On Art and War and Terror

On Art and War and Terror collects Alex Danchev's beautifully lucid and thoughtful essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict. -- Karen Shook Times Higher Education Book of the Week (September 2009). This collection of essays looks at first sight like one of those books of mostly previously published work that have been hung on a frame to give the impression of unity. But it is, in fact, a much more powerful, united and beautifully strange book than that. While academics are frequently exhorted to aspire to interdisciplinary work, this often boils down to tacking a discussion of a novel on to a piece of historical writing, or making reference to a few events to contextualise a picture. Real interdisciplinary work goes on when there is something unifying and unique beyond, or perhaps below, the academy's usual disciplinary boundaries. This is the case with Alex Danchev's work, and with this book. -- Robert Eaglestone Times Higher Education The range of these beautifully crafted essays is often dazzling. At his best, Danchev reveals himself to be a gifted and profound essayist. -- Brian Cheyette The Independent Alex Danchev's series of essays remind us why he is one of the most perceptive and witty scholars writing in Britain today. -- Andrew Roberts The Sunday Telegraph (Reviews Editor) One of the most important books I have had the pleasure to read in a long time... When reading this thoughtful and thought-provoking book terms that come to mind include lucid, illuminating, mesmerizing, all of which are analytically weak but indicative nevertheless of what makes this book such a profound reading experience... The author is not impressed by disciplinary borders: borders are there to be ignored, frontiers are meeting-places. Art thinks. Art makes us think. Art makes us think otherwise. Art helps us make a judgement, a moral judgement. -- Frank Moller, University of Tampere Millennium: Journal of International Studies A deeply learned, far-reaching and thought-provoking book. International Affairs On Art and War and Terror collects Alex Danchev's beautifully lucid and thoughtful essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict. Book of the Week (September 2009). This collection of essays looks at first sight like one of those books of mostly previously published work that have been hung on a frame to give the impression of unity. But it is, in fact, a much more powerful, united and beautifully strange book than that. While academics are frequently exhorted to aspire to interdisciplinary work, this often boils down to tacking a discussion of a novel on to a piece of historical writing, or making reference to a few events to contextualise a picture. Real interdisciplinary work goes on when there is something unifying and unique beyond, or perhaps below, the academy's usual disciplinary boundaries. This is the case with Alex Danchev's work, and with this book. The range of these beautifully crafted essays is often dazzling. At his best, Danchev reveals himself to be a gifted and profound essayist. Alex Danchev's series of essays remind us why he is one of the most perceptive and witty scholars writing in Britain today. One of the most important books I have had the pleasure to read in a long time... When reading this thoughtful and thought-provoking book terms that come to mind include lucid, illuminating, mesmerizing, all of which are analytically weak but indicative nevertheless of what makes this book such a profound reading experience... The author is not impressed by disciplinary borders: borders are there to be ignored, frontiers are meeting-places. Art thinks. Art makes us think. Art makes us think otherwise. Art helps us make a judgement, a moral judgement. A deeply learned, far-reaching and thought-provoking book.

Alex Danchev is Professor of International Relations at the University of St Andrews.

Introduction: Out of the Marvellous, or, Scholarship and the Magic Arts; 1. The Artist and the Terrorist, or, The Paintable and the Unpaintable: Gerhard Richter and the Baader-Meinhof Group; 2. The Face, or, Senseless Kindness: War Photography and the Ethics of Responsibility; 3. Provenance, or, Authenticity: The Guitar Player and the Arc of a Life; 4. Broomstick Horrors, or, The Fog-Walker in the Wood: Keeping up Appearances in the Great War; 5. The Strategy of Still Life, or, Art and Current Affairs: Georges Braque and the Occupation; 6. All This Happened, or, The Real Waugh: Sword of Honour and the Literature of the Second World War; 7. The Secret Life, or, The Soldier's Tale: Military Diaries; 8. Like a Dog, or, Animal House on the Night Shift: Kafka and Abu Ghraib; 9. It's All Fucked Up, or, The Non-Fiction Horror Movie: The Cinema and the War on Terror; 10. Waiting for the Barbarians, or, The Hospitality of War: Civilization and Barbarism in the War on Terror; Acknowledgements; Index.