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The Lessons of History Kindle Edition
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With their accessible compendium of philosophy and social progress, the Durants take us on a journey through history, exploring the possibilities and limitations of humanity over time. Juxtaposing the great lives, ideas, and accomplishments with cycles of war and conquest, the Durants reveal the towering themes of history and give meaning to our own.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateAugust 21, 2012
- File size3380 KB
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From Library Journal
Miriam Kahn, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
--Dana D. Kelley, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
About the Author
Will and Ariel Durant, after spending over fifty years completing the critically acclaimed series The Story of Civilization, were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968. In 1977, the Durants were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Champions of human rights and social reform, the Durants continue to educate and entertain readers the world over. For more information on their work, visit www.willdurant.com.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Hesitations
As his studies come to a close the historian faces the challenge: Of what use have your studies been? Have you found in your work only the amusement of recounting the rise and fall of nations and ideas, and retelling "sad stories of the death of kings"? Have you learned more about human nature than the man in the street can learn without so much as opening a book? Have you derived from history any illumination of our present condition, any guidance for our judgments and policies, any guard against the rebuffs of surprise or the vicissitudes of change? Have you found such regularities in the sequence of past events that you can predict the future actions of mankind or the fate of states? Is it possible that, after all, "history has no sense," that it teaches us nothing, and that the immense past was only the weary rehearsal of the mistakes that the future is destined to make on a larger stage and scale?
At times we feel so, and a multitude of doubts assail our enterprise. To begin with, do we really know what the past was, what actually happened, or is history "a fable" not quite "agreed upon"? Our knowledge of any past event is always incomplete, probably inaccurate, beclouded by ambivalent evidence and biased historians, and perhaps distorted by our own patriotic or religious partisanship. "Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice." Even the historian who thinks to rise above partiality for his country, race, creed, or class betrays his secret predilection in his choice of materials, and in the nuances of his adjectives. "The historian always oversimplifies, and hastily selects a manageable minority of facts and faces out of a crowd of souls and events whose multitudinous complexity he can never quite embrace or comprehend." -- Again, our conclusions from the past to the future are made more hazardous than ever by the acceleration of change. In 1909 Charles Peguy thought that "the world changed less since Jesus Christ than in the last thirty years". and perhaps some young doctor of philosophy in physics would now add that his science has changed more since 1909 than in all recorded time before. Every year -- sometimes, in war, every month -- some new invention, method, or situation compels a fresh adjustment of behavior and ideas. -- Furthermore, an element of chance, perhaps of freedom, seems to enter into the conduct of metals and men. We are no longer confident that atoms, much less organisms, will respond in the future as we think they have responded in the past. The electrons, like Cowper's God, move in mysterious ways their wonders to perform, and some quirk of character or circumstance may upset national equations, as when Alexander drank himself to death and let his new empire fall apart (323 B.C.), or as when Frederick the Great was saved from disaster by the accession of a Czar infatuated with Prussian ways (1762).
Obviously historiography cannot be a science. It can only be an industry, an art, and a philosophy -- an industry by ferreting out the facts, an art by establishing a meaningful order in the chaos of materials, a philosophy by seeking perspective and enlightenment. "The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding" -- or so we believe and hope. In philosophy we try to see the part in the light of the whole; in the "philosophy of history" we try to see this moment in the light of the past. We know that in both cases this is a counsel of perfection; total perspective is an optical illusion. We do not know the whole of man's history; there were probably many civilizations before the Sumerian or the Egyptian; we have just begun to dig! We must operate with partial knowledge, and be provisionally content with probabilities; in history, as in science and politics, relativity rules, and all formulas should be suspect. "History smiles at all attempts to force its flow into theoretical patterns or logical grooves; it plays havoc with our generalizations, breaks all our rules; history is baroque." Perhaps, within these limits, we can learn enough from history to bear reality patiently, and to respect one another's delusions.
