{"product_id":"pen-confronts-the-sword","title":"Pen Confronts the Sword","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDemonstrates how four books by dissident German intellectuals served as a rebuke to the Nazi regime.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring 1942, the decisive battles of Stalingrad and El Alamein raged and the Nazi genocide was at its lethal peak. \u003ci\u003eThe Pen Confronts the Sword\u003c\/i\u003e examines the shared motives behind four remarkable texts German exiles began writing that year: Thomas Mann's \u003ci\u003eDoctor Faustus\u003c\/i\u003e (1947); Ernst Cassirer's \u003ci\u003eThe Myth of the State\u003c\/i\u003e (1946); Erich Auerbach's \u003ci\u003eMimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (1946); and Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno's \u003ci\u003eDialectic of Enlightenment\u003c\/i\u003e (1944). Each identified a specific danger in Nazi ideology and mustered new theories, approaches, and sources to combat it. The books aimed to expose the encompassing catastrophes of German culture (Mann), politics (Cassirer), philology (Auerbach), and philosophy and sociology (Horkheimer and Adorno). Their scope, mastery, and sense of urgency constitute a comprehensive \u003ci\u003eKulturkampf\u003c\/i\u003e (culture war) against Nazi barbarism. Avihu Zakai cogently analyzes each work, explains the context of its creation, and draws connections between these four landmark books in Western intellectual history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"State University of New York Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54410470424920,"sku":"9781438471648","price":36.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781438471648.jpg?v=1777896068","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/pen-confronts-the-sword","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}