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Fools, Martyrs, Traitors: The Story of Martyrdom in the Western World (CUSA), by Lacey Baldwin Smith
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Lacey Baldwin Smith takes us on a riveting journey through history as he examines one of the most baffling characteristics of the human experience: the willingness to die to sanctify a deity, defend a cause, or simply to prove a point. By delving into the psyches, politics, and personalities of martyrs like Thomas Becket, John Brown, and Gandhi, he illuminates the complex and elusive subject of martyrdom as it has evolved over 2,500 years.
- Sales Rank: #2051020 in Books
- Color: Multicolor
- Brand: Brand: Northwestern University Press
- Published on: 1999-10-25
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.10" w x 6.00" l, 1.30 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 429 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
From Library Journal
Late into this provocative intellectual history, Smith (emeritus, history, Northwestern Univ.; Treaures in Tudor England, 1986) pops the crucial question: "Can it be that martyrs are in fact not instruments of ideology, selfless soldiers joyfully terminating their lives for some greater good, but instead victims of their own overdeveloped self-esteem, which sets them apart and above the herd?" His astute query guides Smith's gentle debunking of the martyr-as-altruistic-hero ideal. His gist is this: martyrs die for themselves. While Smith can be criticized for not including more women (only St. Perpetua and Ethel Rosenberg are found here) or persons of color (only Gandhi is included), he cannot be faulted for authoring an unimaginative work. With quiet intelligence and analytical precision, he examines extraordinarily diverse lives that speak to the multifaceted nature of martyrdom. A fine historical study; highly recommended.?Sandra Collins, Northern Tier Lib., Pittsburgh
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Smith teases out the common denominators in history's most famous instances of martyrdom. As disparate as the cases he examines, from Socrates to the Rosenbergs, are, Smith propounds some similarities in the martyr personality that should attract any reader interested in any of the figures he examines. On the ghoulish side, Smith ponders what martyrs may have known instinctively--that a theatrical death "performance" is essential to memorializing and advancing their cause--and on the psychological side, Smith sympathetically ruminates about the insights into human fate and freedom that martyrs understood and that set them on a fatal collision course with their societies. An intriguing element of the conflict is the element of political treason exhibited in all of Smith's subjects: Jesus, Joan of Arc, Thomas More, John Brown, Gandhi, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer among several others. The entanglement of traitor with redeemer, of gnosis with psychosis, makes eternally intriguing these individuals whose motivations Smith breaks down in fascinating fashion. Tight writing and a mix of times and people mean wide interest. Gilbert Taylor
From Kirkus Reviews
A fine combination of collective biography and thematic study. Nine of Smith's previous books have been on English history, mostly Tudor England. This latest work is derived from a class he taught at Northwestern University, affectionately known by his students as ``Finks, Stinks, and Weirdos.'' As Smith implicitly recognizes in his title and first chapter, the students had stumbled on the first problem concerning this subject: the conundrum of definition. One person's martyr is another person's traitor. What is the difference between a martyr and a victim? What are we to make of those who actively seek self-destruction? When the subject is a remote figure from a different culture, we may analyze these questions with a critical and cool detachment; when we place ourselves in the realm of the Holocaust and ask the same question about the millions killed by the Nazis, the tenor of the debate changes radically. How is the historian to decide? ``Not even God can change history, but the historian can; his profession requires him to do so.'' Perhaps no other civilization has such a tradition of martyrdom as the West; from Socrates, the Maccabees, and Jesus to Bonhoeffer, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.--all of whom are examined by Smith--our culture has been shaped and determined by these holy fools. It is not death that transforms the person into a martyr, but the consciousness of a death freely chosen. A fascinating subtext of the work is the transformation of the martyr from the sacred to the secular: Sometime in early modern Europe, the heretic is superseded by the traitor. Politics have become our secular religion. Yet, as Smith notes, perhaps Camus hit upon the paradox when he wrote that martyrs must choose to be either forgotten, mocked, or made use of--but they can never be understood; and yet he also believed--paraphrasing Descartes, ``I rebel--therefore we exist.'' Human, dramatic stories, well told, with sympathetic insights. (12 photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Important and alarming book
By Jack D. Eller
This is a very good book that deserves a higher sales ranking and a better review than it has at the moment. What Smith does is compile a very eclectic set of martyr stories, illustrating the facts that (1) not all martyrs are religiously motivated and (2) not all martyrs are nice people. Some ARE blood-thirsty killers. And it is not the cause that makes someone a martyr. It is two important things: absolute certainty that the martyr is right and everyone else is wrong, and a belief that martyrdom somehow makes the cause more noble. Both of these facts are scary.
As Smith states more than once, the martyr is the ultimate egotist: he/she is right, the world is wrong, and he/she is showing the world something with his/her self-sacrifice. But that cannot be true: there have been lots of martyrs for lots of causes--in fact, even diametrically opposed causes. The Allies who died in World War II could call themselves martyrs for freedom, and the Nazis who died could call themselves martyrs for Nazism or Germany. Who decides who is a martyr...and what cause is noble?
The martyr is in the additional tricky position of wanting and needing to die without APPEARING to want to die. That is just suicide. The martyr must think that death is perhaps avoidable, and also that death will mean a greater success than life could have accomplished. It is a fine line to walk, one that ultimately not only fails but is contradictory.
People who respect martyrs, or who want to be martyrs, should read this book. Also, read my new "Violence and Culture" (Wadsworth 2005), that puts martyrdom and other forms of ideological violence in perspective.
And remember, terrorists often think of themselves as martyrs, and martyrs often think of the ones who kill them as terrorists.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Author Shows Martyrdoom Takes Ego, and Some Preparation
By A Customer
Lacey Baldwin Smith has crafted an engaging book that investigates great martyrs through the centuries. Although the book is subtitled, "The Story of Martyrdom in the Western World," it is rather a careful review of primarily English speaking "martyrs", and the events that lead up to their demise.
Some of the greats, such as Thomas Becket, do not bear well to close scrutiny. Indeed, some across as ravenous murderers: John Brown, in particular, is revealed to be little better than a common terrorist. But many of these individuals had great stage presence and oratory power they used to their advantage when finally put before the docket. Many also had an incredible ego and were incapable of understanding their opponents concerns or views. And not a few wanted martyrdom and forced their opponents' hands to achieve their goal.
The author's selection of martyrs (because he focuses upon English speakers) is a bit uneven. However, the author's short digression into martyrs of the Holocaust was interesting and ethically valuable.
The author provides photos or illustrations of the main protagonists which help to imagine them in more human light. The endnotes and index are excellent, and the writing itself is entertaining if a bit caustic on occasion. Omitted is much discussion of the political campaigns that helped these fools and traitors be designated as martyrs. Despite this, Smith has created a unique, fun, and educational book you're sure to enjoy.
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