Western Civilization: History of power

What is behind Western Civilization & how do we use its history?

Topic this week is the history of Western Civilization - some light reading! Obviously this is a big topic but these articles I think summarize some key themes and questions

• How should we - and do we - actually use the history of “western civilization”?

• How have the “threats” to Western Civilization changed between now and the mid-2000s?

My B&NR¹ Recommendation this week is:

• The Pursuit of Power:  Europe 1815-1914 

… because I’m fascinated by power, how organizations get it and wield it, and I don’t really know my European history.

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The Articles:

The Worst of Times? (NYRB, November 2006)

• The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West

The Disappointed Lover of the West (NYRB, December 2011)

• Civilization: The West and the Rest

History and National Stupidity (NYRB, April 2006)

Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

A Message to the 21st Century (NYRB, October 2014)

The misguided search for a single, overarching ideal

Drawing the Wrong Lesson (NYRB, March 2010)

• Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History

A Cautionary Tale for Americans (NYRB, May 2005)

• The Bullet's Song: Romantic Violence and Utopia

Staying Alive in the Ruins (LRB, April 2021)

Over forty years ago, in 1980, a visiting professor of European History at Columbia University had a unique opportunity to observe the shifting definition of Western civilisation

• Ruin and Renewal:  Civilising Europe after World War Two 

C (for Crisis) (LRB, August 2009)

A historian examines the sense of crisis and fear that characterized Britain between the wars, offering an in-depth look at how people reacted to the events of the time

• The Morbid Age:  Britain between the Wars 

Echoes from the Far Side (LRB, October 2017)

A history of Europe's path to power

• The Pursuit of Power:  Europe 1815-1914 

1. The book I’m going to Buy and Not Read because it’s too long and I don’t have the time.