David Gress
Encyclopedia
David Richard Gress is a Danish
-American
historian
, known for his 1998 survey From Plato to Nato on Western identity and grand narratives.
, the son of R. W. B. Lewis
, an American literary historian, and the Danish writer, playwright and essayist Elsa Gress. The two were not married, which is why Gress uses his mother's maiden name. She subsequently married the American painter Charles Clifford Wright.
He attended Sorø Akademis Skole. He was later educated in Classics at Cambridge University, England, and Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, where he received his Ph.D. in medieval history in 1981. From 1982-92 he was a fellow of the Hoover Institution
at Stanford University, publishing articles and books on international strategy, the West German peace movement, U.S. foreign policy, Nordic politics, and a history of West Germany. From 1993-95 he was visiting fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and lecturer in international history there. From 1996-99 he was a fellow at the Danish Institute of International Affairs and from 1999-2001 assistant professor of Classics at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. In 2001-03 he was professor of the history of civilizations at Boston University and has since 2003 been based in Denmark, where he continues to publish articles and books in political philosophy, the origins of Western prosperity, contemporary history and political culture. He is a well-known face in the public debate of Denmark
.
He has been a fellow of the Danish Institute of International Affairs and director of the Center for Studies on America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute
, Philadelphia. he has been a columnist in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. David Gress is also a frequently used media commentator, and a senior fellow of the Danish think tank CEPOS
.
. It included a defense of ecological production, something that Gress has since disavowed. His doctoral dissertation was a critical edition of a 13th century papal biography. 'Peace and Survival' was a philosophical and political history and critique of the pacifist mentality, with particular reference to the West German peace movement, which in his view was surrendering to Soviet power. Apart from various shorter works on Nordic politics and U.S. foreign policy, his next major work followed on from 'Peace and Survival' to provide a political, social, and economic history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The first edition appeared in the fall of 1989, a French edition in 1992 and a second in English in 1993; these included a survey of the unification of Germany
and a look back at the history of East Germany.
From Plato to Nato was, amongst other things, an intervention in the campus culture wars, explaining that the narrative model of 'The West', in the general style of Will Durant
, had become threadbare. His proposed replacement marked him as, in general terms, a Burkean conservative
. He argued that 'The West' was in operative terms much more of a complex compound of elements he identified as 'Old West', of Roman
and Germanic
provenance, with modern Adam Smith
economics, than a pure play on the Enlightenment philosophy. The book's development is complex and somewhat muddied by the wish also to be inclusive of other conservative views. Norman Davies
, a Polish history specialist critical of incoherent definitions of Europe viewed from the Atlantic end, has lent some support to the outline thesis.
Gress has further identified the campus debates as a target, with an attack on Martin Bernal
and other interventions in U.S. and British journals of opinion.
From 2003 to 2009 he published mostly in Danish, including two books and numerous articles, reviews, and comments in Danish daily newspapers, chiefly Jyllands-Posten
, but from 2009 also Politiken
. One, more polemical, focus has been criticism of the Nordic welfare state
and environmental policy
, another has been periodic surveys of international publications and research on U.S. politics and society, history, and religion. He has been one of the most outspoken Danish critics of the theory of anthropogenic global warming, and has accordingly received heavy criticism by Danish scientists.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, known for his 1998 survey From Plato to Nato on Western identity and grand narratives.
Life
He was born in CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, the son of R. W. B. Lewis
R. W. B. Lewis
Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis was an American literary scholar and critic. He gained a wider reputation when he won a 1976 Pulitzer Prize for biography, the first National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, and a Bancroft Prize for his biography of Edith Wharton...
, an American literary historian, and the Danish writer, playwright and essayist Elsa Gress. The two were not married, which is why Gress uses his mother's maiden name. She subsequently married the American painter Charles Clifford Wright.
