Book of My Mother

Book of My Mother

Author: Albert Cohen

Publisher: Archipelago

Published: 2012-04-10

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1935744542

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Shortly after Albert Cohen left France for London to escape the Nazis, he received news of his mother’s death in Marseille. Unable to mourn her, he expressed his grief in a series of moving pieces for La France libre, which later grew into Book of My Mother. Achingly honest, intimate, and moving, this love song is a tribute to all mothers. Cohen himself expressed, "I shall not have written in vain if one of you, after reading my hymn of death, is one evening gentler with his mother because of me and my mother."


Book Synopsis Book of My Mother by : Albert Cohen

Download or read book Book of My Mother written by Albert Cohen and published by Archipelago. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortly after Albert Cohen left France for London to escape the Nazis, he received news of his mother’s death in Marseille. Unable to mourn her, he expressed his grief in a series of moving pieces for La France libre, which later grew into Book of My Mother. Achingly honest, intimate, and moving, this love song is a tribute to all mothers. Cohen himself expressed, "I shall not have written in vain if one of you, after reading my hymn of death, is one evening gentler with his mother because of me and my mother."


Albert Cohen

Albert Cohen

Author: Jack I. Abecassis

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2020-03-03

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1421429101

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Honorable Mention winner in the Modern Language Association's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize competition for French and Francophone Literary Studies A major figure in twentieth-century letters, Albert Cohen (1895–1981) left a paradoxical legacy. His heavily autobiographical, strikingly literary, and polyphonic novels and lyrical essays are widely read by a devout public in France, yet have been largely ignored by academia. A self-consciously Jewish writer and activist, Cohen remained nevertheless ambivalent about Judaism. His self-affirmation as a Jew in juxtaposition with his satirical use of anti-Semitic stereotypes still provokes unease in both republican France and institutional Judaism. In Albert Cohen: Dissonant Voices, the first English-language study of this profound and profoundly misunderstood writer, Jack I. Abecassis traces the recurrent themes of Cohen's works. He reveals the dissonant fractures marking Cohen as a modernist, and analyzes the resistance to his work as a symptom of the will not to understand Cohen's main theme—"the catastrophe of being Jewish."For Abecassis, Cohen's diverse oeuvre forms a single "roman fleuve" exploring this perturbing theme through fragmentation and grotesquerie, fantasies and nightmares, the veiling and unveiling of the unspeakable. Abecassis argues that Cohen should not be read exclusively through the prism of European literature (Stendhal, Tolstoy, Proust), but rather as the retelling—inverting and ultimately exhausting, in the form of submerged plots—of the Biblical romances of Joseph and Esther. The romance of the charismatic Court Jew and its performance correlative, the carnival of Purim, generate the logic of Cohen's acute psychological ambivalence, historical consciousness and carnal sensuality—themes which link this modernist author to Genesis as well as to the literary practices of Sephardic crypto-Jews. Abecassis argues that Cohen's best-known work, Belle du Seigneur (1968), besides being an obvious tale of obsessive love and dissolution, is foremost a tale of political intrigue involving Solal, the meteoric-rising Jew in the League of Nations during the period of Appeasement (1936), and his ultimate self-destruction. Providing close readings and imaginative analyses of the entire literary output of one of twentieth-century France's most important Jewish writers, Abecassis presents here a major work of literary scholarship, as well as a broader study of the reception and influence of Jewish thought in French literature and philosophy.


