Nationalism and political liberty : Redlich, Namier, and the crisis of empire

Joseph Redlich (1869-1936) and Lewis Namier (1888-1960) were both politically active historians from upper-middle-class assimilated Habsburg Jewish backgrounds. They grew up in an era of rising anti-Semitism, integral nationalism and nationality conflict which witnessed the eclipse of liberalism and made the position of assimilated Jews increasingly untenable. Both devoted their lives to understanding the relationship between political liberty, nationalism, and nationality conflict and in this book Ng undertakes a comparative analysis of these two influential men.