He attended Sorø Akademis Skole. He was later educated in Classics at Cambridge University, England, and Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, where he received his Ph.D. in medieval history in 1981. From 1982-92 he was a fellow of the Hoover Institution
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....
at Stanford University, publishing articles and books on international strategy, the West German peace movement, U.S. foreign policy, Nordic politics, and a history of West Germany. From 1993-95 he was visiting fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and lecturer in international history there. From 1996-99 he was a fellow at the Danish Institute of International Affairs and from 1999-2001 assistant professor of Classics at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. In 2001-03 he was professor of the history of civilizations at Boston University and has since 2003 been based in Denmark, where he continues to publish articles and books in political philosophy, the origins of Western prosperity, contemporary history and political culture. He is a well-known face in the public debate of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
He has been a fellow of the Danish Institute of International Affairs and director of the Center for Studies on America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute
Foreign Policy Research Institute
The Foreign Policy Research Institute is an American neoconservative think tank based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is "devoted to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the development of policies that advance U.S...
, Philadelphia. he has been a columnist in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. David Gress is also a frequently used media commentator, and a senior fellow of the Danish think tank CEPOS
CEPOS
The Danish Centre for Political Studies, also known as CEPOS, is an independent research institution recognized under the Danish state, which works as a classical liberal/free-market conservative think-tank in Denmark.-History:...
.
Work
In his first book, 'Demokrati eller?' Gress provided a justification of liberal democracyLiberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
. It included a defense of ecological production, something that Gress has since disavowed. His doctoral dissertation was a critical edition of a 13th century papal biography. 'Peace and Survival' was a philosophical and political history and critique of the pacifist mentality, with particular reference to the West German peace movement, which in his view was surrendering to Soviet power. Apart from various shorter works on Nordic politics and U.S. foreign policy, his next major work followed on from 'Peace and Survival' to provide a political, social, and economic history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The first edition appeared in the fall of 1989, a French edition in 1992 and a second in English in 1993; these included a survey of the unification of Germany
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
and a look back at the history of East Germany.
From Plato to Nato was, amongst other things, an intervention in the campus culture wars, explaining that the narrative model of 'The West', in the general style of Will Durant
Will Durant
William James Durant was a prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975...
, had become threadbare. His proposed replacement marked him as, in general terms, a Burkean conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. He argued that 'The West' was in operative terms much more of a complex compound of elements he identified as 'Old West', of Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
provenance, with modern Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
economics, than a pure play on the Enlightenment philosophy. The book's development is complex and somewhat muddied by the wish also to be inclusive of other conservative views. Norman Davies
Norman Davies
Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
, a Polish history specialist critical of incoherent definitions of Europe viewed from the Atlantic end, has lent some support to the outline thesis.
Gress has further identified the campus debates as a target, with an attack on Martin Bernal
Martin Bernal
Martin Gardiner Bernal is a Professor Emeritus of Government and Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. He is a scholar of modern Chinese political history...
and other interventions in U.S. and British journals of opinion.
From 2003 to 2009 he published mostly in Danish, including two books and numerous articles, reviews, and comments in Danish daily newspapers, chiefly Jyllands-Posten
Jyllands-Posten
Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten , commonly shortened to Jyllands-Posten or JP, is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Viby, a suburb of Århus, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies, it is among the largest-selling newspaper in Denmark...
, but from 2009 also Politiken
Politiken
Politiken is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus.The newspaper comes third among Danish newspapers in terms of both number of readers and circulated copies ....
. One, more polemical, focus has been criticism of the Nordic welfare state
Welfare state
A welfare state is a "concept of government in which the state plays a key role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for those...
and environmental policy
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...
, another has been periodic surveys of international publications and research on U.S. politics and society, history, and religion. He has been one of the most outspoken Danish critics of the theory of anthropogenic global warming, and has accordingly received heavy criticism by Danish scientists.
Major works
- "Demokrati eller?" (1978)
- "Gesta Innocentii III: Introduction, Text and Commentary" (1981) doctoral dissertation
- "Peace and Survival" (1985)
- "A History of West Germany" (1989) with Dennis L. Bark; French edition 1992, second English edition 1993
- "From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents" (1998)
- "Det bedste guld - en bog om frihed" ('The best gold - a book on freedom') (2005)
- "Velstandens kilder" ('The Origins of Wealth', in cooperation with CEPOSCEPOSThe Danish Centre for Political Studies, also known as CEPOS, is an independent research institution recognized under the Danish state, which works as a classical liberal/free-market conservative think-tank in Denmark.-History:...
) (2007)