Peter Gay (1923–2015) | Central European History | Cambridge Core

Contents:

• PETER GAY
• JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT
• WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?
• I WAS TEAM DESANTIS BEFORE HIS DISGTG ANTI-GAY ADGONE TOO FARTO DESANTIS, IF YOU ARE GAY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE A PART OF THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT.YVONNE DEAN-BAILEYUPDATED JUL. 05, 2023 12:28PM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 01, 2023 11:46PM EDT OPNMICHAEL M SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGIN THEORY, I AM RON DESANTIS’ PERFECT VOTER. I AM A LIFELONG NSERVATIVE, I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE ANY AND ALL COVID RTRICTNS, AND I AM PASSNATELY ANTI-TMP. WHAT ULD BE A MORE IAL VOTER FOR A NDIDATE LIKE DESANTIS?THERE’S ONE PROBLEM FOR DESANTIS, THOUGH: I AM A GAY WOMAN. AND I N’T STAND BEHD HIS ATTACKS AGAST THE LGBTQ+ MUNY.I WAS UNNIABLY ON TEAM DESANTIS BEFORE HIS MPAIGN SHARED WHAT ULD BE NSIRED THE MOST ANTI-LGBTQ+ AD RECENT HISTORY, BOASTG ABOUT ALL THE MEASUR HE’S SUPPORTED CRACKG DOWN ON THE LGBTQ+ MUNY. NOT ONLY DID DESANTIS SHOW THAT HE IS AS ANTI-LGBTQ+ AS THE MASTREAM MEDIA HAS ALLEGED, HE MA A MOCKERY OF ANY GOP NDIDATE THAT SHOWS AN TERT LGBTQ+ RIGHTS, SETTG THE WHOLE PARTY BACK S. DPE MY NSERVATIVE CRENTIALS, YOU ULDN’T PAY ME TO VOTE FOR THE FLORIDA ERNOR NOW. I AM A LBIAN AND DESANTIS HAS MA ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT HE DON’T WANT ANY LGBTQ+ NSERVATIV ON HIS TEAM BEE OF THEIR INTY. WHEN DESANTIS WAS TOYG WH THE IA OF NNG FOR PRINT, HE SOUND LIKE THE PERFECT NDIDATE: HE WAS TMP WHOUT THE TMPS. LTLE DID I KNOW DESANTIS WAS FARTHER TO THE RIGHT ON ISSU THAT MEANT THE MOST TO ME AND THE MORE THAN 70 PERCENT OF AMERINS WHO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS.HE HAS MA CLEAR THE PAST FEW WEEKS THAT HE’S MORE TERTED APPEASG TWTER TROLLS WHO ABHOR ANY AMERIN WHO INTIFI AS LGBTQ+. TO DESANTIS, IF YOU ARE GAY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE A PART OF THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT.A FEW YEARS AGO, I WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED THIS, BUT DESANTIS' RECENT ANTI-LGBTQ+ AD HAS PROVED THAT HE IS TO THE RIGHT OF TMP WHEN TO LGBTQ+ ISSU. IF TMP WAS SOMEONE WHO DON’T SUPPORT THE MOVEMENT, DESANTIS IS AN ALL-OUT HATER.MY GAYNS HAS NOTHG TO DO WH THE FACT THAT FLORIDA IS A BOOMG STATE AN OTHERWISE LACKLTER ENOMY. THAT BEG SAID, DESANTIS HAS MA ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT HE DO NOT SUPPORT GAY AMERINS REGARDLS OF WHETHER THEY SUPPORT HIS NSERVATIVE AGENDA.WHEN I FIRST ENUNTERED DESANTIS DURG HIS BOLD STANCE AGAST COVID MANDAT EARLIER THIS YEAR, I WAS GENERALLY PLEASED WH THE FLORIDA ERNOR. HE SEEMED JT LIKE WHAT NSERVATIV HAVE BEEN MISSG. BUT WHEN THE LEGISLATIVE SSN BROUGHT ISSU NCERNG LGBTQ+ RIGHTS TO THE FOREONT, MY EXCEMENT QUICKLY TURNED TO