Since man is a moment in astronomic time, a transient guest of the earth, a spore of his species, a scion of his race, a composite of body, character, and mind, a member of a family and a community, a believer or doubter of a faith, a unit in an economy, perhaps a citizen in a state or a soldier in an army, we may ask under the corresponding heads -- astronomy, geology, geography, biology, ethnology, psychology, morality, religion, economics, politics, and war -- what history has to say about the nature, conduct, and prospects of man. It is a precarious enterprise, and only a fool would try to compress a hundred centuries into a hundred pages of hazardous conclusions. We proceed.
Copyright © 1968 by Will and Ariel Durant
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Product details
- ASIN : B008GUIEYU
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster (August 21, 2012)
- Publication date : August 21, 2012
- Language : English
- File size : 3380 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 132 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #100,002 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
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About the author
William James Durant was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, in 1885. He was educated in the Roman Catholic parochial schools there and in Kearny, New Jersey, and thereafter in St. Peter’s (Jesuit) College, Jersey City, New Jersey where he graduated in 1907, and Columbia University, New York. For a summer in 1907 he served as a cub reporter on the New York Journal, but finding the work too strenuous for his temperament, he settled down at Seton Hall College, South Orange, New Jersey, to teach Latin, French, English, and geometry (1907-11). He entered the seminary at Seton Hall in 1909, but withdrew in 1911 for reasons which he has described in his book Transition. He passed from this quiet seminary to the most radical circles in New York and became (1911-13) the teacher of the Ferrer Modern School, an experiment in libertarian education. In 1912 he toured Europe at the invitation and expense of Alden Freeman, who had befriended him and now undertook to broaden his borders. Returning to the Ferrer School, he fell in love with one of his pupils, resigned his position, and married her (1913). For four years he took graduate work at Columbia University, specializing in biology under Morgan and Calkins and in philosophy under Woodbridge and Dewey. He received the doctorate in philosophy in 1917, and taught philosophy at Columbia University for one year. Beginning in 1913 at a Presbyterian church in New York, he began those lectures on history, literature, and philosophy which, continuing twice weekly for over thirteen years, provided the initial material for his later works. The unexpected success of The Story of Philosophy (1926) enabled him to retire from teaching in 1927, and is credited as the work that launched Simon & Schuster as a major publishing force and that introduced more people to the subject of philosophy than any other book. Thenceforth, except for some incidental essays and Will’s lecture tours, Mr. and Mrs. Durant gave nearly all their working hours (eight to fourteen daily) to The Story of Civilization. To better prepare themselves they toured Europe in 1927, went around the world in 1930 to study Egypt, the Near East, India, China, and Japan, and toured the globe again in 1932 to visit Japan, Manchuria, Siberia, Russia, and Poland. These travels provided the background for Our Oriental Heritage (1935) as the first volume in The Story of Civilization. Several further visits to Europe prepared for Volume II, The Life of Greece (1939) and Volume III, Caesar and Ch
Volume III, Caesar and Christ (1944). In 1948, six months in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, and Europe provided perspective for Volume IV, The Age of Faith (1950). In 1951 Mr. and Mrs. Durant returned to Italy to add to a lifetime of gleanings for Volume V, The Renaissance (1953); and in 1954 further studies in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, and England opened new vistas for Volume VI, The Reformation (1957). Mrs. Durant’s share in the preparation of these volumes became more substantial with each year, until in the case of Volume VII, The Age of Reason Begins (1961), it was so great that justice required the union of both names on the title page. And so it has been on The Age of Louis XIV (1963), The Age of Voltaire (1965), Rousseau and Revolution (1967), for which the Durants were awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1968), and The Age of Napoleon (1975). The publication of The Age of Napoleon concluded five decades of achievement and for it they were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977). Throughout his life, Will Durant was passionate in his quest to bring philosophy out of the ivory towers of academia and into the lives of laypeople. A champion of human rights issues, such as the brotherhood of man and social reform, long before such issues were popular, Durant’s writing still educates and entertains readers around the world, inspiring millions of people to lead lives of greater perspective, understanding, and forgiveness.
