Andrei Markovits, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies at the University of Michigan, published a new memoir on Aug. 19.
Markovits at a 2019 Fordham event. Photo by Dana Maxson
“The great Jewish historian Salo Baron defined the ’lachrymose school of Jewish historiography,’ that long litany of suffering and persecution that for many defines Jewish life and history. Andy Markovits’s memoir is the anecdote to that school: a sunny, optimistic, and uplifting read,” wrote Martin Green, professor emeritus at Fairleigh Dickinson University, in a recent review for the Jewish Book Council. “It doesn’t gloss over the sadness of post-War Europe, but it shows how that lost world could produce a vital future and how a stateless, rootless person could nonetheless turn that condition into a fulfilled life.”
Markovits is a scholar whose work crosses many fields, including German and Austrian politics, anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, social democracy, social movements, and comparative sports culture in Europe and North America. His book, The Passport as Home, is a reflection of his life as a scholar and beyond. In 2019, Markovits served as a panelist at PCS’s Global Symposium on Sports and Society, where scholars examined anti-Semitism in the sports world.
