Resentment in History

This book, by a renowned and distinguished historian, is an arresting account of the role that resentment has played throughout history, from Antiquity and early Christianity through to the present day. At the origin of resentment we always find an injury, an act of humiliation, an affront, a trauma. Those who feel victimized cannot react because they are powerless. They brood on their desire for revenge, which they cannot satisfy but which constantly nags at them. Until finally they explode with anger. This period of waiting may also be accompanied by a repudiation of the oppressor's values and a rehabilitation of the victim's own values, and this gives the oppressed new strength, fuelling the act of revolt or revenge. Ferro effortlessly weaves together historical examples such as the role played by resentment in the French and Russian revolutions, the resentment against the historical suffering of African Americans that
underpinned the civil rights movement and the rise of black power, and the revival of resentment by proponents of radical Islam whose violent acts of terror in New York, London and elsewhere have shaken the world.

Marc Ferro is Director of Studies in Social Sciences at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris.

"Ferro's eye for telling details and his acute apercus keep the reader engaged. Characteristically, he also makes effective use of quotations from the history of cinema to illustrate his thesis throughout the book." Australian Journal of Politics and History "Marc Ferro's account of the dark force of resentment and revenge in modern times is a salutary reminder how much history of a high order can contribute to an understanding of our turbulent world. If you think fundamentalist Islam came out of the blue, then read this book and think again." Jay Winter, Yale University