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Loading... From Athens to Auschwitz: The Uses of Historyby Christian Meier
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Published in 2005, Meier’s book begins with a lamentation on the “absence of history” in the public consciousness, due mostly, he believes, to the inability of many people to make sense of the accelerating pace of change in the modern world. Next, he reviews the various explanations offered over the last century or so for Europe’s “special path,” and gives a nod to past critiques of Eurocentrism. Then, with a series of platitudes, rhetorical questions, non-sequiturs and clichés, Meier claims that Europe's "special path" began in 5th c. Athens. If you want to know how unconvincing such a claim can look in the light of 21st c. historiography, read From Athens to Auschwitz. no reviews | add a review
What does history mean today? What is its relevance to the modern world? In contemplating fundamental questions about history and the Western legacy, the noted classical historian Christian Meier offers a new interpretation on how we view the world. Meier sees an absence of history in contemporary Europe and throughout the West - an absence he attributes to the way modern historians have written about history and, more important, to the dramatic transformations of the twentieth century. He argues for the central legacy of Western civilization. He tackles the difficulty of reconciling a historical perspective with our era of extreme acceleration, when experience is shaped less by inheritance and legacy than by the novelty of changes wrought by science and globalization. Finally, Meier contemplates the enormity of the Holocaust, which he sees as a test of understanding history. If it is part of the whole arc of the Western legacy, how do we fit it with the rest? This engaging and thought-provoking meditation challenges us to rethink the role of history in Western culture and a changing world. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)901History and Geography History Philosophy & theoryLC ClassificationRatingAverage: No ratings.Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |