Overview
- Offers a compelling, rigorously-documented account of Esperanto’s remarkable survival among the nightmares of communism and fascism
- Presents a story of the language movement that outlasted the particular political ideologies of modern nation states
- Examines the plight of individual Esperantists caught in the vice of repressive, nationalistic ideologies
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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A Suspicious New Language
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‘Language of Jews and Communists’
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‘Language of Petty Bourgeois and Cosmopolitans’
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“The history of Esperanto is usually related by Esperantists, for Esperantists — and in Esperanto. This expanded translation of Ulrich Lins’s decades of research into the persecution of Esperantists makes for fascinating reading well beyond that community. Esperanto has no homeland, and for that very reason drew the ire of nationalists and other ideologues from across the political spectrum. This is, in short, nothing less than an alternative history of nationalism.” (Michael D. Gordin, Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Princeton University, US)
“This book gives a carefully supported account of a crucial aspect of the Esperanto movement’s history, focusing on political repression by totalitarian regimes, especially those of Hitler and Stalin. It also sheds light on opposition elsewhere and is eye-opening for anyone interested in language policy and global communication.” (Ulrich Ammon, Emeritus Professor of Germanic Linguistics at Duisberg-Essen University, Germany)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Humphrey Tonkin is President Emeritus of the University of Hartford, USA, where he served as University Professor of Humanities. He studied English and comparative literature at Cambridge and Harvard (Ph.D. 1966) and has written widely on literary topics and on international education and language policy. He has published numbers of translations from English to Esperanto and from Esperanto to English.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Dangerous Language — Esperanto under Hitler and Stalin
Authors: Ulrich Lins
Translated by: Humphrey Tonkin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54917-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-54916-7Published: 20 February 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-71505-3Published: 12 June 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-54917-4Published: 10 February 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 299
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations, 1 illustrations in colour
Topics: Historical Linguistics, Political Science, Sociolinguistics, European History, Modern History