Examines the political and social problems caused in Germany by the disabled war veterans and victims after World War I

BITTER WOUNDS: German Victims of the Great War, 1914-1939

Politics & Social Sciences

Whalen, Robert Weldon

Social Sciences

Cornell Univ Pr

The culture of fin de si�cle Vienna continues to fascinate and has been examined at length. There are indeed massive studies of Freud, Mahler, Loos, Klimt, and many other notables from that era. But these studies often ignore the religious dimension of Viennese modernist culture, implying -- if not arguing outright -- that "modernism" and "religion" are contrary, even hostile, categories. Taking a different tack, Robert Weldon Whalen in Sacred Spring documents the important thesis that Viennese modernism, far from being secular, was in fact a deeply religious movement. In vivid language Whalen examines this era of "being torn apart and rising again," describing those Viennese who were on the cutting edge of modern art and thought. Though the book focuses on avant-garde art, it also connects materials from journalism, popular culture, and contemporary politics in fascinating ways. Students of modernism, the arts, and European cultural history will find that Sacred Spring offers an intriguing, compelling perspective on their subjects. Featuring a beautifully written narrative, the book will also appeal to readers interested in the intersection of culture and faith, in the connection between the arts and the sacred.

Sacred Spring: God and the Birth of Modernism in Fin de Sicle Vienna

History

Europe

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

The culture of fin siècle Vienna continues to fascinate and has been examined at length. There are indeed massive studies of Freud, Mahler, Loos, Klimt, and many other notables from that era. But these studies often ignore the religious dimension of Viennese modernist culture, implying -- if not arguing outright -- that "modernism" and "religion" are contrary, even hostile, categories. Taking a different tack, Robert Weldon Whalen in Sacred Spring documents the important thesis that Viennese modernism, far from being secular, was in fact a deeply religious movement. In vivid language Whalen examines this era of "being torn apart and rising again," describing those Viennese who were on the cutting edge of modern art and thought. Though the book focuses on avant-garde art, it also connects materials from journalism, popular culture, and contemporary politics in fascinating ways. Students of modernism, the arts, and European cultural history will find that Sacred Spring offers an intriguing, compelling perspective on their subjects. Featuring a beautifully written narrative, the book will also appeal to readers interested in the intersection of culture and faith, in the connection between the arts and the sacred.

Sacred Spring: God and the Birth of Modernism in Fin de SiŠcle Vienna

Arts & Photography

Religious

Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life: Gangsters and Gangbusters in La Guardia's New York

In 1940 and 1941 a group of ruthless gangsters from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood became the focus of media frenzy when they―dubbed “Murder Inc.,” by New York World-Telegram reporter Harry Feeney―were tried for murder. It is estimated that collectively they killed hundreds of people during a reign of terror that lasted from 1931 to 1940. As the trial played out to a packed courtroom, shocked spectators gasped at the outrageous revelations made by gang leader Abe “Kid Twist” Reles and his pack of criminal accomplices. News of the trial proliferated throughout the country; at times it received more newspaper coverage than the unabated war being waged overseas. The heinous crimes attributed to Murder, Inc., included not only murder and torture but also auto theft, burglary, assaults, robberies, fencing stolen goods, distribution of illegal drugs, and just about any “illegal activity from which a revenue could be derived.” When the trial finally came to a stunning unresolved conclusion in November 1941, newspapers generated record headlines. Once the trial was over, tales of the Murder, Inc., gang became legendary, spawning countless books and memoirs and providing inspiration for the Hollywood gangster-movie genre. These men were fearsome brutes with an astonishing ability to wield power. People were fascinated by the “gangster” figure, which had become a symbol for moral evil and contempt and whose popularity showed no signs of abating. As both a study in criminal behavior and a cultural fascination that continues to permeate modern society, the reverberations of “Murder, Inc.” are profound, including references in contemporary mass media. The Murder, Inc., story is as much a tale of morality as it is a gangster history, and Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life by Robert Whalen meshes both topics clearly and meticulously, relating the gangster phenomenon to modern moral theory. Each chapter covers an aspect of the Murder, Inc., case and reflects on its ethical elements and consequences. Whalen delves into the background of the criminals involved, their motives, and the violent death that surrounded them; New York City’s immigrant gang culture and its role as “Gangster City”; fiery politicians Fiorello La Guardia and Thomas E. Dewey and the choices they made to clean up the city; and the role of the gangster in popular culture and how it relates to “real life.” Whalen puts a fresh spin on the two topics, providing a vivid narrative with both historical and moral perspective.

