Genius & Anxiety

How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947

De: Norman Lebrecht

Narrado por: Jonathan Davis

A unique chronicle of the years 1847-1947, the century when the Jewish people changed the world - and it changed them.

In a hundred-year period, a handful of men and women changed the way we see the world. Many of them are well known - Marx, Freud, Proust, Einstein, Kafka. Others have vanished from collective memory despite their enduring importance in our daily lives. Without Karl Landsteiner, for instance, there would be no blood transfusions or major surgery. Without Paul Ehrlich, no chemotherapy. Without Siegfried Marcus, no motor car. Without Rosalind Franklin, genetic science would look very different. Without Fritz Haber, there would not be enough food to sustain life on earth.

What do these visionaries have in common? They all had Jewish origins. They all had a gift for thinking in wholly original, even earth-shattering ways. In 1847 the Jewish people made up less than 0.25 percent of the world’s population, and yet they saw what others could not. How? Why?

Norman Lebrecht has devoted half of his life to pondering and researching the mindset of the Jewish intellectuals, writers, scientists, and thinkers who turned the tides of history and shaped the world today as we know it. In Genius & Anxiety, Lebrecht begins with the Communist Manifesto in 1847 and ends in 1947, when Israel was founded. This robust, magnificent volume, beautifully designed, is an urgent and necessary celebration of Jewish genius and contribution.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Norman Lebrecht (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

mind blowing information

peaceful, sonorous, fascinating, enlightening, fills gaps in knowledge, makes me even prouder of my heritage, should be required reading

Poor Pronunciation of Foreign Words

Jonathan Davis was evidently too lazy to seek help in pronunciation of foreign language words. His German and Hebrew was really excruciating, like fingernails on a chalk board.

Well paced, interesting and ironic

This was a valuable book. I listened to the audiobook, then purchased the physical book and read it while I listened to it again. The narrator had a pleasant delivery, unlike some other audiobooks I have found to be unlistenable. I purchased this before the horror of the October 7 pogrom, but read/listened to it afterwards. The war is still raging and I am 100% behind Israel and the IDF. Born into a secular family of several generations of atheists and rabbis, until this war I had not explored or even thought of my ethnicity. I began exploring the history of Israel and the Middle East as a consequence. This book fit my current explorations perfectly. I’ve always enjoyed Norman Lebrecht’s writing and have several of his snarky, funny books on classical music. This book is an entirely different subject, but just as interesting, if not more so, than his other books.

Lots of interesting history

Not sure I followed any overall point, but filled with interesting historical detail about the many figures mentioned

Nonstop rambling

It was so boring. I stopped after the first chapter. Verbose filled with an aloofness that is meant to impress but fails miserably. I sought historical Jewish biographies but was forced to witness a poorly scripted play lacking any real substance.