Without Marx or Jesus
Jean-Francois Revel, Mary McCarthy (Afterword)
3.71
63 ratings10 reviews
First published January 1, 1971
Book details & editions
About the author
Jean-Francois Revel76 books80 followers
Follow
Jean-François Revel was a French politician, journalist, author, prolific philosopher and member of the Académie française since June 1998.
He was best known for his books Without Marx or Jesus: The New American Revolution Has Begun, The Flight from Truth : The Reign of Deceit in the Age of Information and his 2002 book Anti-Americanism, one year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In the latter book, Revel criticised those Europeans who argued that the United States had brought about the terrorist attacks upon itself through misguided foreign policies. He wrote thus: "Obsessed by their hatred and floundering in illogicality, these dupes forget that the United States, acting in her own self-interest, is also acting in the interest of us Europeans and in the interests of many other countries, threatened, or already subverted and ruined, by terrorism." In 1975 he delivered the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden, The Netherlands, under the title: La tentation totalitaire (The Totalitarian Temptation).
Community Reviews
3.71
63 ratings10 reviews
Dylan
10 reviews
Follow
February 17, 2022
Interesting for its view of a hopeful moment in time.
Revel contrasts the state of the left in France with that of America, and sees all the ingredients for a successful revolution are there, and only there. Though I’m never sure exactly what he means by revolution.
There’s an optimistic naivety that permeates the book, but unfortunately for Revel, it’s written at a watershed in history, only just predating Watergate, Reaganism, and the subsequent erosion of the welfare state and the growth in inequality. To mention nothing of the response to 9/11, Trump, etc.
1 like
Like
Comment
Liquidlasagna
1,549 reviews · 71 followers
Follow
July 26, 2020
Everyone seems to find this a weird book
"A socialist until the late 1960s, Revel was a speechwriter for socialist President François Mitterrand and ran as a socialist candidate in parliamentary elections in 1967 but lost."
"During the Cold War, Revel was known as a champion of classical liberal values such as liberty and democracy at a time when many pre-eminent European intellectuals praised Communism or Maoism."
That should clarify 1% of his weirdness
In his later writings, people have compared his views matching up with Huntingon once in a blue moon
"The French political philosopher Jean-François Revel, the American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, and many others have questioned whether (the dominant faith of the Arabs), particularly in the lands touched by Arab civilisation, is compatible with democracy."
1 like
Like
Comment
Rafael Nardini
120 reviews · 1 follower
Follow
January 25, 2022
All power is or becomes right-wing. Only the control exercised over it makes it left. And without freedom, there is no control.
The author maintains, with significant examples, that the most important manifestations of social and intellectual rebellion in the contemporary world took place on the margins of leftist parties and did not take place in socialist countries, but in the cradle of capitalism, the United States and Great Britain.
Revel says that the explanation for the crisis of the left in the world is that it has lost the practice of freedom, and not only because of the repression that the opponent inflicted on it, but also because it has adopted the suicidal conviction that effectiveness is compatible with it. .
It's worth reading: for those who still believe that there is a force on the left and on the right.
Show more
Like
Comment
Mike
83 reviews
Follow
January 9, 2019
Okay, this book has nothing to do with what the world would be like without Marx or Jesus. Its main focus is how the next revolution will occur and how it can only occur in the United States. It gives the history of revolutions throughout history and what caused them. I will read more from this author.
Like
Comment
birch tree
35 reviews
Follow
November 6, 2021
It is one of my favorite books on philosophy. It portrays the completely radical ideology of the great thinker Jean-Francois Revel.
Reading this book should have the same impact as receiving a bullet to the temple. It is overwhelming, direct, without euphemisms. It is a weapon, a great and dangerous weapon for some sectors.
Like
Comment
Edward Fort
75 reviews · 3 followers
Follow
November 3, 2018
In this provocative and insightful essay from 1970, Jean-François Revel (1924-2006) argues that the real revolution will take place in the United States of America. Interesting and shaker of consciences.
Like
Comment
Aissa Kasmi
3 reviews
Follow
August 11, 2018
A perfect analysis...
Like
Comment
C. Townsend
15 reviews · 6 followers
Follow
March 1, 2017
One of the first books I read by Revel, Awesome doesn't give it enough accolades
Like
Comment
Stephen
327 reviews · 10 followers
Follow
February 6, 2017
This is a weird book, maybe interesting for its historical value, but not a whole lot else. Who could expect otherwise from a 45-year-old book subtitled "The New American Revolution Has Begun"? Revel argues that the conditions of the 1960s-1970s in America suggest that the U.S.A. is in the best position to initiate the "second world revolution"; that is, unifying the entire world under one government. That's not to say that America takes over the world, as Revel is at least somewhat nuanced in his usage of "revolution." But he also argues that television and other mass media could be a driver of the revolution as people are increasingly connected by "information," not "propaganda." As of 2016: so much for that. Overall, an overly optimistic anachronism.
nf-philosophy skimmed
Like
Comment
Ernest Spoon
459 reviews · 17 followers
Follow
March 1, 2013
I remember reading this for some poli-sci class in college and thinking, what a bunch of shit.
The forty-odd years since have resulted in Jesus elbowing his way onto the public square and the brutal, stupid Austrian School of economics triumphant in the marketplace. We could use a man like Karl Marx again.
the-better-angels-of-our-nature
1 comment
Like
Comment
C5 years ago
Ther is no Austrian economics in the marketplace. Monetarism is not Austrian.
