From The University of Chicago Press:
In 1978, as the protests against the Shah of Iran reached their zenith, philosopher Michel Foucault was working as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera and le Nouvel Observateur. During his little-known stint as a journalist, Foucault traveled to Iran, met with leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, and wrote a series of articles on the revolution. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution is the first book-length analysis of these essays on Iran, the majority of which have never before appeared in English. Accompanying the analysis are annotated translations of the Iran writings in their entirety and the at times blistering responses from such contemporaneous critics as Middle East scholar Maxime Rodinson as well as comments on the revolution by feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.
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Jan Gross’ new book “Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz: An Essay in Historical Interpretation” is highly recommended for those who not only want to know more of the empirical facts of anti-Jewish persecution in Poland after the Holocaust, but also those who want to think about the causes of this intense animosity.
The book’s thesis is very provokative, as Gross does not rely on simple “eternal antisemitism” theses. He argues, quite convincingly that the intensity of post-Holocaust antisemitism in Poland, had specifically to do with the Poles’ Holocaust experience itself. I recommend Natan Sznaider’s review, “Chasing Away the Memory of Guilt: The End of Jewish Life in Poland.”
Also, in a very interesting section Gross evaluates “How the Working-Class Reacted to the Kielce Pogrom and What the Communist Party Made of It.” For those thinking about the failures of the Left to oppose antisemitism, this section has a lot to offer, as it exposes the Communist Party’s Real Politik approach to the issue, eventually siding with the Polish working-class against the Jews.