DISAPPOTMENT. IT BEME EVINT THAT DESANTIS WAS NOT THE CHAMPN OF DIVIDUAL EEDOMS AND RIGHTS THAT I HAD HOPED FOR.HIS ANTI-GAY RHETORIC AND ACTNS ARE NOT ONLY EPLY HURTFUL TO LGBTQ+ AMERINS LIKE MYSELF BUT ALSO TARNISH THE IMAGE OF THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. AS A LIFELONG NSERVATIVE, I BELIEVE THE PRCIPL OF LIMED ERNMENT, PERSONAL RPONSIBILY, AND DIVIDUAL LIBERTI. YET, DESANTIS’ APPROACH TO LGBTQ+ ISSU GO AGAST THE VERY PRCIPL.BY EXCLUDG LGBTQ+ NSERVATIV AND ATTACKG THEIR RIGHTS, DESANTIS ALIENAT A SIGNIFINT PORTN OF HIS POTENTIAL BASE, EFFECTIVELY DRIVG AWAY VOTERS WHO SHARE MANY OF HIS OTHER NSERVATIVE BELIEFS. IT IS DISHEARTENG TO WNS A NDIDATE WHO ULD HAVE BEEN A UNG FORCE WH THE PARTY STEAD NTRIBUTG TO FURTHER DIVISIVENS.DESANTIS’ STANCE ON LGBTQ+ ISSU NOT ONLY NTRADICTS NSERVATIVE VALU BUT ALSO REFLECTS A SEVERE DISNNECT OM THE MAJORY OF AMERINS WHO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS. ACRDG TO POLLS, OVER 70 PERCENT OF AMERINS SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE, AND THIS NUMBER NTU TO RISE. BY DISREGARDG SUCH A SIGNIFINT PORTN OF THE POPULATN, DESANTIS REVEALS A NCERNG LACK OF UNRSTANDG OF THE EVOLVG SOCIETAL NORMS AND VALU.AS A GAY WOMAN, MY SEXUAL ORIENTATN IS JT ONE ASPECT OF MY INTY, AND SHOULD NOT FE MY POLIL BELIEFS OR MY PLACE WH THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. UNFORTUNATELY, DESANTIS SEEMS TO BELIEVE THAT ONE’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN TERM THEIR WORTHS TO BE PART OF THE NSERVATIVE E. THIS DIVISIVE MENTALY DO NOT BO WELL FOR THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIN PARTY OR S CHANC OF SUCCS BROAR ELECTNS.THE REPUBLIN PARTY SHOULD STRIVE TO BE A BIG-TENT PARTY, EMBRACG DIVERSE PERSPECTIV AND VOIC. ALIENATG LGBTQ+ DIVIDUALS ONLY WEAKENS THE PARTY’S APPEAL AND RTRICTS S ABILY TO ATTRACT NEW SUPPORTERS. IT IS VAL FOR THE PARTY TO EVOLVE AND ADAPT TO THE CHANGG ATTUS OF THE AMERIN PEOPLE, RATHER THAN CLGG TO OUTDATED AND DISCRIMATORY VIEWS.DESANTIS MT REGNIZE THAT HIS ANTI-GAY RHETORIC IS NOT ONLY HARMFUL TO LGBTQ+ AMERINS BUT ALSO TRIMENTAL TO THE VERY PRCIPL HE CLAIMS TO UPHOLD. IF HE TLY AIMS TO LEAD THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT AND BRG ABOUT POSIVE CHANGE FOR ALL AMERINS, HE MT ABANDON DIVISIVE TACTICS AND FOC ON POLICI THAT PROMOTE UNY AND CLIVY.SO FAR, HE IS ONLY LOSG EVERYDAY AMERINS, CLUDG MANY NSERVATIV LIKE MYSELF, THROUGH HIS DISGTG ANTI-GAY RHETORIC. HIS ATTACKS AGAST THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AND EXCLN OF LGBTQ+ NSERVATIV ARE NOT ONLY MORALLY WRONG BUT POLILLY MISGUID. THE REPUBLIN PARTY MT DISTANCE SELF OM SUCH HARMFUL BEHAVR AND STRIVE TO BE A PARTY THAT WEL ALL AMERINS, REGARDLS OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN. ONLY THEN N HOPE TO REPRENT THE TE VALU OF NSERVATISM AND GARNER THE SUPPORT NEED TO SUCCEED FUTURE ELECTNS. YVONNE DEAN-BAILEY
• PETER GAY OBUARY
• PETER GAY (1923–2015)

