The Memory Chalet

[A] tremendously moving memorial to a first-class historian and essayist . . . humane, fearless, unsparingly honest. The Financial Times

Each of these beautifully crafted pieces presents a self-contained vignette. Together they form a picture of an age, seen through the prism of an extraordinary mind . . . Judt never pretended that the illness that befell him was a hidden blessing. 'Loss is loss, and nothing is gained by calling it a nicer name.' But if tragedy cannot be redeemed it can sometimes be defied, as Judt confirms in this exquisitely graceful memoir of a happy life. The Daily Beast

More than a memoir, [The Memory Chalet is] a bracing spiritual autobiography of a man whose lofty and old-fashioned goal, repeatedly realized in these pages, was to think for himself and push each of us to do the same. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

[B]oth an autobiography and a lovely little social history of the second half of the 20th century . . . all in a spare and nicely demotic prose. Time

Despite his stature as a 'public intellectual,' Judt's observations in this collection are more impressionistic than analytical. For the most part, he's not arguing points but simply re-savoring the things that once pleased him . . . This is a memorable collection from a memorable man. BookPage