{"product_id":"the-house-of-fragile-things-jewish-art-collectors-and-the-fall-of-france-by-james-mcauley","title":"House Of Fragile Things","description":"\u003cp\u003eBy James McAuley\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eA powerful history of Jewish art collectors in France, and how an embrace of art and beauty was met with hatred and destruction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“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.”\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e—Diane Cole,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e“Elegantly written and deeply moving. . . . [A] haunting book.”—David Bell,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn this rich, evocative account, James McAuley explores the central role that art and material culture played in the assimilation and identity of French Jews in the\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efin-de-siècle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e. Weaving together narratives of various figures, some familiar from the works of Marcel Proust and the diaries of Jules and Edmond Goncourt—the Camondos, the Rothschilds, the Ephrussis, the Cahens d'Anvers—McAuley shows how Jewish art collectors contended with a powerful strain of anti-Semitism: they were often accused of “invading” France’s cultural patrimony. The collections these families left behind—many ultimately donated to the French state—were their response, tragic attempts to celebrate a nation that later betrayed them. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TriLiteral LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39575688216662,"sku":"SKU010003002","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1518\/3132\/products\/Untitleddesign_24_29444c7b-841a-4142-9e55-5f470bdbe1ad.png?v=1666988489","url":"https:\/\/illinois-holocaust-museum.myshopify.com\/products\/the-house-of-fragile-things-jewish-art-collectors-and-the-fall-of-france-by-james-mcauley","provider":"Illinois Holocaust Museum \u0026 Education Center","version":"1.0","type":"link"}