PETER GAY

In January 1988, I was a junr at Yale College, studyg English and Italian lerature, and perfectly nfint —or rather blissfully different to—my psychologil well-beg, when I enrolled Peter Gay’s urse on Frd. Unr Peter Gay’s stctn that semter, I learned that I had a surprisg number of thgs mon wh Dora, the Wolf Man, and the Rat Man—I was nrotic, showed signs of obssive pulsive disorr, and had some light symptoms of hysteria. How I ever managed to make through my bourgeois New York childhood, let alone through my first few years at Yale, seemed to me nearly miraculo, but Peter Gay, his urtly, avuncular way, also disabed me of the ia that I was any way special.

Peter Gay was an expert of the social history of the European bourgeoisie—his magisterial five-volume history, The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Frd, appeared between the years 1984 and 1998—and he tght his stunts to nsir Frd not only as a great geni, but also as a Vienne Jew astutely observg the world which he lived. What was so utterly enlighteng, then, to e a very Gayian term, about Peter Gay’s lectur on Frd was precisely his abily to suate Frd his late 19th- and early 20th-century world whout any way dimishg his acplishment; what was thrillg, that is, was his abily to nvey how Frd’s historil circumstanc did not exclively create, but certaly ma possible his set of perceptns about seemgly universal aspects of human psychology. Gay tght me—and to this I believe I owe my own trajectory as a scholar—that to separate the fields of history, psychology, lerature, relign, and polics om one another was to produce a drastilly rced unrstandg of the past.

Gay and his parents emigrated 1941 om Cuba to the Uned Stat, where they settled Denver orr for his mother to nvalce at a Jewish sanarium for tuberculosis treatment—an episo that sounds like a zany ncurrence of Mann’s Magic Mounta, Frd’s Dora, and the Wild Wt. Over the urse of Peter Gay’s long and immensely productive reer, he shared wh a large Amerin public the grand narrativ of European tellectual and social thought, pturg for this new world the pleasur and idsyncrasi of the old world that his fay had left behd. Gay’s books were encyclopedic, humane, and full of hope; they tght their many generatns of rears, as they tght me the sprg term of 1988, that our failgs had historil precent, and were largely fivable.

JAGUARS ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Some Republins once said Joseph Ziegler, the Internal Revenue Service agent who ttified before Congrs Wednday about possible terference the vtigatn of Hunter Bin, was biased Bin’s favor bee he’s a gay man and a Democrat. The report clud a photo of Joseph Ziegler and his hband, Newsweek not, pl the assertn that the hband was nnected “at least socially” to Demetre Daskalakis, a gay physician who has worked the New York Cy health partment and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn, and later was appoted by Joe Bin as puty ordator of the rponse to the mpox outbreak. Ltle did I know DeSantis was farther to the right on issu that meant the most to me and the more than 70 percent of Amerins who support gay has ma clear the past few weeks that he’s more terted appeasg Twter trolls who abhor any Amerin who intifi as LGBTQ+.

That beg said, DeSantis has ma abundantly clear that he do not support gay Amerins regardls of whether they support his nservative I first enuntered DeSantis durg his bold stance agast COVID mandat earlier this year, I was generally pleased wh the Florida ernor. It beme evint that DeSantis was not the champn of dividual eedoms and rights that I had hoped anti-gay rhetoric and actns are not only eply hurtful to LGBTQ+ Amerins like myself but also tarnish the image of the nservative movement.