Book Synopsis Albert Cohen by : Jack I. Abecassis

Download or read book Albert Cohen written by Jack I. Abecassis and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honorable Mention winner in the Modern Language Association's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize competition for French and Francophone Literary Studies A major figure in twentieth-century letters, Albert Cohen (1895–1981) left a paradoxical legacy. His heavily autobiographical, strikingly literary, and polyphonic novels and lyrical essays are widely read by a devout public in France, yet have been largely ignored by academia. A self-consciously Jewish writer and activist, Cohen remained nevertheless ambivalent about Judaism. His self-affirmation as a Jew in juxtaposition with his satirical use of anti-Semitic stereotypes still provokes unease in both republican France and institutional Judaism. In Albert Cohen: Dissonant Voices, the first English-language study of this profound and profoundly misunderstood writer, Jack I. Abecassis traces the recurrent themes of Cohen's works. He reveals the dissonant fractures marking Cohen as a modernist, and analyzes the resistance to his work as a symptom of the will not to understand Cohen's main theme—"the catastrophe of being Jewish."For Abecassis, Cohen's diverse oeuvre forms a single "roman fleuve" exploring this perturbing theme through fragmentation and grotesquerie, fantasies and nightmares, the veiling and unveiling of the unspeakable. Abecassis argues that Cohen should not be read exclusively through the prism of European literature (Stendhal, Tolstoy, Proust), but rather as the retelling—inverting and ultimately exhausting, in the form of submerged plots—of the Biblical romances of Joseph and Esther. The romance of the charismatic Court Jew and its performance correlative, the carnival of Purim, generate the logic of Cohen's acute psychological ambivalence, historical consciousness and carnal sensuality—themes which link this modernist author to Genesis as well as to the literary practices of Sephardic crypto-Jews. Abecassis argues that Cohen's best-known work, Belle du Seigneur (1968), besides being an obvious tale of obsessive love and dissolution, is foremost a tale of political intrigue involving Solal, the meteoric-rising Jew in the League of Nations during the period of Appeasement (1936), and his ultimate self-destruction. Providing close readings and imaginative analyses of the entire literary output of one of twentieth-century France's most important Jewish writers, Abecassis presents here a major work of literary scholarship, as well as a broader study of the reception and influence of Jewish thought in French literature and philosophy.


Delinquent Boys

Delinquent Boys

Author: Albert Kircidel Cohen

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 1956

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The central idea of this book is that the widespread "crisis" of juvenile delinquency can be grappled with only if one first understands delinquency as a persistent subculture that is traditional in certain neighborhoods of our cities.


Book Synopsis Delinquent Boys by : Albert Kircidel Cohen

Download or read book Delinquent Boys written by Albert Kircidel Cohen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1956 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The central idea of this book is that the widespread "crisis" of juvenile delinquency can be grappled with only if one first understands delinquency as a persistent subculture that is traditional in certain neighborhoods of our cities.


Belle Du Seigneur

Belle Du Seigneur

Author: Albert Cohen

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 996

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Solal is a man of remarkable gifts and disappointed ideals. A Mediterranean Jew who is Under-Secretary of the League of Nations, he has become disillusioned with a world dominated by personal and national interest. His last hope for redemption is through love, and so he embarks on the seduction of his boss's wife, the beautiful Adrien.


Book Synopsis Belle Du Seigneur by : Albert Cohen

Download or read book Belle Du Seigneur written by Albert Cohen and published by Penguin Classics. This book was released on 1997 with total page 996 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solal is a man of remarkable gifts and disappointed ideals. A Mediterranean Jew who is Under-Secretary of the League of Nations, he has become disillusioned with a world dominated by personal and national interest. His last hope for redemption is through love, and so he embarks on the seduction of his boss's wife, the beautiful Adrien.


The Last Pirate of New York

The Last Pirate of New York

Author: Rich Cohen

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

Published: 2020-06-02

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0399589945

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Was he New York City’s last pirate . . . or its first gangster? This is the true story of the bloodthirsty underworld legend who conquered Manhattan, dock by dock—for fans of Gangs of New York and Boardwalk Empire. “History at its best . . . I highly recommend this remarkable book.”—Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God Handsome and charismatic, Albert Hicks had long been known in the dive bars and gin joints of the Five Points, the most dangerous neighborhood in maritime Manhattan. For years, he operated out of the public eye, rambling from crime to crime, working on the water in ships, sleeping in the nickel-a-night flops, drinking in barrooms where rat-baiting and bear-baiting were great entertainments. His criminal career reached its peak in 1860, when he was hired, under an alias, as a hand on an oyster sloop. His plan was to rob the ship and flee, disappearing into the teeming streets of lower Manhattan, as he’d done numerous times before, eventually finding his way back to his nearsighted Irish immigrant wife (who, like him, had been disowned by her family) and their infant son. But the plan went awry—the ship was found listing and unmanned in the foggy straits of Coney Island—and the voyage that was to enrich him instead led to his last desperate flight. Long fascinated by gangster legends, Rich Cohen tells the story of this notorious underworld figure, from his humble origins to the wild, globe-crossing, bacchanalian crime spree that forged his ruthlessness and his reputation, to his ultimate incarnation as a demon who terrorized lower Manhattan, at a time when pirates anchored off 14th Street. Advance praise for The Last Pirate of New York “A remarkable work of scholarship about old New York, combined with a skillfully told, edge-of-your-seat adventure story—I could not put it down.”—Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia “With its wise and erudite storytelling, Rich Cohen’s The Last Pirate of New York takes the reader on an exciting nonfiction narrative journey that transforms a grisly nineteenth-century murder into a shrewd portent of modern life. Totally unique, totally compelling, I enjoyed every page.”—Howard Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Gangland and American Lightning


