AI BlurbShoutlineShows how works of art can help us to explore the most difficult ethical and political issues of our time: war, terror, extermination, torture and abusePraise for the hardback:A Times Higher Education Book of the Week (September 2009)'On Art and War and Terror collects Alex Danchev's beautifully lucid and thoughtful essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict.'Times Higher Education'The range of these beautifully crafted essays is often dazzling. At his best, Danchev reveals himself to be a gifted and profound essayist.' The Independent'Alex Danchev's series of essays remind us why he is one of the most perceptive and witty scholars writing in Britain today.'The Sunday Telegraph'One of the most important books I have had the pleasure to read in a long time . When reading this thoughtful and thought-provoking book terms that come to mind include lucid, illuminating, mesmerizing, all of which are analytically weak but indicative nevertheless of what makes this book such a profound reading experience.'Millennium: Journal of International StudiesMain DescriptionThese essays examines the nature of war over the last century, from the Great War to a particular focus on the current 'Global War on Terror'. Alex Danchev takes seriously the idea of the artist as moral witness, considering war photography, for example, as a form of humanitarian intervention.
War poetry, war films and war diaries are also considered in a broad view of art, and of war. Danchev draws on Kafka to address torture and abuse in the war on terror; he uses Homer analyse current talk of 'barbarisation'. Through the paintings of Gerhard Richter, he investigates the terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof group, while the photographs of Don McCullin and the writings of Vassily Grossman and Primo Levi allow him to propose an ethics of small acts of altruism.Selling Pointso Nearly 250 worldwide hardback sales since publication in July 2007o The hardback has received glowing reviews in the general as well as academic pressCatalogue BlurbA Times Higher Education Book of the Week (September 2009)'On Art and War and Terror collects Alex Danchev's beautifully lucid and thoughtful essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict.'Times Higher Education'The range of these beautifully crafted essays is often dazzling. At his best, Danchev reveals himself to be a gifted and profound essayist.' The Independent'Alex Danchev's series of essays remind us why he is one of the most perceptive and witty scholars writing in Britain today.'The Sunday Telegraph'One of the most important books I have had the pleasure to read in a long time .
When reading this thoughtful and thought-provoking book terms that come to mind include lucid, illuminating, mesmerizing, all of which are analytically weak but indicative nevertheless of what makes this book such a profound reading experience.'Millennium: Journal of International StudiesIn these essays Alex Danchev examines the nature of war over the last century, from the Great War to a particular focus on the current 'Global War on Terror'. War photography, war poetry, war films and war diaries are considered in a compelling view of art, and of war.