WHO IS JOSEPH ZIEGLER, THE GAY IRS WHISTLEBLOWER HUNTER BIN PROBE?

By disregardg such a signifint portn of the populatn, DeSantis reveals a ncerng lack of unrstandg of the evolvg societal norms and a gay woman, my sexual orientatn is jt one aspect of my inty, and should not fe my polil beliefs or my place wh the nservative movement.

I WAS TEAM DESANTIS BEFORE HIS DISGTG ANTI-GAY ADGONE TOO FARTO DESANTIS, IF YOU ARE GAY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE A PART OF THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT.YVONNE DEAN-BAILEYUPDATED JUL. 05, 2023 12:28PM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 01, 2023 11:46PM EDT OPNMICHAEL M SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGIN THEORY, I AM RON DESANTIS’ PERFECT VOTER. I AM A LIFELONG NSERVATIVE, I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE ANY AND ALL COVID RTRICTNS, AND I AM PASSNATELY ANTI-TMP. WHAT ULD BE A MORE IAL VOTER FOR A NDIDATE LIKE DESANTIS?THERE’S ONE PROBLEM FOR DESANTIS, THOUGH: I AM A GAY WOMAN. AND I N’T STAND BEHD HIS ATTACKS AGAST THE LGBTQ+ MUNY.I WAS UNNIABLY ON TEAM DESANTIS BEFORE HIS MPAIGN SHARED WHAT ULD BE NSIRED THE MOST ANTI-LGBTQ+ AD RECENT HISTORY, BOASTG ABOUT ALL THE MEASUR HE’S SUPPORTED CRACKG DOWN ON THE LGBTQ+ MUNY. NOT ONLY DID DESANTIS SHOW THAT HE IS AS ANTI-LGBTQ+ AS THE MASTREAM MEDIA HAS ALLEGED, HE MA A MOCKERY OF ANY GOP NDIDATE THAT SHOWS AN TERT LGBTQ+ RIGHTS, SETTG THE WHOLE PARTY BACK S. DPE MY NSERVATIVE CRENTIALS, YOU ULDN’T PAY ME TO VOTE FOR THE FLORIDA ERNOR NOW. I AM A LBIAN AND DESANTIS HAS MA ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT HE DON’T WANT ANY LGBTQ+ NSERVATIV ON HIS TEAM BEE OF THEIR INTY. WHEN DESANTIS WAS TOYG WH THE IA OF NNG FOR PRINT, HE SOUND LIKE THE PERFECT NDIDATE: HE WAS TMP WHOUT THE TMPS. LTLE DID I KNOW DESANTIS WAS FARTHER TO THE RIGHT ON ISSU THAT MEANT THE MOST TO ME AND THE MORE THAN 70 PERCENT OF AMERINS WHO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS.HE HAS MA CLEAR THE PAST FEW WEEKS THAT HE’S MORE TERTED APPEASG TWTER TROLLS WHO ABHOR ANY AMERIN WHO INTIFI AS LGBTQ+. TO DESANTIS, IF YOU ARE GAY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE A PART OF THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT.A FEW YEARS AGO, I WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED THIS, BUT DESANTIS' RECENT ANTI-LGBTQ+ AD HAS PROVED THAT HE IS TO THE RIGHT OF TMP WHEN TO LGBTQ+ ISSU. IF TMP WAS SOMEONE WHO DON’T SUPPORT THE MOVEMENT, DESANTIS IS AN ALL-OUT HATER.MY GAYNS HAS NOTHG TO DO WH THE FACT THAT FLORIDA IS A BOOMG STATE AN OTHERWISE LACKLTER ENOMY. THAT BEG SAID, DESANTIS HAS MA ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT HE DO NOT SUPPORT GAY AMERINS REGARDLS OF WHETHER THEY SUPPORT HIS NSERVATIVE AGENDA.WHEN I FIRST ENUNTERED DESANTIS DURG HIS BOLD STANCE AGAST COVID MANDAT EARLIER THIS YEAR, I WAS GENERALLY PLEASED WH THE FLORIDA ERNOR. HE SEEMED JT LIKE WHAT NSERVATIV HAVE BEEN MISSG. BUT WHEN THE LEGISLATIVE