The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

This study depicts and evaluates the 'golden age' of Viennese Jewry during the long reign of Emperor Franz Joseph (1848-1916). Based on detailed research, it provides new insights not only into the factors that favoured the ascent of Viennese Jewry and the antisemitic movements that accompanied its rise, but also into the ideological conflicts that have marked the 20th century. The author describes the impact of nationality struggles in the Empire and its repercussions on Jewish identity, and examines in detail the genesis of Zionism, Autonomism, Austro-Marxism and psychoanalysis as Jewish strategies and responses to the dilemmas of modernization. In doing so, he analyzes the problems of identity that affected the Jewish intelligentsia of Vienna and helped make it the scene of one of the most seminal intellectual revolutions in history. The book should appeal to scholars and students of European and Jewish history, social historians and the general reader with an interest in Vienna.