The House Of Fragile Things Av James Mcauley

A powerful history of Jewish art collectors in France, and how an embrace of art and beauty was met with hatred and destruction ¿¿The depths of French anti-Semitism is the stunning subject that Mr. McAuley lays bare. . . .¿[He] tells this haunting saga in eloquent detail. As French anti-Semitism rises once again today, the effect is nothing less than chilling.¿¿Diane Cole, Wall Street Journal ¿¿Elegantly written and deeply moving. . . . [A] haunting book.¿¿David Bell, New York Review of Books ¿In the dramatic years between 1870 and the end of World War II, a number of prominent French Jews¿pillars of an embattled community¿invested their fortunes in France¿s cultural artifacts, sacrificed their sons to the country¿s army, and were ultimately rewarded by seeing their collections plundered and their families deported to Nazi concentration camps. ¿In this rich, evocative account, James McAuley explores the central role that art and material culture played in the assimilation and identity