Herbert Lüthy (January 15, 1918 - November 16, 2002) was a Swiss historian and journalist. His book France Against Herself, published in the mid-1950s, criticized French
traditionalism.[1]
Life
Born in
Basel, Herbert Lüthy attended school in
Glarus and
St. Gallen. He then studied at the universities of
Paris,
Geneva and
Zürich, gaining a PhD in history in 1942. He became a journalist, writing for the St. Galler Tagblatt during
World War II. From 1946 to 1958 he lived in
Paris, writing for
Melvin J. Lasky's magazine Der Monat. He also wrote for Encounter. In 1958 he became Professor of Education and History at
ETH Zurich. In 1971 he moved to the
University of Basel, retiring for health reasons in 1980. He died in Basel in 2002.
[2]
Frankreichs Uhren Gehen Anders (French clocks tick differently), Zürich: Europa Verlag, 1954. Translated by
Eric Mosbacher as France against herself : a perceptive study of France's past, her politics, and her unending crises., New York: Praeger, 1955; published in England as The state of France; a study of contemporary France, London: Secker & Warburg, 1955
La Banque Protestante en France, de la Revocation de l'Edit de Nantes à la Révolution, Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N, 2 vols, 1959-1961
Nach dem Untergang des Abendlandes; zeitkritische Essays
Le passé présent: combats d'idées de Calvin à Rousseau, Monaco: Éditions du Rocher, 1965. Translated by
Salvator Attanasio as From Calvin to Rousseau; tradition and modernity in socio-political thought from the Reformation to the French Revolution, 1970
In Gegenwart der Geschichte. Historische Essays, 1967
Fahndung nach dem Dichter Bertolt Brecht, 1972
Articles
"Die Vierte Republik" (The Fourth Republic), Der Monat 10 (July 1949), pp. 39–48