Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters
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Overview
From the prize-winning author of Wartime Lies, an anatomy of the infamous prosecution of a Jewish officer attached to the French Army's General Staff, with profound implications for our own time.
Synopsis
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.
The New York Times - Ruth Scurr
Beyond being a clear introduction to the historical, legal, cultural and literary ramifications of the Dreyfus Affair, this book is a call to arms to contemporary creative writers to address the damage done to "the fabric of American society by the crimes and abuses of the Bush administration committed in the course of its pursuit of the war on terror." Begley eagerly awaits the emergence of America's Zola or Proust, to probe courageously the wounds of deep political division in great fiction. "Once again it is up to us poets to nail the guilty to the eternal pillory," Zola wrote to Dreyfus's wife. Begley argues that that time has come again.
Editorials
Foreign Affairs
"In thousands of political battles—including those over the Iraq war—Western publics have relived the Dreyfus Affair ever since."—Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs
— Andrew Moravcsik
New York Times
"Begley''s own contribution to dispelling silence and indifference consists in deftly retelling the story of the Dreyfus Affair and explicitly connecting it to our times. . . . The Dreyfus Affair will continue to matter as long as there are those prepared to defend human rights and the dignity of every human life against claims of expediency, reasons of state and official miscarriages of justice."—Ruth Scurr, The New York Times
— Ruth Scurr
The Jewish Chronicle
"...a brilliant work of historical storytelling, reminding us to what extent the drama is in the detail."--The Jewish Chronicle
— Natasha Lehrer
Ruth Scurr
Beyond being a clear introduction to the historical, legal, cultural and literary ramifications of the Dreyfus Affair, this book is a call to arms to contemporary creative writers to address the damage done to "the fabric of American society by the crimes and abuses of the Bush administration committed in the course of its pursuit of the war on terror." Begley eagerly awaits the emergence of America's Zola or Proust, to probe courageously the wounds of deep political division in great fiction. "Once again it is up to us poets to nail the guilty to the eternal pillory," Zola wrote to Dreyfus's wife. Begley argues that that time has come again.—The New York Times
Economist
As a primer on the affair, this is a first-rate narrative and a heartfelt plea to modern democracies to stick to their values and defend basic liberties, however threatened they feel.— The EconomistJewish Book World
Begley's riveting details and unremitting passion make this book a worthy successor to J'accuse.—Jewish Book WorldJournal of International Law and Politics
Begley is a brilliant choice...And he has written a brilliant book, using a lawyer's skill to marshal the facts and a novelist's art to relate them. The result is a history that drives the reader forward and occasionally steals his breath. - Journal of International Law and PoliticsNew York Review of Books
Particularly powerful in drawing lessons for American society after September 11.—Robert Gildea, New York Review of Books— Robert Gildea
New Yorker
A brave new book [and] a pointed warning and reminder of how fragile the standards of civilized conduct prove in moments of national panic.—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker— Adam Gopnik
The Canadian Jewish News
Louis Begley's Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters skillfully analyzes the forces that . . . divided a nation in a spectacular historical drama.—Sheldon Kirshner, The Canadian Jewish News— Sheldon Kirshner
The Green Bag
Begley provides a lucid and beautifully written account of L’affair Dreyfus from beginning to end.—Steven Lubet, The Green Bag
— Steven Lubet
The Morning News
Concise and precise.—Robert Birnbaum, The Morning News— Robert Birnbaum
The Review of Politics
Commendable for its narrative clarity.—Thomas Kselman, The Review of Politics— Thomas Kselman
Washington Monthly
Louis Begley's Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters is a slim, elegant work—another impressive volume in Yale University Press's 'Why X Matters' series.—Michael O'Donnell, Washington Monthly— Michael O'Donnell