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Customers find the book densely packed with insights and opinions. They also describe the writing style as eloquent, simple, and easy to read. Readers appreciate the history breakdown by topics as insightful. They describe the book as a fairly short read that packs a powerful punch.
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Customers find the book densely packed with insights and opinions, sometimes provocative. They also say it lends the right perspective to looking at history with well-crafted analysis. Readers also mention the chapters are great jumping off points for various discussions. They find the content refreshing, revelatory, humorous, challenging, and rewarding.
"...Revealing, humorous, challenging, and rewarding......." Read more
"...We proceed."And they succeed! The book packs a wealth of insights into a hundred pages...." Read more
"...This provides a very rich but succinct examination into a very wide scope of topics and the points that are highlighted could easily be fleshed out..." Read more
"Truly a great overview of the major reasons for change of leadership and ideological forces of history, Good for reflection of what has impacted..." Read more
Customers find the writing style eloquent, relatable, and readable. They also say the authors understand history well and can piece together significant themes. Readers describe the book as a concise manual on how history repeats itself across time and space. They say it provides a good starting point for further readings.
"...Very readable prose, engaging, humorous and playful in it's dealings with human activity..." Read more
"...It's a wonderfully written study of how we got to where we are today." Read more
"...is quite dense with some parts making me feel dumb because it is so well written I’m like, “I’m not smart enough to read this but I’m trying!”" Read more
"...The authors understand history well, so can piece together significant themes that have flowed through the world...." Read more
Customers find the history breakdown by topics insightful and timeless. They also say the book discusses key trends and cycles.
"...It was fascinating to read this history which contains a mixture of failures and successes...." Read more
"...This short book covers a broad scope of history. The book deals with major shifts throughout man's time on earth...." Read more
"A must read. The Lessons of History is a masterclass synthesis of human history with compelling insights into human nature, the rise and fall of..." Read more
"...of their observations in this book are cogent and represent their years of research and study...." Read more
Customers find the book to be a fairly short read. They also appreciate the quick references, reflections, and topics. Readers also mention that some chapters are flat out show stoppers and prescient.
"...Its is quite dense with some parts making me feel dumb because it is so well written I’m like, “I’m not smart enough to read this but I’m trying!”" Read more
"...In short and concise chapters, they range across considerations of geography, biology, 'race', character, morals, religion, economics, socialism,..." Read more
"...their observations are usually very interesting, and in many cases, prescient...." Read more
"...The value in this one is the quick refference, reflections, topic selection, and the associations the authors give- in a majestic way...." Read more
Customers find the book very small but packs a powerful punch. They also appreciate the big ideas of history being condensed to 100 pages.
"...of different thought provoking ideas and concepts and it packs a lot into a small book...." Read more
"...With this compact and lively book of only 100 pages, they do exactly that...." Read more
"This is a very short book (about 100 pages) but it's worth the price...." Read more
"The big ideas of history, condensed to 100 pages. You’d be forgiven if you mistook some pages for poetry...." Read more
Customers find the book a superb compilation of mankind's history. They also say it's one of the most densely packed books of pure wisdom they have ever read.
"The novel is well put together and formatted. What I enjoy about reading William is his upbeat writing style...." Read more
"The Lessons of History is a superb compilation of mankind's history.What have learned in all those thousands of years?..." Read more
"...History is something we must know and this compilation of it is effective and useful for gaining and understanding knowledge!" Read more
"pretty short book but put together really well. interesting book and good read. get it if you are looking at this review, pretty good quality book" Read more
Customers find the book delightful, and mention it reminded them of what they once loved about history. They also say the authors are talented and knowledgeable.
"The work of this couple is amazing and for them to identify trends from their 10 volumes and organize them in this book by topic is hugely helpful...." Read more
"...A delightful work that reminded me of what I once loved about History and Historiography." Read more
"...lessons of history expounded in the other books by this talented and knowledgeable couple." Read more
"great perpsective on the themees of history. i learned more here than in history class. will read it again on a yearly basis." Read more
Customers find the tone of the book optimistic, refined, and erudite. They also say it makes them happier as a fellow human and is an incredible pure distillation of hundreds of thousands of pages of text.