Americas

Empire State Editions

In 1940 and 1941 a group of ruthless gangsters from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood became the focus of media frenzy when they―dubbed “Murder Inc.,” by New York World-Telegram reporter Harry Feeney―were tried for murder. It is estimated that collectively they killed hundreds of people during a reign of terror that lasted from 1931 to 1940. As the trial played out to a packed courtroom, shocked spectators gasped at the outrageous revelations made by gang leader Abe “Kid Twist” Reles and his pack of criminal accomplices.\nNews of the trial proliferated throughout the country; at times it received more newspaper coverage than the unabated war being waged overseas. The heinous crimes attributed to Murder, Inc., included not only murder and torture but also auto theft, burglary, assaults, robberies, fencing stolen goods, distribution of illegal drugs, and just about any “illegal activity from which a revenue could be derived.” When the trial finally came to a stunning unresolved conclusion in November 1941, newspapers generated record headlines.\nOnce the trial was over, tales of the Murder, Inc., gang became legendary, spawning countless books and memoirs and providing inspiration for the Hollywood gangster-movie genre. These men were fearsome brutes with an astonishing ability to wield power. People were fascinated by the “gangster” figure, which had become a symbol for moral evil and contempt and whose popularity showed no signs of abating. As both a study in criminal behavior and a cultural fascination that continues to permeate modern society, the reverberations of “Murder, Inc.” are profound, including references in contemporary mass media.\nThe Murder, Inc., story is as much a tale of morality as it is a gangster history, and Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life by Robert Whalen meshes both topics clearly and meticulously, relating the gangster phenomenon to modern moral theory. Each chapter covers an aspect of the Murder, Inc., case and reflects on its ethical elements and consequences. Whalen delves into the background of the criminals involved, their motives, and the violent death that surrounded them; New York City’s immigrant gang culture and its role as “Gangster City”; fiery politicians Fiorello La Guardia and Thomas E. Dewey and the choices they made to clean up the city; and the role of the gangster in popular culture and how it relates to “real life.” Whalen puts a fresh spin on the two topics, providing a vivid narrative with both historical and moral perspective.

Assassinating Hitler is an attempt to understand the moral imagination of those soldiers and civilians who, on 20 July 1944, attempted, in what they called "Operation Valkyrie," to kill Adolf Hitler, seize power, and bring about an end to the Second World War. This book attempts not to uncover new sources, but to provide a new reading of old materials in an effort to reexamine an old question: When love of country and love of virtue collide, how shall we know what to do, and even when we know what to do, how do we muster the courage? In answering this question, author Robert Weldon Whalen not only excavates the conspirators' moral world, but embeds it in the density of their own experience. Exploring the moral imagination of the July 20 Conspirators is no easy task. The plotters deceived and were themselves deceived; they compromised their honor, and killed to regain it. The July 20 Conspiracy encourages and yet provokes. Protean, it not only changes with the perspectives of the observer, but it also changes the perspectives of the observer. The student of the conspiracy can only sympathize with the anonymous Gestapo bureaucrat who observed five decades ago: "This 20th of July thing is getting beyond us. We can't control the thing any longer." In chapter 1, Whalen narrates the climactic event of the July 20 Conspiracy - Operation Valkyrie - the assassination and coup attempt. The second chapter outlines the often angry debate that has raged since 1945 about the meaning of Valkyrie. The remaining chapters explore the dimensions of the conspirators' moral imagination: the conspirators' personalities, their family relationships, their distinctive understandings of honor, moral evil, and Christian ethics. The book's epitaph explains the price the Nazis exacted of the conspirators, and concludes the analysis. The conspirators' moral imagination might seem peculiar at first, but it is well to remember that it was shaped by peculiar times. The anti-Nazi underground was unavoidably textured by the Third Reich; entry into the underground was dangerous, movement through its labyrinths treacherous, and exit all but impossible. Assassinating Hitler seeks to remind us that this drama was no literary fantasy; it happened in our own time, only a generation ago. A thoroughly interdisciplinary study, drawing on history and theology, ethics and psychology, this book achieves much in the effort to understand the moral imagination of the conspirators who tried to assassinate Hitler.

Assassinating Hitler: Ethics and Resistance in Nazi Germany

Susquehanna Univ Pr

Casablanca's Conscience

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

Fordham University Press

Dangerous grace: A novel of the Philippines

Rex Book Store

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Books by Whalen, Robert Weldon