Overview
A Scholar's Quest for Home and Identity Experience the remarkable story of a Romanian-born, Hungarian-speaking Jewish professor. From Vienna to Columbia and Harvard, he navigates a life marked by rootlessness, seeking comfort and purpose. His journey unfolds against the backdrop of five decades, two continents, and significant political and cultural changes. As we follow his pursuit of a home, we gain insight into the critical developments of post-1945 Europe and America. Markovits's emigration experiences, first from Romania to Vienna and later from Vienna to New York, shed light on the challenges he faced. His journey offers a panoramic view of the forces shaping the latter half of the 20th century. Despite America's flaws, he finds it a beacon of academic excellence, intellectual openness, cultural diversity, and religious tolerance—qualities that Europe lacked. Explore the complexities of identity, culture, and the universal search for belonging in this captivating narrative.
Full Product Details
Author: Andrei S. Markovits (Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) ,
Michael Ignatieff (Professor of History, Central European University)
Publisher: Central European University Press
Imprint: Central European University Press
Weight: 0.500kg
ISBN: 9789633864210
ISBN 10: 9633864216
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 19 August 2021
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
"""Markovits says his passport is his home. Yet there is an unmistakable warmth with which he describes the various academic institutions that have welcomed and supported him. He also describes the pleasures of discovering a new form of Jewish identity and learning to express that identity in ways that were unavailable in the Timişoara of his childhood. The 'un-belonging' he values does not seem to be the right description for his adult condition. Nor perhaps is 'rootlessness,' which suggests the lack of something life-giving and generative. Maybe we should see his story as one of gaining a new grounding in institutions and social bonds that could afford him the very independence and agency—in short, the freedom—he had long prized."" -- Steven Lukes * Dissent * ""The great Jewish historian Salo Baron defined the “lachrymose school of Jewish historiography,” that long litany of suffering and persecution that for many defines Jewish life and history. Andy Markovits’s memoir is the anecdote to that school: a sunny, optimistic, and uplifting read. It doesn’t gloss over the sadness of post-War Europe, but it shows how that lost world could produce a vital future and how a stateless, rootless person could nonetheless turn that condition into a fulfilled life."" https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-passport-as-home-comfort-in-rootlessness -- Martin Green * Jewish Book Council * ""Perhaps the best that one may hope for sometimes is the richness of a life lived without such a destructive set of emotions, the worth of work that is grounded on logic and evidence, the support of people (as the author generously attests to in this memoir) from whom one can learn and with whom one can share insight and understanding. It is this record and these experiences, perhaps above all, which shine brightest out of this evocative memoir."" -- Philip Spencer * Fathom *"
The great Jew ish his to ri an Salo Baron defined the lachry mose school of Jew ish his to ri og ra phy, that long litany of suf fer ing and per se cu tion that for many defines Jew ish life and his to ry. Andy Markovits's mem oir is the anec dote to that school: a sun ny, opti mistic, and uplift ing read. It doesn't gloss over the sad ness of post-War Europe, but it shows how that lost world could pro duce a vital future and how a state less, root less per son could nonethe less turn that con di tion into a ful filled life. https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-passport-as-home-comfort-in-rootlessness -- Martin Green * Jewish Book Council * Perhaps the best that one may hope for sometimes is the richness of a life lived without such a destructive set of emotions, the worth of work that is grounded on logic and evidence, the support of people (as the author generously attests to in this memoir) from whom one can learn and with whom one can share insight and understanding. It is this record and these experiences, perhaps above all, which shine brightest out of this evocative memoir. -- Philip Spencer * Fathom *
The great Jew ish his to ri an Salo Baron defined the lachry mose school of Jew ish his to ri og ra phy, that long litany of suf fer ing and per se cu tion that for many defines Jew ish life and his to ry. Andy Markovits's mem oir is the anec dote to that school: a sun ny, opti mistic, and uplift ing read. It doesn't gloss over the sad ness of post-War Europe, but it shows how that lost world could pro duce a vital future and how a state less, root less per son could nonethe less turn that con di tion into a ful filled life. https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-passport-as-home-comfort-in-rootlessness -- Martin Green * Jewish Book Council *
Author Information
Andrei S. Markovits is Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies; Professor of Political Science; Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures; Professor of Sociology at the The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Michael Ignatieff served as President and Rector of CEU between 2016 and 2021. He now is a professor in CEU's history department. Ignatieff comes to CEU after serving as Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice of the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
