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 | | The Decline of the West (Oxford Paperbacks) by Oswald Spengler, Helmut Werner (Editor), H. Stuart Hughes (Introduction), Arthur Helps (Translator), Charles Francis Atkinson (Translator) ISBN-10: 9780195066340 ISBN-10: 0-19-506634-0 ISBN-13: 9780195066340 ISBN-13: 978-0-19-506634-0 Paperback 1991-02-14 Oxford University Press, USA Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Since its first publication in two volumes between 1918-1923, The Decline of the West has ranked as one of the most widely read and most talked about books of our time. In all its various editions, it has sold nearly 100,000 copies. A twentieth-century Cassandra, Oswald Spengler thoroughly probed the origin and "fate" of our civilization, and the result can be (and has been) read as a prophesy of the Nazi regime. His challenging views have led to harsh criticism over the years, but the knowledge and eloquence that went into his sweeping study of Western culture have kept The Decline of the West alive. As the face of Germany and Europe as a whole continues to change each day, The Decline of the West cannot be ignored. The abridgment, prepared by the German scholar Helmut Werner, with the blessing of the Spengler estate, consists of selections from the original (translated into English by Charles Francis Atkinson) linked by explanatory passages which have been put into English by Arthur Helps. H. Stuart Hughes has written a new introduction for this edition. In this engrossing and highly controversial philosophy of history, Spengler describes how we have entered into a centuries-long "world-historical" phase comparable to late antiquity. Guided by the philosophies of Goethe and Nietzsche, he rejects linear progression, and instead presents a world view based on the cyclical rise and decline of civilizations. He argues that a culture blossoms from the soil of a definable landscape and dies when it has exhausted all of its possibilities. Despite Spengler's reputation today as an extreme pessimist, The Decline of the West remains essential reading for anyone interested in the history of civilization. | ||
Reviews | ||
The Decline of the West (Abridged) A facinating and richly detailed study of the fall of civilisation and the structures that support it. | ||
Deadened and Guttered. I had the misfortune to wait and waste 40$ on this book.Abridgments like translations can be very destructive. Helps,is either a jealous or mischievous pendent (to protect us from dangerous thoughts or false ideas [just keep munching your cornflakes trog]).I was alerted immediately on reading the introduction,where he makes derogatory comments about the author. This abridgment deadens Spenglers soaring insights (be they wright or wrong)by deleting Spenglers encyclopedic knowledge of the world which Spengler displays by myriad multivarious contrasts and examples (a reflective education that makes one think deeply about art philosophy and world societies!).Most of Spenglers insightful reflections have been left out.This book should have been an essay and posted on the Unabridged book reviews for this towering stupendous work.Get the Atkinson translation. A very boring read. | ||
incisive, thought provoking Spengler, like Tocqueville, is a rare ocurrence in the history of mankind. They were able to rise above the mundane and look at the human condition with sharp and prescient eyes. Today as we wallow in our success, having practically subdued the rest of the animal world and sent it towards extinction, globalized business as well as disease and vices, rendered earth as a growing concrete jungle, we cannot escape the decline of our civilization. Mind you, some folks equate technology with civilization, but look around, we have space ships flying towards Mars and we cannot produce decent music, our films are little more than displays of pirotechnics and gore, our literature has been reduced to fast-paced clips to be devoured in a quick subway ride, our architechture only aspires to reach ever more dizzying heights. Where are our Beethoven's, Fellini's, Taj-Mahals, our Angkor Wats? Our technical supremacy has only brought more alienation and spiritual emptiness, reflected in ever more abstract and incomprehensible art. How long can we sustain technical advance with cultural decay? Read Spengler and you will understand why even the most upright citizens of the Roman Empire could not reverse its inexorable decline........... | ||
BEWARE - THIS IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS TO BE This paperback edition is NOT "The Decline of the West" by Ostwald Spengler. It is an abridgement of that work perpetrated by one Arthur Helps apparently from a German abrdigement by Helmut Werner and an English translation (of the original or the abridgement?) by Charles Francis Atkinson. So if you buy this, you're not buying Spengler (leave aside the issue of how much of Spengler you're getting when you have to read it in translation - who would want to give up all the literature in the world written in languages he doesn't read?). What you're buying is sort-of Spengler. Now, in fairness, at 400+ pages this isn't exactly the Classic Comic Book retellng of Spengler's long and complex work. But it isn't that work either. And it is very hard to tell this from the Amazon announcement or description of the book. And that's simply wrong. It's a deception. I don't think it's one that was done to trick people. It's more likely the product of sloppiness or inattention. Some people may believe that a shortened Spengler is just fine for their purposes. I have no disagreement with them. My concern is that those who, like me, would never have even considered buying an abridgement of a book like this can be misled into doing so by an inaccurate description of what the book is. So now I have a book to return instead of to read. I hope to save someone else that inconvenience. | ||
RACE Several reviews comment on the use of Race as an issue in DOTW. One suggests that Race is not a principal issue because it is seldom mentioned. These miss the point. In thinking of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Racial nature of European Civilization is just taken as a given, hardly needing reinforcement more than rules of math. Blacks, etc were seen as presences within the culture, not part of the culture. It may seem odd to one growing up in 2000 + but that is how it was. | ||