SSN BROUGHT ISSU NCERNG LGBTQ+ RIGHTS TO THE FOREONT, MY EXCEMENT QUICKLY TURNED TO DISAPPOTMENT. IT BEME EVINT THAT DESANTIS WAS NOT THE CHAMPN OF DIVIDUAL EEDOMS AND RIGHTS THAT I HAD HOPED FOR.HIS ANTI-GAY RHETORIC AND ACTNS ARE NOT ONLY EPLY HURTFUL TO LGBTQ+ AMERINS LIKE MYSELF BUT ALSO TARNISH THE IMAGE OF THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. AS A LIFELONG NSERVATIVE, I BELIEVE THE PRCIPL OF LIMED ERNMENT, PERSONAL RPONSIBILY, AND DIVIDUAL LIBERTI. YET, DESANTIS’ APPROACH TO LGBTQ+ ISSU GO AGAST THE VERY PRCIPL.BY EXCLUDG LGBTQ+ NSERVATIV AND ATTACKG THEIR RIGHTS, DESANTIS ALIENAT A SIGNIFINT PORTN OF HIS POTENTIAL BASE, EFFECTIVELY DRIVG AWAY VOTERS WHO SHARE MANY OF HIS OTHER NSERVATIVE BELIEFS. IT IS DISHEARTENG TO WNS A NDIDATE WHO ULD HAVE BEEN A UNG FORCE WH THE PARTY STEAD NTRIBUTG TO FURTHER DIVISIVENS.DESANTIS’ STANCE ON LGBTQ+ ISSU NOT ONLY NTRADICTS NSERVATIVE VALU BUT ALSO REFLECTS A SEVERE DISNNECT OM THE MAJORY OF AMERINS WHO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS. ACRDG TO POLLS, OVER 70 PERCENT OF AMERINS SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE, AND THIS NUMBER NTU TO RISE. BY DISREGARDG SUCH A SIGNIFINT PORTN OF THE POPULATN, DESANTIS REVEALS A NCERNG LACK OF UNRSTANDG OF THE EVOLVG SOCIETAL NORMS AND VALU.AS A GAY WOMAN, MY SEXUAL ORIENTATN IS JT ONE ASPECT OF MY INTY, AND SHOULD NOT FE MY POLIL BELIEFS OR MY PLACE WH THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. UNFORTUNATELY, DESANTIS SEEMS TO BELIEVE THAT ONE’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN TERM THEIR WORTHS TO BE PART OF THE NSERVATIVE E. THIS DIVISIVE MENTALY DO NOT BO WELL FOR THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIN PARTY OR S CHANC OF SUCCS BROAR ELECTNS.THE REPUBLIN PARTY SHOULD STRIVE TO BE A BIG-TENT PARTY, EMBRACG DIVERSE PERSPECTIV AND VOIC. ALIENATG LGBTQ+ DIVIDUALS ONLY WEAKENS THE PARTY’S APPEAL AND RTRICTS S ABILY TO ATTRACT NEW SUPPORTERS. IT IS VAL FOR THE PARTY TO EVOLVE AND ADAPT TO THE CHANGG ATTUS OF THE AMERIN PEOPLE, RATHER THAN CLGG TO OUTDATED AND DISCRIMATORY VIEWS.DESANTIS MT REGNIZE THAT HIS ANTI-GAY RHETORIC IS NOT ONLY HARMFUL TO LGBTQ+ AMERINS BUT ALSO TRIMENTAL TO THE VERY PRCIPL HE CLAIMS TO UPHOLD. IF HE TLY AIMS TO LEAD THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT AND BRG ABOUT POSIVE CHANGE FOR ALL AMERINS, HE MT ABANDON DIVISIVE TACTICS AND FOC ON POLICI THAT PROMOTE UNY AND CLIVY.SO FAR, HE IS ONLY LOSG EVERYDAY AMERINS, CLUDG MANY NSERVATIV LIKE MYSELF, THROUGH HIS DISGTG ANTI-GAY RHETORIC. HIS ATTACKS AGAST THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AND EXCLN OF LGBTQ+ NSERVATIV ARE NOT ONLY MORALLY WRONG BUT POLILLY MISGUID. THE REPUBLIN PARTY MT DISTANCE SELF OM SUCH HARMFUL BEHAVR AND STRIVE TO BE A PARTY THAT WEL ALL AMERINS, REGARDLS OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN. ONLY THEN N HOPE TO REPRENT THE TE VALU OF NSERVATISM AND GARNER THE SUPPORT NEED TO SUCCEED FUTURE ELECTNS. YVONNE DEAN-BAILEY