Book Synopsis The Last Pirate of New York by : Rich Cohen

Download or read book The Last Pirate of New York written by Rich Cohen and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was he New York City’s last pirate . . . or its first gangster? This is the true story of the bloodthirsty underworld legend who conquered Manhattan, dock by dock—for fans of Gangs of New York and Boardwalk Empire. “History at its best . . . I highly recommend this remarkable book.”—Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God Handsome and charismatic, Albert Hicks had long been known in the dive bars and gin joints of the Five Points, the most dangerous neighborhood in maritime Manhattan. For years, he operated out of the public eye, rambling from crime to crime, working on the water in ships, sleeping in the nickel-a-night flops, drinking in barrooms where rat-baiting and bear-baiting were great entertainments. His criminal career reached its peak in 1860, when he was hired, under an alias, as a hand on an oyster sloop. His plan was to rob the ship and flee, disappearing into the teeming streets of lower Manhattan, as he’d done numerous times before, eventually finding his way back to his nearsighted Irish immigrant wife (who, like him, had been disowned by her family) and their infant son. But the plan went awry—the ship was found listing and unmanned in the foggy straits of Coney Island—and the voyage that was to enrich him instead led to his last desperate flight. Long fascinated by gangster legends, Rich Cohen tells the story of this notorious underworld figure, from his humble origins to the wild, globe-crossing, bacchanalian crime spree that forged his ruthlessness and his reputation, to his ultimate incarnation as a demon who terrorized lower Manhattan, at a time when pirates anchored off 14th Street. Advance praise for The Last Pirate of New York “A remarkable work of scholarship about old New York, combined with a skillfully told, edge-of-your-seat adventure story—I could not put it down.”—Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia “With its wise and erudite storytelling, Rich Cohen’s The Last Pirate of New York takes the reader on an exciting nonfiction narrative journey that transforms a grisly nineteenth-century murder into a shrewd portent of modern life. Totally unique, totally compelling, I enjoyed every page.”—Howard Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Gangland and American Lightning


Model Reduction and Approximation

Model Reduction and Approximation

Author: Peter Benner

Publisher: SIAM

Published: 2017-07-06

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 161197481X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Many physical, chemical, biomedical, and technical processes can be described by partial differential equations or dynamical systems. In spite of increasing computational capacities, many problems are of such high complexity that they are solvable only with severe simplifications, and the design of efficient numerical schemes remains a central research challenge. This book presents a tutorial introduction to recent developments in mathematical methods for model reduction and approximation of complex systems. Model Reduction and Approximation: Theory and Algorithms contains three parts that cover (I) sampling-based methods, such as the reduced basis method and proper orthogonal decomposition, (II) approximation of high-dimensional problems by low-rank tensor techniques, and (III) system-theoretic methods, such as balanced truncation, interpolatory methods, and the Loewner framework. It is tutorial in nature, giving an accessible introduction to state-of-the-art model reduction and approximation methods. It also covers a wide range of methods drawn from typically distinct communities (sampling based, tensor based, system-theoretic).?? This book is intended for researchers interested in model reduction and approximation, particularly graduate students and young researchers.


