Includes bibliographical references and index.

The final book of the brilliant historian and indomitable public critic Tony Judt, "Thinking the Twentieth Century" unites the conflicted intellectual history of an epoch into a soaring narrative. The twentieth century comes to life as an age of ideas - a time when, for good and for ill, the thoughts of the few reigned over the lives of the many. Judt presents the triumphs and the failures of prominent intellectuals, adeptly explaining both their ideas and the risks of their political commitments. Spanning an era with unprecedented clarity and insight, "Thinking the Twentieth Century" is a tour de force, a classic study of modern thought by one of the century's most incisive thinkers. The exceptional nature of this work is evident in its very structure - a series of intimate conversations between Judt and his friend and fellow historian Timothy Snyder, grounded in the texts of the time and focused by the intensity of their vision. Judt's astounding eloquence and range are on display here as never before.