Theodor Adorno and the Century of Negative Identity - (Cultural Memory in the Present) by Eric Oberle (Paperback)

About the Book

Covering the period of the Frankfurt School's exile in the United States, this book examines how the critique of racism, authoritarianism, and hard-right agitation impacted the American and German individual's self-conception (identity), while examining how a new form of politics, based on defining an Other, has shaped our everyday language, institutions, and social world.

Book Synopsis

Covering the period of the Frankfurt School's exile in the United States, this book examines how the critique of racism, authoritarianism, and hard-right agitation impacted the American and German individual's self-conception (identity), while examining how a new form of politics, based on defining an Other, has shaped our everyday language, institutions, and social world.

Review Quotes

"An indispensable contribution to the history and theory of the concept of identity in the twentieth century, Eric Oberle's book has convinced me that Adorno's wrestling with this question not only permits but requires a reinterpretation of the whole body of his work."--Gerald Izenberg, Professor Emeritus "Washington University in St. Louis"

"In a work of boundless ambition and comparable achievement, which combines close reading of familiar texts and synoptic intellectual histories that bring together unfamiliar texts, The Century of Negative Identity shows just how indebted the Frankfurt School, particularly Adorno and Horkheimer, was to its time in America."--Corey Robin "crookedtimber.org"

"Oberle's book is full of pathbreaking insights rendered in a dense, fast-paced but crystalline prose. Written for an audience of intellectual historians, it nevertheless speaks directly to all of us as we grapple with the contemporary 'interconnections among racism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of prejudice.'"--James Loeffler "Marginalia, Los Angeles Review of Books"

"The historical and philosophical literature on Adorno is abundant, and the bar is high for new work. With a mix of persuasive analysis, meticulous research, and astute commentary, Eric Oberle's book clears it."--Warren Breckman "University of Pennsylvania"

About the Author

Eric Oberle is Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University.