"...It makes me happier as a fellow human." Read more
"an incredible pure distillation of hundreds of thousands of pages of text/ The Durants are amazing...." Read more
"...Highly recommend for the optimistic tone and readability. Busy citizens will find comfort in the manageable material within." Read more
"All i expected, and it looked brand newNice and polish" Read more
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Durant deals, in this very readable book, with real history and various aspects of life that are revealed thru history.
Among those are Morals, History, Biology, Race, Character, Religion, Economics, Socialism, Government, War, Growth and Decay, Progress (is it real?)
Concepts and Ideas based on the historical background surrounding almost all key elements that Durant and his wife Ariel researched and wrote mssive tomes surrounding (The Story of Civilization - 10 volumes & perhaps 11,000 pages!!...Beginning in volume I (almost a summary of what is to come for 9 more)) will engage and open our world from before a time when mankind was still just off the savannas and wondering what was over the next hill, mountain, river and ocean.
Very readable prose, engaging, humorous and playful in it's dealings with human activity (Volume I sneaks up in so many ways...as in when we encounter the statement "When the Gods became useful they became numerous"
Having gifted or loaned the first of Durant's Story of Civilization it soon became apparent that there is a deep yearning for this depth of inquiry and explanation...Since have given this little book (Lessons of History) to many....old and young. Revealing, humorous, challenging, and rewarding....
Lessons of History is such....coupled with Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness....are Human Nature revealed ... jcmb
And they succeed! The book packs a wealth of insights into a hundred pages. The authors discuss, in turn, the forces that have shaped history. The forces considered include natural (geography, biology), human behavior (character, morality), and human constructs (religion, economic systems, and government). The last essay considers the question "Is progress real?".
The essay on economics argues that wealth inequality is a natural and inevitable consequence of the "concentration of ability" within a minority of a society, and this has occurred regularly throughout history. The authors state: "The relative equality of Americans before 1776 has been overwhelmed by a thousand forms of physical, mental, and economic differentiation, so that the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest is now greater than at any time since Imperial plutocratic Rome."
This leads into the essay on socialism, which strives to counteract the forces that drive wealth inequality. The authors survey "socialist experiments" in ancient Sumeria, Egypt, Rome, China, and South America - all centuries before the industrial revolution. It was fascinating to read this history which contains a mixture of failures and successes. The authors argue that the trend is towards a synthesis of capitalism and socialism (rather than one system winning outright).
The next essay discusses the various forms of government and descibes the special circumstances that enabled democracy to take root and flourish in the American colonies. The authors argue that many of the favorable conditions that were present in the years following the American Revolution have disappeared. The essay ends with the haunting warning: "If race or class war divides us into hostile camps, changing political argument into blind hate, one side or other may overturn the hustings with the rule of the sword. If our economy of freedom fails to distribute wealth as ably as it has created it, the road to dictatorship will be open to any man who can persuasively promise security to all; and a martial government, under whatever charming phrases, will engulf the democratic world."
Hopefully this review has provided a flavor for how the authors have distilled the insights they have gained from years of study. It should not come as a surprise that the lessons gleaned from several thousand years of recorded history continue to ring true today.
This is a book that I wish I'd read in high school or perhaps Freshman year of college. It's a wonderfully written study of how we got to where we are today.
Top reviews from other countries
I was seeking answers to these questions and when Amazon ‘recommended’ this book to me, I gladly accepted. Will and Ariel Durant, the author couple, are renowned for their contribution to the field of History and ‘The Story of Civilization’, a series of eleven volumes in Western history, is their magnum opus. And, when they offer to summarize all their learning in a little book, you can’t help grabbing the same with both hands. I am glad I did.
