Book Details

Against Remembrance

David Rieff

Provocatively argues that the business of remembrance, particularly of the great tragedies of the past, are policitised events of highly selective memory.

Opinion

“This is an essay of rare intellectual daring, erudition and emotional force.”
Fiona Capp
The Age
22.4.11

“Rieff has written one of those books that, whether it frustrates or pleases you, will leave you unable to resist discussing its contents with friends and strangers alike.”
Josh Rosner
Canberra Times
7.5.11

About this Title

'Against Remembrance poses hard questions about the importance of collective memory. Are events like ANZAC Day an essential part of a decent public culture? Can commissions on truth and reconciliation help remedy injustice and prevent it in future-or are they mainly obstacles to peace? Drawing on his experience as a war correspondent and bringing to bear an impressive grasp of history, David Rieff explores the role of memory in the defining events of recent times, including the origins and aftermath of war and ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia, the malign inheritance of apartheid in South Africa and the supreme crime of the Holocaust.'
---John Gray, author of Black Mass

About the Author

David Rieff is a New York-based journalist and author. Now a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, he has written extensively for The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, El Pais, The New Republic, World Affairs, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs and The Nation. During the 1990s, he covered conflicts in Africa, the Balkans, and Central Asia. He is the author of eight books, including Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West and A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis. His memoir of his mother, Susan Sontag's, final illness, Swimming in a Sea of Death, was published in January 2008.0

Reviews

‘This is an essay of rare intellectual daring, erudition and emotional force.’ (FIONA CAPP, THE AGE , 22/04/2011) Read full review

‘Rieff has written one of those books that, whether it frustrates or pleases you, will leave you unable to resist discussing its contents with friends and strangers alike.’ (JOSH ROSNER, CANBERRA TIMES, 07/05/2011) Read full review

‘… as a reporter in Bosnia, where he saw grudges half a millennium old turn to genocidal horror. His book is a cry from the heart for not just forgiving, but forgetting.’ (RICK SULLIVAN, ADELAIDE ADVERTISER, 23/04/2011) Read full review

Events

Friday, 24/02/2012 06:00 pm
Winthrop Hall
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Not-Everyone-Gets-To-Eat-Like-We-Do

David Rieff, author of Against Remembrance will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and he will be appearing in the following session:

'NOT EVERYONE GETS TO EAT LIKE WE DO'

Millions in the world can't afford food, or what they do eat is so inadequatethat they are malnourished and vulnerable to disease or starvation. Why is this? What is a human being's right to food? Reverend Tim Costello, David Rieff, Tom Keneally, Katie Smith Milway and Carmen Lawrence discuss how we might conquer this ongoing food crisis.

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Saturday, 25/02/2012 03:30 pm
Winthrop Hall
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Armageddon-Is-Coming---Again

David Rieff, author of Against Remembrance will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and he will be appearing in the following session:

'ARMAGEDDON IS COMING - AGAIN'
With cataclysmic climate change threatening, a world-wide financial catastrophe looming, overpopulation and a famine in which millions will surely die, is it time to consider whether the hyperbole is making us immune to the message? David Rieff and James Paterson.

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Sunday, 26/02/2012 12:30 pm
University Club Theatre
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Against-Remembrance

David Rieff, author of Against Remembrance will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and he will be appearing in the following session:

'AGAINST REMEMBRANCE'

Can our inability to forget make us actively dangerous? Acclaimed journalist and thinker David Rieff urges us to consider whether the memories we collectively foster serve us for better or for ill.

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Sunday, 26/02/2012 09:30 am
Winthrop Hall
http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/We-Need-To-Talk-About-Afghanistan

David Rieff, author of Against Remembrance, and Samina Yasmeen, author of Muslims in Australia, will be attending the 2012 PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL and he will be appearing in the following session:

'WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT AFGHANISTAN'
Australian and US troops have been in Afghanistan for more than 10 years. What are we doing there? Have we done it? Will we ever be able to do it or did we underestimate this complex region? Kim Barker, David Rieff and Samina Yasmeen speak to Paul Murray.

For booking information, please visit the PERTH WRITER'S FESTIVAL website above.

Tuesday, 28/02/2012 06:15
The Wheeler Centre, 176 Little Lonsdale Street
(03) 9094 7800
http://wheelercentre.com/

David Rieff will be speaking at a Wheeler Centre event on Tuesday 28 February. Keep checking back for further details or visit the Wheeler Centre website.

Book Preview

978-0-522-85860-0