Confronting History: A Memoir (George L. Mosse Series in the History of European Culture, Sexuality, and Ideas) by George L. Mosse (PDF)

Description

Just two weeks before his death in January 1999, George L. Mosse, one of the great American historians, finished writing his memoir, a fascinating and fluent account of a remarkable life that spanned three continents and many of the major events of the twentieth century. Confronting History describes Mosse’s opulent childhood in Weimar Berlin; his exile in Paris and England, including boarding school and study at Cambridge University; his second exile in the U.S. at Haverford, Harvard, Iowa, and Wisconsin; and his extended stays in London and Jerusalem. Mosse discusses being a Jew and his attachment to Israel and Zionism, and he addresses his gayness, his coming out, and his growing scholarly interest in issues of sexuality. This touching memoir—told with the clarity, passion, and verve that entranced thousands of Mosse’s students—is guided in part by his belief that “what man is, only history tells” and, most of all, by the importance of finding one’s self through the pursuit of truth and through an honest and unflinching analysis of one’s place in the context of the times.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I took Professor Mosse’s European History courses at the University of Wisconsin in the late sixties and was spellbound with his lectures. This book answered a lot of questions about the personal side of George Mosse rather than the historian. I will never forget the experience of his lectures at Bascom Hall. I wish he could have lectured for the Teaching Company.

⭐I got a feel for the times in his life that shaped this man. He was a giant when lecturing and could light a flame even with an average student like myself. Sorry I didn’t get to know him personally. His historical perspective was amazing. A modest man who lived through extraordinary times; WWII, a privileged family and life style in Germany. Adapting to America and all its upheaval during his life. May he rest in peace. We need more professors like him today teaching our young people: not just facts and knowledge but how to THINK! Thank you Professor Mosse.

⭐This short autobiography by a major intellectual historian of Modern Europe was written just before the author’s death. For many years, Prof. George L. Mosse successfully served on the history faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is the author of many books on a variety of subjects but most noteworthy for his contributions to the study of National Socialism. He tells a wonderful story of his own encounter with Nazi Germany and how his Jewish family lost everything, how he basically went in to exile abroad, how he was educated in the U.K. and in America. But his insights into the historical profession and especially the powerful department at Madison are worth the price of the book alone. An interesting read that presents the colourful life of an excellent teacher and researcher who has had a profound impact on our times.

⭐Loved it. Mosse was my prof for modern European history at UW Madison and he was an inspiring lecturer. It was fascinating finding out more about his family, background, and his education (Bildung) in the broad sense. He was an amazingly perceptive historian/cultural historian of the 19th and 20th centuries, and his works on the origins of Nazism are excellent. I really enjoyed this book.

⭐Mosse gives a fascinating account of an amazing life. Anyone interested in European history, the impact of German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, American academic life, and gay issues will find this book interesting.

⭐I was lucky enough to have been a student of Mosse’s in a small senior honors class in the 1950’s that met weekly at his home (over Cognac I might add). At one meeting on leadership in the Third Reich he bet us he could make his 500 student undergrad lecture class stand up and applaud at the end of a mid semester lecture. Of course he won but the point had been made about the power of persuasion. No one of the thousands of students who attended his lectures were not changed by him and to hear him modestly recount his days in Madison brought smiles to my face and creases to my brow. He had such a crystal clear way of bringing complex thoughts and movements together into a flowing stream. Thank you Professor Mosse!

⭐My mother was George Mosse’s second cousin, and although I never met him, I grew up hearing a lot of the same stories he tells about his ancestral family. So, I started his memoir with a great deal of excitement.Unfortunately, that didn’t last.I have no doubt that Mosse was a wonderful scholar and interesting person, but to my mind, he wasn’t cut out to be a biographer. His descriptions of people and events should be fascinating yet the story never quite takes off, which is sad because his life was so unusual.That said, Mosse was well into his 80s when he wrote Confronting History, so I probably should cut him a break. Anyone who can complete a book at that age deserves admiration.

⭐Bravo! Anyone who was ever a student or admirer of George Mosse will love this book. It is a wonderful, historical chronicle of Professor Mosse’s family, his life and his career that is written as if he had spoken it.For someone who lived such a long, interesting life, this autobiography is rather short. (200 pages or so.) What this means, is that the reader gets a great overview of all the different phases of Professor Mosse’s life, without having to read through long, tedious chapters about things that aren’t that compelling.Furthermore, he treats the various angles of his life with equal merit. He writes about the Germany of his youth, his schooling, his family, exile, college, grad school and then life as a historian. With equal weight, he also writes about his status as an outsider, both as a Jew and a homosexual. His discussion of his homosexuality is probably groundbreaking in the sense that he is so adept at placing his feelings and actions in a historical context.”Confronting History” brought Professor Mosse back to life for me. I could hear him talking, laughing, and pondering the various choices he made. He was someone who was refreshingly humble, and his lack of pomposity comes shining through in this great final gift he left for all of the many, many people who knew him and loved him.

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