In this book, Will and Ariel, categorize lessons of the past under various faculties. The evolution of mankind, the overcoming of geological obstacles, the biological evolution and multiplication into innumerable life forms, racial and ethnic diversities, the development of our ethics and morals, the loosening grip of religion on our conscience, growth of economics, socialism, wars and the various forms of governments. They end the book by discussing whether we have progressed by learning our lessons wisely from our past or are we running around in circles. The whole book makes not just an interesting read but worthy of some deep contemplation too.
The book is written in a plain, pragmatic and unostentatious manner. They don’t claim to know it all, but acknowledge that history is just a collection of varying perspectives, depending on our cultural, religious, social background and understanding. Also, they present a neutral stance on our past, without nurturing a tender nostalgia for our past while having bleak fears about the future, or going gaga about the modern times while dismissing the past as full of darkness and barbaric beings.
The past is full of lessons for those who want to learn, and the lessons are neither hard, nor bitter. We get what we seek from our past. If you’re looking for hope, it is full of it. If you are pessimistic about human history, then past offers an abundance of excuses for that too. It is all up to us to wisely choose lessons that suit us, learn from them, use the wisdom to sail through our present, while building a rich heritage for the future generations for whom we will soon be pages of history.
A lovely introduction into the various facets of human history and a book that no history-buff should miss!
They explain how in their view historic events are driven by several factors those being biology, race, morals, religion, economics, government, war, progress and decline. To support their conclusions they will present examples. Now, a couple of statements and findings are deeply coloured by the era when the authors were publishing (1967). So while most is timeless and universal, communism comes up a lot. But also homosexuality is cited as a symptom of the degeneration of societies as is modern art. And democracy is not presented as the panacea to all social strive.
In fact, they also make a point that monarchy has been the more stable successful form of government and that democracy is hard to execute in practice. The impact of religious institutions on societies in general is being played down a,s according to the authors, they only have a role in moderating personal behaviour. Even if you disagree with some of these views / findings it is still super interesting to think about these issues and form your own conclusions.
So I think this book is really brilliant and unique in its set up. The authors, even if a bit quaint from time to time, make a brave and bold effort to offer some general findings and insight, rather than proving insight on specific events. All statements and conclusions are supported by historic examples, so it makes an interesting read, even if you don’t agree with all conclusions.
I think that a wide range of readers can benefit from the wisdom in this book although it helps if you have a good framework of history and social science as this will tie a good few things together.
The book provides a readable, original look on history but some if it comes close to prose, some of the arguing deals with complex issues or topics that are only mentioned such as the Anabaptists (a topic that fascinates me tremendously). But if you give it a chance it should be well worth reading.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2020
They explain how in their view historic events are driven by several factors those being biology, race, morals, religion, economics, government, war, progress and decline. To support their conclusions they will present examples. Now, a couple of statements and findings are deeply coloured by the era when the authors were publishing (1967). So while most is timeless and universal, communism comes up a lot. But also homosexuality is cited as a symptom of the degeneration of societies as is modern art. And democracy is not presented as the panacea to all social strive.
In fact, they also make a point that monarchy has been the more stable successful form of government and that democracy is hard to execute in practice. The impact of religious institutions on societies in general is being played down a,s according to the authors, they only have a role in moderating personal behaviour. Even if you disagree with some of these views / findings it is still super interesting to think about these issues and form your own conclusions.
So I think this book is really brilliant and unique in its set up. The authors, even if a bit quaint from time to time, make a brave and bold effort to offer some general findings and insight, rather than proving insight on specific events. All statements and conclusions are supported by historic examples, so it makes an interesting read, even if you don’t agree with all conclusions.
I think that a wide range of readers can benefit from the wisdom in this book although it helps if you have a good framework of history and social science as this will tie a good few things together.
The book provides a readable, original look on history but some if it comes close to prose, some of the arguing deals with complex issues or topics that are only mentioned such as the Anabaptists (a topic that fascinates me tremendously). But if you give it a chance it should be well worth reading.