“The affair and its consequences, admirably and precisely presented
in this study, compel us to be more vigilant when demagogues seek
to divide us through the casual, and often purposeful, misuse of
language.”—Ronald C. Rosbottom, Wall Street Journal
“Alfred Dreyfus is an admirable introduction not only to its
nominal subject but to . . . great historical events.”—Geoffrey
Wheatcroft, New York Review of Books
Featured in the Financial Times, “Best summer books of 2024:
History”
“A short new book on Captain Alfred Dreyfus, . . . whose court
cases divided France into two warring camps, could not have been
better timed. . . . Samuels tells the story of the Dreyfus affair
well.”—Ian Buruma, The Spectator
“A sensitive portrait of an intensely private man whose resistance
and survival were truly heroic.”—Natasha Lehrer, Times Literary
Supplement
“The evidence (or lack of it) that prompted Dreyfus’s initial
arrest is a complex tale with many characters. Samuels provides a
brilliant, detailed analysis . . . [and a man] capable of great
strength, courage and sensitivity.”—JP O’Malley, Irish
Independent
“A commendable overview of the life of Dreyfus and his promising
career as a French Army officer.”—Robert Shiels, Scottish Legal
News
“[An] engrossing biography [that] bears the imprint of our
times.”—Peter McPhee, Australian Book Review
“Samuels’s book offers a rounded portrait of Dreyfus and a succinct
introduction to the affair.”—Munro Price, Literary Review
“The Dreyfus affair is one of the moments where both modern
anti-Semitism and crusading journalism and mass protest were born.
Maurice Samuels provides a complex, lucid, narrative retelling that
will simultaneously enrage any reader and inspire them with its
tales of the stubborn search for justice. Even if you’ve read about
Dreyfus before, you need to read this.”—Adam Gopnik, author of The
Real Work
“An intimate portrait of the defiant rectitude of Alfred Dreyfus,
the wrongfully accused French military officer whom Mark Twain
called ‘the most infamously misused Jew of modern times.’ At a time
when truth is flouted, bigotry rampant, and nationalism resurgent,
Maurice Samuels provides an important account of a French society
inflamed and divided by hatred of a deeply patriotic Jew. Exiled,
abused, left for dead, Dreyfus never wavered in his fight for truth
and a society of equal treatment for all. That fight continues to
this day.”—Roger Cohen, Paris bureau chief, New York Times
“In this pioneering biography, Maurice Samuels restores Alfred
Dreyfus to the affair that bears his name. In doing so, he
rehabilitates an often disregarded form of modern Jewish identity
and shows how one Jewish life could matter so much to so many
others. A triumph.”—Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism against
Itself
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