Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters
by Louis Begley
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- See description
- ISBN 10
- 0300168144
- ISBN 13
- 9780300168143
- Seller
-
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, Louis Begley. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2009. Card covers. 12mo up to 7½" tall. 249 pages including index. Light shelf lean; otherwise as new and unread.
In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a brilliant French artillery officer and a Jew of Alsatian descent, was court-martialed for selling secrets to the German military attaché in Paris based on perjured testimony and trumped-up evidence. The sentence was military degradation and life imprisonment on Devil's Island, a hellhole off the coast of French Guiana. Five years later, the case was overturned, and eventually Dreyfus was completely exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart, pitting Dreyfusards—committed to restoring freedom and honor to an innocent man convicted of a crime committed by another—against nationalists, anti-Semites, and militarists who preferred having an innocent man rot to exposing the crimes committed by ministers of war and the army's top brass in order to secure Dreyfus's conviction.
Was the Dreyfus Affair merely another instance of the rise in France of a virulent form of anti-Semitism? In Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, the acclaimed novelist draws upon his legal expertise to create a riveting account of the famously complex case, and to remind us of the interest each one of us has in the faithful execution of laws as the safeguard of our liberties and honor.
In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a brilliant French artillery officer and a Jew of Alsatian descent, was court-martialed for selling secrets to the German military attaché in Paris based on perjured testimony and trumped-up evidence. The sentence was military degradation and life imprisonment on Devil's Island, a hellhole off the coast of French Guiana. Five years later, the case was overturned, and eventually Dreyfus was completely exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart, pitting Dreyfusards—committed to restoring freedom and honor to an innocent man convicted of a crime committed by another—against nationalists, anti-Semites, and militarists who preferred having an innocent man rot to exposing the crimes committed by ministers of war and the army's top brass in order to secure Dreyfus's conviction.
Was the Dreyfus Affair merely another instance of the rise in France of a virulent form of anti-Semitism? In Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, the acclaimed novelist draws upon his legal expertise to create a riveting account of the famously complex case, and to remind us of the interest each one of us has in the faithful execution of laws as the safeguard of our liberties and honor.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Back Lane Books (Member of IOBA) (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 2416
- Title
- Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters
- Author
- Louis Begley
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0300168144
- ISBN 13
- 9780300168143
- Publisher
- Yale University Press
- Place of Publication
- New Haven
- This edition first published
- 2010-09
- Bookseller catalogs
- ART, HISTORY AND POLITICS, ART; HISTORY AND POLITICS, MILITARY;
Terms of Sale
Back Lane Books (Member of IOBA)
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About the Seller
Back Lane Books (Member of IOBA)
Biblio member since 2016
North Vancouver, British Columbia
About Back Lane Books (Member of IOBA)
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