Confronting History: A Memoir

by George L. Mosse, George L. Mosse

Just two weeks before his death in January 1999, George L. Mosse, one of this century’s great 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. Writing about the events of his life through a historian’s lens, Mosse gives us a personal history of our century. This is a story told with the clarity, passion, and verve that entranced thousands of Mosse’s students and that countless readers have found, and will continue to find, in his many scholarly books.

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 also deals with matters of personal identity. He discusses being a Jew and his attachment to Israel and Zionism. He addresses his gayness, his coming out, and his growing scholarly interest in issues of sexuality.

This touching memoir, sometimes harrowing, often humorous, is guided in part by Mosse’s belief that “what man is, only history tells,” and by his constant themes of the fate of liberalism, the defining events that can bring about the generational political awakenings of youth (from the anti-fascism struggles of the 1930s to the campus anti-war movement of the 1960s), the meanings of masculinity and racial and sexual stereotypes, the enigma of exile, and—most of all—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 his times.

Genres: History, Biography, European History, 20th Century

238 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 2000

About the author

German-born American social and cultural historian.

Mosse authored 25 books on a variety of fields, from English constitutional law, Lutheran theology, to the history of fascism, Jewish history, and the history of masculinity.

He was perhaps best-known for his books and articles that redefined the discussion and interpretation of Nazism.

Reviews

[Marcos Navarro Diago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nunca antes habia leido la autobiografía de un historiador y creo que he elegido bien!!!
Si bien no he leido ninguna otra obra de Mosse ( lo cual sería lo suyo antes de leer su autobiografía) , el relato que ofrece es bastante interesante ya solo por mostrar la perspectiva histórica de un judío homosexual de la alta burguesía alemana que tuvo que exiliarse al comienzo del Tercer Reich y desarrollar su vida como un hombre sin patria.

Lo que es la primera mitad del libro habla de sus primeros años en la república de Weimar, la relacion con su familia y su experiencia en los centros de educación en los que estuvo , lo cual es bastante curioso y puede aportar a cualquier lector interesado en un relato sobre el siglo XX, siendo además un aliciente el hecho de que este tipo se relacionó de forma directa o indirecta con gente super importante del momento. Mas allá de esto, si que he de decir que la segunda parte ( donde sobre todo habla de su estancia en diferentes universidades y su experiencia academica) está algo mas dirigida a historiadores o gente interesada en la historiografía, pues se trata de un relato sobre su relacion con la disciplina histórica, sus diferentes obras y su relacion con diferentes profesionales del mismo ámbito y sus metodologías propias.
Aun así, es super guay ver como critica duramente la forma de enseñanza de algunos profesores en los años 30 que son totalmente aplicables a día de hoy ( sigue habiendo docentes que no saben suscitar el interés en sus oyentes y que solo leen sus apuntes), lo cual hace ver que no se ha dado una degradación en la enseñanza sino que siempre han habido profesores mediocres, tiesos y sosos! Algo alentador...supongo...

Para alguien que esté estudiando Historia el libro es además en lineas generales bastante inspirador y transmite el amor que el autor tuvo a lo largo de su vida hacia esta disciplina.Dan ganas de ponerse a escribir historia sobre cualquier cosa!!!!!

Dicho esto me voy a hacer la reseña de verdad que la tengo que entregar mañana hehe...

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating life.

[Brita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A giant of a man and a towering intellectual. I am so pleased he taught at Wisconsin for most of his career.

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.