The Swiss Without Halos

A fascinating and unbiased account of the Swiss people, their history and customs, their literature, art and science, religious turmoil and economic problems. “Don't sell this as a travel book. Actually, I could wish for a little more of that aura, but since it is not intended as such, that is mere quibbling. For here is an intellectual approach to the history, the geography, the political structure of a country that in many ways might serve as a microcosm of world federation in action. But the author has approached the subject realistically, and torn off the overlay of legend and story, showing a small country, protected from encroachments by its geographic expression, but far from being an oasis of peace. The cantons warred one with another; religious wars and civil wars tore them internally; the Catholic cantons attempted secession in 1848 and only then were the two major segments—Catholic and Protestant, brought together under one constitution. There were internecine class wars constantly. But by the end of the 15th century common sense dictated a common military organization of defense only to have the Reformation rip them asunder again. Finally the Congress of Vienna established the bound aries. Successive popular legends are gently dissected and disproved, and full circle is traced to Switzerland progresses from a peasant economy, to conquerors, soldiers of fortune, state monopolies, and back to unity of farmers and merchants. Names in the hall of fame, Voltaire, Rousseau, Amiel, and other writers; Pestalozzi, Henri Dumon, Zwingli—names internationally known in their fields; brief biographies integral to the overall picture of a people in a chronic state of political excitement, but yet able to evolve an aesthetic and cultural life, and a reputation for stability...Plenty of controversial but revealing material here; scholarly without being pedantic in style.”-Kirkus reviews

A case study in the social history of frontier town building set in the swamps of South Carolina On the banks of the lower Savannah River, the military objectives of South Carolina officials, the ambitions of Swiss entrepreneur Jean Pierre Purry, and the dreams of Protestants from Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, and England converged in a planned settlement named Purrysburg. This examination of the first South Carolina township in Governor Robert Johnson's strategic plan to populate and defend the colonial backcountry offers the clearest picture to date of the settlement of the colony's Southern frontier by ethnically diverse and contractually obligated immigrants. Arlin C. Migliazzo contends that the story of Purrysburg Township, founded in 1732 and set in the forbidding environment bounded by the Savannah River and the Coosawhatchie swamps, challenges the notion that white colonists shed their ethnic distinctions to become a monolithic culture. He views Purrysburg as a laboratory in which to observe ethnic phenomena in the colonial and antebellum South. Separated by linguistic, religious, and cultural barriers, the émigrés adapted familiar social processes from their homelands to create a workable sense of community and identity. His work is one of only a handful of examples of what has been deemed the "new social history" methodology as applied to a South Carolina subject. Initially devastated by privation and a high mortality rate, Purrysburg residents also suffered the vicissitudes of an indifferent provincial elite, the encroachment of lowcountry rice planters, Prevost's invasion in 1779, and ultimate destruction of the settlement by Sherman's army. Migliazzo details the community's changing military and economic fortunes, the gradual displacement of its residents to neighboring communities, the role of African Americans in the region, the complex religious life of township settlers, and the quirky contributions of Purry's climatological speculations to the fateful siting of this first township.

A Very Civil War is the first complete account of the important but much neglected story of Switzerlands civil war of 1847. Fought over issues similar to those of the American Civil War, the comparative civility of the Swiss warthere were fewer than one hundred casualtiesis remarkable. Indeed, a war that might have destroyed Swiss union instead contributed to a sense of cohesion and established a firm foundation for modern Swiss society. A Very Civil War is the dramatic but little-known story of Switzerlands civil war of 1847, the Sonderbundskrieg. This conflict, as much as any other single event, inspired the revolutionaries of 1848 to action. As the German poet Ferdinand Freiligrath wrote at the time: In the highlands was the first shot fired./What now, we still are waiting./But I know that there will be/A new burst of liberty. Remaks is the first complete account of an important but much neglected turning point in Swiss and in European history. What will be most striking to American readers of Remaks lucid account are the similarities to and the contrasts with our own Civil War. Each war was crucial to its nations subsequent history, and both in essence were fought over the same issuesfederal power versus states rights, the preservation of the Union, and the defense of certain ways of life. Yet Switzerlands was a war that, unlike its American counterpart, was fought with a minimum of violence. The war that might have destroyed Swiss union instead contributed to a sense of cohesion and established a firm foundation for modern Swiss society.The Swiss Civil War settled the great issues of nationhood at a cost of fewer than a hundred dead and lasted less than three weeks. There was no implacable Swiss Sherman, bent on the utter destruction of the enemy. Instead, General Guillaume Henri Dufour, commander in chief of the Federal Forces, chose to outmaneuver his opponents rather than outfight them. The Sonderbund War was also notable for the constant regard shown by the armies on both sides for the rights of noncombatants (General Dufour went on to help found the International Red Cross), and the conflict was followed by quick, genuine, and lasting reconciliation.This lavishly illustrated book, the first account in English of this very civil war, is based on Professor Remaks extensive, original research in Swiss archives.

If the turn of the twenty-first century was characterised by the ‘history wars’ in which bitter internecine battles raged between different historical schools, Jonathan Steinberg was noteworthy for his methodological pluralism. His own historical worked spanned diplomatic history, military history, the social history of war, biography, social history, banking history, political culture and genocide studies. He often employed a comparative historical approach, which teased out deep historical explanations by examining personalities, nations and traditions simultaneously. This book offers a critical appreciation of his contribution to modern historical practice with contributions by former students and colleagues, whose own interests are as diverse as those of Steinberg himself.

In this book, the author, a Jewish Canadian from Montreal who has been an American academic for most of his career, re-examines his cultural roots and connections. The problem of Canada and Canadian identity lies at the heart of the book, covering the personal, the communal and political.

Switzerland today is faced with a profound dilemma—its village life is dying, a casualty of the collision between communal norms and the need for national survival in an industrial, urbanizing world. Benjamin Barber traces the origins and evolution of communal liberty in the group of alpine villages that make up modern Canton Graubunden, and recreates their poignant thousand-year struggle to maintain this tradition in the face of a hostile environment, hierarchical feudal institutions, and European power polities. Originally published in 1974. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.