Holocaust and the Liberal Imagination: A Social and Cultural History (Jewish Society and Culture) - Softcover

"An outstanding contribution to the history of the Holocaust and the basis for further research."Mark Levene, University of Warwick "Scholarly, readable, informative and exhaustively researched book. A formidable contribution to the study of the bystander in Holocaust history." Jewish Chronicle "This is a wonderful book, written with passion and minute scholarship combined. I could not put it down. It depresses, challenges, and reinterprets Holocaust history in the light of what the British and Americans did and thought." Times Educational Supplement "This book is not only a first--rate history but also very timely. Indespensable background reading for anybody who wants to share in creating a multicultural society. It is not simple history: it is about people. But is committed history written by a master--historian." Jewish Socialist

The Holocaust and the Liberal Imagination attempts to explain and not to condemn the responses and reactions of the democratic world to the attempted destruction of European Jewry. It concentrates on the impact of the Holocaust on ordinary people in the democracies and examines the actions of the nation--state in the light of popular responses. Ultimately this study argues that the Holocaust is not simply German, Jewish or continental history but is an integral but neglected part of the experience of many countries away from the killing fields. It is the first social and cultural history of its subject.