cover image Historical Change and Human Rights: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures

Historical Change and Human Rights: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures

. Basic Books, $25 (280pp) ISBN 978-0-465-03076-7

The seven academic, thought-provoking lectures collected here are part of an annual series on a subject related to human rights. The ambit ranges widely from the mixed contributions of Protestantism to human rights to the resistance of American slave women, who sometimes managed to fashion some measure of independence for themselves. Particularly interesting is Princeton historian Robert Darnton's comparison of censorship in France in 1789 with that in East Germany 200 years later: in both places, he finds two systems-one rigid and formal, the other pliable and human-providing room ``for unorthodox books to seep into the reading public.'' Also good is British historian Ian Kershaw's analycis of the collapse of human rights under the Third Reich, which he blames on ``a historically unique set of circumstances,'' including Germany's cultural tradition, post-WWI radicalization and the lack of internal and external constraints on the regime. Hufton is a professor of history at Oxford. Illustrations. (Mar.)