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.

作者介绍：

托尼·朱特（Tony Judt,1948—2010） 当代最著名的欧洲问题和欧洲思想研究专家。1948年出生于英国伦敦,毕业于剑桥大学国王学院和巴黎高等师范学校,后执教于剑桥、牛津、伯克利和纽约大学。1995年创办雷马克研究所,专事研究欧洲问题。经常为《纽约时报》、《泰晤士报文学副刊》、《新共和》等撰稿。著有《重估价值：反思被遗忘的20世纪》、《战后欧洲史》、《责任的重负：布鲁姆、加缪、阿隆和法国的20世纪》、《思虑二十世纪》等作品。其中《战后欧洲史》被认为是无法被超越的史学著作。2007年获汉娜·阿伦特奖,2009年因他的“智慧、洞察力和非凡的勇气”获奥威尔终身成就奖。2010年8月因病去世。

译者介绍：

杜先菊 毕业于北京大学,后赴英国牛津大学留学,转至美国布兰戴斯大学完成博士学位。曾在希伯来大学、哈佛大学进修和从事研究工作。主要研究领域为中东历史与外交、中国和以色列外交关系史等。译有《以色列现代史》等,著有《中国以色列外交关系史》。