If he tly aims to lead the nservative movement and brg about posive change for all Amerins, he mt abandon divisive tactics and foc on polici that promote uny and far, he is only losg everyday Amerins, cludg many nservativ like myself, through his disgtg anti-gay rhetoric. The first volume, subtled The Rise of Morn Paganism, was wily acclaimed far beyond the amic world, and won the Natnal Book award the first volume, subtled The Rise of Morn Pagansim, of Peter Gay’s massive study, was wily acclaimed far beyond the amic world In his encyclopedic The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Frd (five volum between 1984 and 1998), Gay explored wonrfully readable prose a wi range of aspects of the European – pecially the Brish, French and German – and the North Amerin middle class their heyday. But taken together, they are a fundamental text for anyone who wish to unrstand bourgeois culture the 19th and early 20th was, sentially, the culture to which Gay was born, Berl, as Peter Joachim Fröhlich, the son of Helga and Morz, a small bsman of left-leang views and liberal habs of md.

Ined, Peter led a charmed life, beg admted to a grammar school unr the Nazis bee his father was a rated and war-wound army veteran and survivg the early years of the Third Reich whout any great difficulty as a blond, blue-eyed boy who did not nform to the Nazi image of a Jewish person any his engrossg memoir, My German Qutn: Growg up Nazi Berl (1998), Gay nfsed that he enuntered antisemism personally only on the very rart of ocsns: once, when, unually, a teacher clared that “Jews always exaggerate” (a remark to which he attributed his later ncern for precisn his historil wrgs), and 1936 when the fay went by r on a tour of Germany and enuntered a notice outsi a village sayg: “Jews are not wanted here. It means happy, jolly or gay, and they chose the last of the three nam, only for Peter to start receivg hate-mail years later, as the rise of the gay liberatn movement ma homophob thk his surname was a polil studied at the Universy of Colorado, Denver, then took a master’s gree at Columbia Universy, New York, 1947, and a doctorate polil science four years later, on the leadg “revisnist” social mocrat of the Kaiser’s Germany, Eduard Bernste, wh whose views he to a large extent intified. His Frdianism was often applied wh a light touch, however, as The Bourgeois Experience, and his many says and shorter books on Frd and aspects of his life and thought were not uncril their approach to the, cultured, urteo and hospable, Gay held many semars and discsns his hoe, fondly remembered by his stunts.

PETER GAY OBUARY

Footnote 5 In the meantime, Gay explored the entertaments of Havana and worked on his English, polishg his prose at the Havana Bs Amy (to which he received a scholarship) and vourg Amerin perdils like Time, Collier's, and the Saturday Eveng Post. Jt weeks after arrivg Colorado, Gay's fay applied for Amerin cizenship, and, followg the example of a who had immigrated several years earlier, they Amerinized their first, middle, and last nam.