Book Synopsis Model Reduction and Approximation by : Peter Benner

Download or read book Model Reduction and Approximation written by Peter Benner and published by SIAM. This book was released on 2017-07-06 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many physical, chemical, biomedical, and technical processes can be described by partial differential equations or dynamical systems. In spite of increasing computational capacities, many problems are of such high complexity that they are solvable only with severe simplifications, and the design of efficient numerical schemes remains a central research challenge. This book presents a tutorial introduction to recent developments in mathematical methods for model reduction and approximation of complex systems. Model Reduction and Approximation: Theory and Algorithms contains three parts that cover (I) sampling-based methods, such as the reduced basis method and proper orthogonal decomposition, (II) approximation of high-dimensional problems by low-rank tensor techniques, and (III) system-theoretic methods, such as balanced truncation, interpolatory methods, and the Loewner framework. It is tutorial in nature, giving an accessible introduction to state-of-the-art model reduction and approximation methods. It also covers a wide range of methods drawn from typically distinct communities (sampling based, tensor based, system-theoretic).?? This book is intended for researchers interested in model reduction and approximation, particularly graduate students and young researchers.


Numerical Analysis of Wavelet Methods

Numerical Analysis of Wavelet Methods

Author: A. Cohen

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2003-04-29

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 0080537855

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Since their introduction in the 1980's, wavelets have become a powerful tool in mathematical analysis, with applications such as image compression, statistical estimation and numerical simulation of partial differential equations. One of their main attractive features is the ability to accurately represent fairly general functions with a small number of adaptively chosen wavelet coefficients, as well as to characterize the smoothness of such functions from the numerical behaviour of these coefficients. The theoretical pillar that underlies such properties involves approximation theory and function spaces, and plays a pivotal role in the analysis of wavelet-based numerical methods. This book offers a self-contained treatment of wavelets, which includes this theoretical pillar and it applications to the numerical treatment of partial differential equations. Its key features are: 1. Self-contained introduction to wavelet bases and related numerical algorithms, from the simplest examples to the most numerically useful general constructions. 2. Full treatment of the theoretical foundations that are crucial for the analysis of wavelets and other related multiscale methods : function spaces, linear and nonlinear approximation, interpolation theory. 3. Applications of these concepts to the numerical treatment of partial differential equations : multilevel preconditioning, sparse approximations of differential and integral operators, adaptive discretization strategies.


Book Synopsis Numerical Analysis of Wavelet Methods by : A. Cohen

Download or read book Numerical Analysis of Wavelet Methods written by A. Cohen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2003-04-29 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since their introduction in the 1980's, wavelets have become a powerful tool in mathematical analysis, with applications such as image compression, statistical estimation and numerical simulation of partial differential equations. One of their main attractive features is the ability to accurately represent fairly general functions with a small number of adaptively chosen wavelet coefficients, as well as to characterize the smoothness of such functions from the numerical behaviour of these coefficients. The theoretical pillar that underlies such properties involves approximation theory and function spaces, and plays a pivotal role in the analysis of wavelet-based numerical methods. This book offers a self-contained treatment of wavelets, which includes this theoretical pillar and it applications to the numerical treatment of partial differential equations. Its key features are: 1. Self-contained introduction to wavelet bases and related numerical algorithms, from the simplest examples to the most numerically useful general constructions. 2. Full treatment of the theoretical foundations that are crucial for the analysis of wavelets and other related multiscale methods : function spaces, linear and nonlinear approximation, interpolation theory. 3. Applications of these concepts to the numerical treatment of partial differential equations : multilevel preconditioning, sparse approximations of differential and integral operators, adaptive discretization strategies.


Deviance and Control

Deviance and Control

Author: Albert K. Cohen

Publisher:

Published: 1970

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK


Book Synopsis Deviance and Control by : Albert K. Cohen

Download or read book Deviance and Control written by Albert K. Cohen and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


