From Vienna to Chicago and Back: Essays on Intellectual History and Political Thought in Europe and America. By Gerald Stourzh. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. 2007. Pp. xiv+396. Cloth $45.00. ISBN 13: 978-0-226-777636-1. ISBN 10: 0-226-77636-0.

摘要

Gerald Stourzh is the doyen of Austrian historians and a grand seigneur amongrnAustrian intellectuals, deeply committed to the cause of cosmopolitan humanistrnscholarship with a decidedly English flair, fully embodying in deed what hernespouses in word. Moreover, his outstanding studies in American historyrn(especially, but not exclusively, of the eighteenth century) as well as hisrncontributions to Austrian constitutional history, well attested to here, have war-rnranted recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. In an age of increasing special-rnization it is more than refreshing to be reminded that commitment to the highestrnstandards of scholarship does not imply bogging oneself down in minutiae. Thusrnit is little wonder that this erudite and eloquent anthology of fourteen essays withrnan epilogue, collected under three rubrics (Anglo-American History, AustrianrnHistory—Imperial and Republican, and The Tocquevillian Moment: FromrnHierarchical Status to Equal Right), prefaced by an essay in intellectual autobi-rnography whose theme is reflected in the book’s title, should have two forewords:rnone by Bernard Bailyn, a grand-old-man among U.S. historians and the other byrnthe editor of the Journal of Modern History , John Boyer, distinguished professor ofrnAustrian history at Professor Stourzh’s alma mater the University of Chicago.rnThe chapter titles of the essays, originally written between 1953 and 2006,rnpresent a clear picture of Stourzh’s preoccupations: “Reason and Power inrnBenjamin Franklin’s Political Thought,” “William Blackstone: Teacher of Revo-rnlution,” “Constitution: Changing Meanings of the Term from the Early Seven-rnteenth to the Late Eighteenth Century,” “Charles A. Beard’s Interpretations ofAmerican Foreign Policy,” “The Multinational Empire Revisited: Reflectionsrnon Late Imperial Austria,” “Ethnic Attribution in Late Imperial Austria:rnGood Intentions, Evil Consequences,” “The National Compromise in thernBukowina,” “Max Diamant and Jewish Diaspora Nationalism,” “The Age ofrnEmancipation and Assimilation: Liberalism and Its Heritage,” “An Apogee ofrnConversions: Gustav Mahler, Karl Kraus, and fin de sie `cle Vienna,” “ThernOrigins of Austrian Neutrality,” “Equal Rights: Equalizing the Individual’srnStatus and the Breakthrough of the Modern Liberal State,” “Liberal Democracyrnas a Culture of Rights: England, the United States, and Continental Europe,”rnand “Tocqueville’s Understanding of ‘Conditions of Equality’ and ‘Conditionsrnof Inequality.’” The book also contains an epilogue, however, which is definitelyrnmore than an afterthought, under the rubric On the Human Condition, bearingrnthe title “The Unforgivable Sin: An Interpretation of Albert Camus’ The Fall”;rnfor the unforgivable sin turns out to be pride, which, as readers will have alreadyrndiscovered in the opening essay, Benjamin Franklin considered the source of allrnevil in human affairs. The epilogue also serves to remind us that Stourzh does notrnthink that history has the last word in explaining the fate of humanity: that isrnreserved for literature. Clearly the range of Stourzh’s vision is as broad as it isrnpenetrating; his message is as important as it is learned.