(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)November 18, 2014

(MAHWAH, NJ) –Yascha Mounk, an Instructor of Political Science and Writing at Harvard University and a Jeff and Cal Leonard Fellow at the New America Foundation, discussed his recent book, Stranger in My Own Country: A Jewish Family in Modern Germany, on Sunday, November 16, 2012 at Temple Israel. The Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey co-sponsored the event.

Stranger in My Own Country examines the contours of Jewish life in a country struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich. The book portrays those who continue to live in its shadow. Mounk surveys his countrymen’s responses to “the Jewish question.” Through his family and childhood, the author shows that anti-Semitism, far-right extremism, philo-Semitism, and pro-Palestinian feeling coexist in Germany in such a way as to make most people who identify themselves as Jewish feel uncomfortable, if not profoundly alienated.

Today, as Mounk pointed out, this is a situation that prevails not only in Germany, but also in most of Western Europe. The vicissitudes of conflict in the Middle East and economic difficulties at home are putting liberal democracy to the test. Once prevalent notions of multicultural inclusiveness are giving way to calls by the majority population to impose assimilation and to limit or halt immigration. According to Mounk, what the future holds in store is not altogether clear.

Mounk received B.A. in History and an M.Phil. in Political Thought from Trinity College, Cambridge. After working as a theater director, Mounk studied political theory at Columbia University and in Paris. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University. His dissertation examines the role of moral responsibility in contemporary North American and Western European politics.

Born in Germany to Polish parents, Mounk is the founding editor of The Utopian, a cutting-edge magazine on philosophy, politics and culture. He has published articles in newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, The Nation, Foreign Policy, Slate, the London Review of Books‘ blog, Die Zeit, Unità, n+1 and the (Daily). He has also appeared on CNN International, ZDF and Radio France.

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