The Memory Monster

The Memory Monster

Author: Yishai Sarid

Publisher: Restless Books

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 1632062720

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The controversial English-language debut of celebrated Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid is a harrowing, ironic parable of how we reckon with human horror, in which a young, present-day historian becomes consumed by the memory of the Holocaust. Written as a report to the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, our unnamed narrator recounts his own undoing. Hired as a promising young historian, he soon becomes a leading expert on Nazi methods of extermination at concentration camps in Poland during World War II and guides tours through the sites for students and visiting dignitaries. He hungrily devours every detail of life and death in the camps and takes pride in being able to recreate for his audience the excruciating last moments of the victims’ lives. The job becomes a mission, and then an obsession. Spending so much time immersed in death, his connections with the living begin to deteriorate. He resents the students lost in their iPhones, singing sentimental songs, not expressing sufficient outrage at the genocide committed by the Nazis. In fact, he even begins to detect, in the students as well as himself, a hint of admiration for the murderers—their efficiency, audacity, and determination. Force is the only way to resist force, he comes to think, and one must be prepared to kill. With the perspicuity of Kafka’s The Trial and the obsessions of Delillo’s White Noise, The Memory Monster confronts difficult questions that are all too relevant to Israel and the world today: How do we process human brutality? What makes us choose sides in conflict? And how do we honor the memory of horror without becoming consumed by it? Praise for The Memory Monster: “Award-winning Israeli novelist Sarid’s latest work is a slim but powerful novel, rendered beautifully in English by translator Greenspan…. Propelled by the narrator’s distinctive voice, the novel is an original variation on one of the most essential themes of post-Holocaust literature: While countless writers have asked the question of where, or if, humanity can be found within the profoundly inhumane, Sarid incisively shows how preoccupation and obsession with the inhumane can take a toll on one’s own humanity…. it is, if not an indictment of Holocaust memorialization, a nuanced and trenchant consideration of its layered politics. Ultimately, Sarid both refuses to apologize for Jewish rage and condemns the nefarious forms it sometimes takes. A bold, masterful exploration of the banality of evil and the nature of revenge, controversial no matter how it is read.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “[A] record of a breakdown, an impassioned consideration of memory and its risks, and a critique of Israel’s use of the Holocaust to shape national identity…. Sarid’s unrelenting examination of how narratives of the Holocaust are shaped makes for much more than the average confessional tale.” —Publishers Weekly “Reading The Memory Monster, which is written as a report to the director of Yad Vashem, felt like both an extremely intimate experience and an eerily clinical Holocaust history lesson. Perfectly treading the fine line between these two approaches, Sarid creates a haunting exploration of collective memory and an important commentary on humanity. How do we remember the Holocaust? What tolls do we pay to carry on memory? This book hit me viscerally, emotionally, and personally. The Memory Monster is brief, but in its short account Sarid manages to lay bare the tensions between memory and morals, history and nationalism, humanity and victimhood. An absolute must-read.” —Julia DeVarti, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) “In Yishai Sarid’s dark, thoughtful novel The Memory Monster, a Holocaust historian struggles with the weight of his profession…. The Memory Monster is a novel that pulls no punches in its exploration of the responsibility—and the cost—of holding vigil over the past.” —Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews


