Alphonse Toussenel (March 17, 1803 – April 30, 1885) was a French naturalist, writer and journalist born in Montreuil-Bellay, a small meadows commune of

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

; he died in Paris on April 30, 1885. A utopian socialist and a disciple of

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (; ; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker, and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of his views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have be ...

, he was anglophobic and

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. He was at one time editor-in-chief of the newspaper ''La Paix'', and his studies of

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

served as a vehicle for his political ideas. He was also the brother of teacher and translator Théodore Toussenel. An avowed antisemite, Toussenel's ''Les juifs rois de l'époque, histoire de la féodalité financière'' (1845) argued that French finance and commerce was controlled by an "alien" Jewish presence, typified in the influence of the "

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "to the red shield", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs ...

railroad". In this, he drew upon a tradition of French socialist antisemitism (as seen in the earlier work of his inspiration Fourier, and

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, ; ; 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French anarchist, socialist, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to ca ...

).Rubenstein and Roth (1987). ''Approaches to Auschwitz'', p. 71

Works

*''Les Juifs, rois de l'époque : histoire de la féodalité financière'' (1847) *''L'Esprit des bêtes. Vénerie française et zoologie passionnelle'' (1847) *''Travail et fainéantise, programme démocratique'' (1849) *''L'Esprit des bêtes. Le monde des oiseaux, ornithologie passionnelle'' (1853–55) *''Tristia, histoire des misères et des fléaux de la chasse de France'' (1863)

References

External links

A translation of the chapter on the mole-rat from Toussenel's ''L'Esprit des bêtes''AntiQBook Entry
1803 births 1885 deaths People from Maine-et-Loire Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Fourierists French male writers Antisemitism in France {{France-nonfiction-writer-stub