Tablet Magazine contributing editor Wesley Yang has published an outstanding profile of Tony Judt, the brilliant public intellectual who has been stricken with Lou Gehrig’s disease, in New York. A part of me wants to single out what he says about Israel and his (in)famous 2003 essay calling for a single bi-national state; and, to be sure, what he has to say remains provocative and controversial. But I don’t want to seem to narrow this utterly remarkable man. Instead, I’d like to point to what he says about his forthcoming short book on the need for social democracy:
“I am a little caught between satisfaction at my newly increased reach and mild irritation at the reason for it,” he says. “I understand the sense in which it seems as though I am in a hurry. But as you’ll see when you read the book, I am quite convinced that the urgency lies in the external world and all I am doing is drawing attention to it.”
Read the whole thing.
The Liveliest Mind in New York [New York]
Earlier: In and Out of Love With Zionism
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.