This was ma possible by the terventn of Gay's former high school English teacher, Helen Hunter, who worked out a plan to allow Gay to fish his high school gree by pletg a private urse wh her on William Shakpeare. Lookg back years later, Gay nsired fortuo that he had spent the early years “Middle Ameri, ” a place where was possible to pe the ncerns of the German immigrant muny and bee fully (or at least mostly) “Amerinized.

In Gay's study, Bernste is very much the hero, the reformer who sought to ee the ethil re of Marxism om s encstatn Hegelian metaphysics and rencile socialism's visn of equaly wh the polil stutns of parliamentarism and mocracy. The choice of Bernste reflected Gay's rejectn of both the Stalist left and the McCarthye right; was also a rebuff to those of his lleagu and acquatanc who had migrated om one polil extreme to the other—typilly om the far left to the far right: “I felt fortunate beg immune om what I took to be an often willful polil bldns of two warrg groups who disputed their ground at New York cktail parti and on the Wellfleet beach. ”Footnote 7 Gay remaed fundamentally optimistic regardg Amerin polil stutns, even if his worldview was shaped ccially by tellectuals—many of them also German-Jewish émigrés—whose views of Ameri were hardly naïve or uncril.

PETER GAY (1923–2015)

”Footnote 8 Marce not only helped persua Gay to take Frd serly, but also to see his view of human nature as fundamentally psimistic, such that s unpleasant featur were unlikely to disappear a postpalist society. Here Gay benefted om the support of Henry Roberts, a specialist Eastern European history, and Richard Hofstadter, a supremely acplished Amerin historian who had bee Gay's clost iend at Columbia. Although she never earned a doctorate, Ruth Gay would go on to wre a seri of well-received works on Jewish history, cludg The Jews of Germany: A Historil Portra (1992), Unfished People: Eastern European Jews Enunter Ameri (1997), and Safe Among the Germans: Liberated Jews After World War II (2002).

”Footnote 15 In a siar manner, Gay sought to vdite the Enlightenment's attu toward history, argug that s notns of historil atn and culture were far richer than prevly acknowledged, and s nceptns of progrs far more tentative, particularly given the philosoph’ ls-than-rosy timate of human nature. Gay sisted, agast this le of thought, that the philosoph had sought a tly scientific view of the world, ground not ratnalist philosophy but rather a skeptil empiricism whose rults uld be revised light of new evince and new rmatn. In Voltaire's Polics: The Poet as Realist (1959), Gay attempted to monstrate that almost all Voltaire's wrgs, cludg his plays and histori, were rmed by a sire to tervene ntemporary polil affairs, but that the threat of censorship or even imprisonment had forced him to hi his tentns behd “vague, allive generali.

”Footnote 19 Gay's approach to Voltaire—lotg his wrgs their ntemporary polil environment—formed the basis for what he me to ll the “social history of ias, ” which he envisned as an alternative to, on the one hand, Arthur Lovejoy's form of tellectual history, which ma ias the un of analysis and traced them across time as they passed om one great thker to the next, and, on the other hand, the type of tellectual history that foced on cultural trop and clichés—what he lled “the reer of send-class ias send-class mds. ”Footnote 20 Gay's form of tellectual history, by ntrast, was guid by the prciple that “ias have many dimensns”: “They are exprsed by dividuals, but they are social products; they are nceived, elaborated and modified amid a specific set of historil circumstanc… Therefore, the social historian of ias nnot rt ntent wh analyzg their formal logil stcture. ”Footnote 21 For Gay, the advantage of this approach was that helped unravel some of the more problematic aspects of the Enlightenment, such as Denis Dirot's sexual libertism (which uld be seen as a way of attackg the Catholic Church), Jean-Jacqu Rose's Social Contract (not jt a work of polil theory, but a proposal to reform the Genevan cy-state), and Voltaire's antisemism, which Gay explaed (away) as both a product of his day and as an direct means of attackg the te famy, i.