Book Synopsis The Memory Monster by : Yishai Sarid

Download or read book The Memory Monster written by Yishai Sarid and published by Restless Books. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversial English-language debut of celebrated Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid is a harrowing, ironic parable of how we reckon with human horror, in which a young, present-day historian becomes consumed by the memory of the Holocaust. Written as a report to the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, our unnamed narrator recounts his own undoing. Hired as a promising young historian, he soon becomes a leading expert on Nazi methods of extermination at concentration camps in Poland during World War II and guides tours through the sites for students and visiting dignitaries. He hungrily devours every detail of life and death in the camps and takes pride in being able to recreate for his audience the excruciating last moments of the victims’ lives. The job becomes a mission, and then an obsession. Spending so much time immersed in death, his connections with the living begin to deteriorate. He resents the students lost in their iPhones, singing sentimental songs, not expressing sufficient outrage at the genocide committed by the Nazis. In fact, he even begins to detect, in the students as well as himself, a hint of admiration for the murderers—their efficiency, audacity, and determination. Force is the only way to resist force, he comes to think, and one must be prepared to kill. With the perspicuity of Kafka’s The Trial and the obsessions of Delillo’s White Noise, The Memory Monster confronts difficult questions that are all too relevant to Israel and the world today: How do we process human brutality? What makes us choose sides in conflict? And how do we honor the memory of horror without becoming consumed by it? Praise for The Memory Monster: “Award-winning Israeli novelist Sarid’s latest work is a slim but powerful novel, rendered beautifully in English by translator Greenspan…. Propelled by the narrator’s distinctive voice, the novel is an original variation on one of the most essential themes of post-Holocaust literature: While countless writers have asked the question of where, or if, humanity can be found within the profoundly inhumane, Sarid incisively shows how preoccupation and obsession with the inhumane can take a toll on one’s own humanity…. it is, if not an indictment of Holocaust memorialization, a nuanced and trenchant consideration of its layered politics. Ultimately, Sarid both refuses to apologize for Jewish rage and condemns the nefarious forms it sometimes takes. A bold, masterful exploration of the banality of evil and the nature of revenge, controversial no matter how it is read.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “[A] record of a breakdown, an impassioned consideration of memory and its risks, and a critique of Israel’s use of the Holocaust to shape national identity…. Sarid’s unrelenting examination of how narratives of the Holocaust are shaped makes for much more than the average confessional tale.” —Publishers Weekly “Reading The Memory Monster, which is written as a report to the director of Yad Vashem, felt like both an extremely intimate experience and an eerily clinical Holocaust history lesson. Perfectly treading the fine line between these two approaches, Sarid creates a haunting exploration of collective memory and an important commentary on humanity. How do we remember the Holocaust? What tolls do we pay to carry on memory? This book hit me viscerally, emotionally, and personally. The Memory Monster is brief, but in its short account Sarid manages to lay bare the tensions between memory and morals, history and nationalism, humanity and victimhood. An absolute must-read.” —Julia DeVarti, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) “In Yishai Sarid’s dark, thoughtful novel The Memory Monster, a Holocaust historian struggles with the weight of his profession…. The Memory Monster is a novel that pulls no punches in its exploration of the responsibility—and the cost—of holding vigil over the past.” —Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews


Imbeciles

Imbeciles

Author: Adam Seth Cohen

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1594204187

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One of America's great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court's infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of "undesirable" citizens the law of the land New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen tells the story in Imbeciles of one of the darkest moments in the American legal tradition: the Supreme Court's decision to champion eugenic sterilization for the greater good of the country. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervor, the justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck, a perfectly normal young woman, for being an "imbecile." It is a story with many villains, from the superintendent of the Dickensian Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded who chose Carrie for sterilization to the former Missouri agriculture professor and Nazi sympathizer who was the nation's leading advocate for eugenic sterilization. But the most troubling actors of all were the eight Supreme Court justices who were in the majority - including William Howard Taft, the former president; Louis Brandeis, the legendary progressive; and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., America's most esteemed justice, who wrote the decision urging the nation to embark on a program of mass eugenic sterilization. Exposing this tremendous injustice--which led to the sterilization of 70,000 Americans--Imbeciles overturns cherished myths and reappraises heroic figures in its relentless pursuit of the truth. With the precision of a legal brief and the passion of a front-page exposé, Cohen's Imbeciles is an unquestionable triumph of American legal and social history, an ardent accusation against these acclaimed men and our own optimistic faith in progress.


Book Synopsis Imbeciles by : Adam Seth Cohen

Download or read book Imbeciles written by Adam Seth Cohen and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of America's great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court's infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of "undesirable" citizens the law of the land New York Times bestselling author Adam Cohen tells the story in Imbeciles of one of the darkest moments in the American legal tradition: the Supreme Court's decision to champion eugenic sterilization for the greater good of the country. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervor, the justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck, a perfectly normal young woman, for being an "imbecile." It is a story with many villains, from the superintendent of the Dickensian Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded who chose Carrie for sterilization to the former Missouri agriculture professor and Nazi sympathizer who was the nation's leading advocate for eugenic sterilization. But the most troubling actors of all were the eight Supreme Court justices who were in the majority - including William Howard Taft, the former president; Louis Brandeis, the legendary progressive; and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., America's most esteemed justice, who wrote the decision urging the nation to embark on a program of mass eugenic sterilization. Exposing this tremendous injustice--which led to the sterilization of 70,000 Americans--Imbeciles overturns cherished myths and reappraises heroic figures in its relentless pursuit of the truth. With the precision of a legal brief and the passion of a front-page exposé, Cohen's Imbeciles is an unquestionable triumph of American legal and social history, an ardent accusation against these acclaimed men and our own optimistic faith in progress.