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Refugee Scholars in America: Their Impact and Their Experiences
What were the contributions to American scholarship and culture made by European refugees from Nazi persecution? How did these émigrés react to the experience of being strangers in the land of their refuge? In this engrossing book, Lewis Coser examines the impact of refugee intellectuals on the social sciences and the humanities in America, painting a collective portrait that sheds light not only on the accomplishments of the Europeans but also on the development of the several disciplines in America that either welcomed or rejected them.
Coser explains, for example, why the émigrés had more influence in the field of psychoanalysis than in psychology; why Austrian economists were more successful in America than were German economists; why only a few European sociologists made significant contributions in America. Discussing such luminaries as Bruno Bettelheim, Jacob Marshak, Hannah Arendt, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, Roman Jacobson, Erwin Panofsky, and Paul Tillich, Coser describes their backgrounds, personalities, and careers in America, providing revealing anecdotes that help to bring these figures to life. His accounts of those who were famous in the country of their birth but never achieved eminence or a feeling of adjustment in America provide a poignant contrast.
Coser concludes that the refugee intellectuals were most influential in areas of study where they filled a perceived need not previously met or in fields where they could build on already established traditions. His perceptive analysis of the European-born men and women who altered American intellectual history is an absorbing and memorable story.
Coser explains, for example, why the émigrés had more influence in the field of psychoanalysis than in psychology; why Austrian economists were more successful in America than were German economists; why only a few European sociologists made significant contributions in America. Discussing such luminaries as Bruno Bettelheim, Jacob Marshak, Hannah Arendt, Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, Roman Jacobson, Erwin Panofsky, and Paul Tillich, Coser describes their backgrounds, personalities, and careers in America, providing revealing anecdotes that help to bring these figures to life. His accounts of those who were famous in the country of their birth but never achieved eminence or a feeling of adjustment in America provide a poignant contrast.
Coser concludes that the refugee intellectuals were most influential in areas of study where they filled a perceived need not previously met or in fields where they could build on already established traditions. His perceptive analysis of the European-born men and women who altered American intellectual history is an absorbing and memorable story.
371 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1984
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May 14, 2010
A well written compendium of refugee scholars in the humanities and social sciences who came to America during the 1930s and 1940s. Coser creates a good balance between well known scholars who had great success in the United States (like Tillich and Nabokov) with those who struggled and ultimately failed to become prominent intellectuals on this side of the Atlantic.
What is perhaps most interesting about this book is the picture Coser paints of the American university during the early 20th century.The numerous fractures within disciplines, differences between elite Northeastern research universities and their emerging Western counterparts, and lingering anti-Semitism prevalent in some departments illustrates how much the American university establishment has changed in the last seventy years.
Despite all this, I cannot give this book five stars because of its disjointed, impressionist style. Though most of the portraits are fascinating, some are dull or only tenuously connected to Coser's thesis. Finally, this book is not really meant to be the authoritative study on refugee academics, but instead a stepping stone to further study and exploration.
Overall, a well-executed study that is successful at achieving its limited aims.
What is perhaps most interesting about this book is the picture Coser paints of the American university during the early 20th century.The numerous fractures within disciplines, differences between elite Northeastern research universities and their emerging Western counterparts, and lingering anti-Semitism prevalent in some departments illustrates how much the American university establishment has changed in the last seventy years.
Despite all this, I cannot give this book five stars because of its disjointed, impressionist style. Though most of the portraits are fascinating, some are dull or only tenuously connected to Coser's thesis. Finally, this book is not really meant to be the authoritative study on refugee academics, but instead a stepping stone to further study and exploration.
Overall, a well-executed study that is successful at achieving its limited aims.
Displaying 1 of 1 review