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.

作者介紹：

托尼·硃特（Tony Judt，1948—2010） 當代最著名的歐洲問題和歐洲思想研究專傢。1948年齣生於英國倫敦，畢業於劍橋大學國王學院和巴黎高等師範學校，後執教於劍橋、牛津、伯剋利和紐約大學。1995年創辦雷馬剋研究所，專事研究歐洲問題。經常為《紐約時報》、《泰晤士報文學副刊》、《新共和》等撰稿。著有《重估價值：反思被遺忘的20世紀》、《戰後歐洲史》、《責任的重負：布魯姆、加繆、阿隆和法國的20世紀》、《思慮二十世紀》等作品。其中《戰後歐洲史》被認為是無法被超越的史學著作。2007年獲漢娜·阿倫特奬，2009年因他的“智慧、洞察力和非凡的勇氣”獲奧威爾終身成就奬。2010年8月因病去世。

譯者介紹：

杜先菊 畢業於北京大學，後赴英國牛津大學留學，轉至美國布蘭戴斯大學完成博士學位。曾在希伯來大學、哈佛大學進修和從事研究工作。主要研究領域為中東曆史與外交、中國和以色列外交關係史等。譯有《以色列現代史》等，著有《中國以色列外交關係史》。