Five. The Second Golgotha --; Chapter Six. Listen To My Suffering --; Chapter Seven. Depression In Paradise: France, A Symptom And Caricature Of Europe --; Chapter Eight. Doubt And Faith: The Quarrel Between Europe And The United States --; Conclusion. A Poisoned Gift --; Postscript to the English Translation --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781400834310; 9783110442502
• DOI: 10.1515/9781400834310
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Pascal Bruckner.

Fascism, communism, genocide, slavery, racism, imperialism--the West has no shortage of reasons for guilt. And, indeed, since the Holocaust and the end of World War II, Europeans in particular have been consumed by remorse. But Pascal Bruckner argues that guilt has now gone too far. It has become a pathology, and even an obstacle to fighting today's atrocities. Bruckner, one of France's leading writers and public intellectuals, argues that obsessive guilt has obscured important realities. The West has no monopoly on evil, and has destroyed monsters as well as created them--leading in the abolition of slavery, renouncing colonialism, building peaceful and prosperous communities, and establishing rules and institutions that are models for the world. The West should be proud--and ready to defend itself and its values. In this, Europeans should learn from Americans, who still have sufficient self-esteem to act decisively in a world of chaos and violence. Lamenting the vice of anti-Americanism that grips so many European intellectuals, Bruckner urges a renewed transatlantic alliance, and advises Americans not to let recent foreign-policy misadventures sap their own confidence. This is a searing, provocative, and psychologically penetrating account of the crude thought and bad politics that arise from excessive bad conscience.