This is a slightly eccentric book by a distinguished American to
present a portrait of the century in 60 short essays - one for
every year between 1901 and 1969. These are set in a number of
different locations - London, New York, Moscow, Philadelphia - and
each is followed by speculation and rumination about the events it
chronicles. Lukas attempts to be both novelist and essayist, and
comes very near indeed to bringing off a true tour de force. Lukas
has a true historian's sense of the part played in history, not
only by world-shaking events, but by smaller incidents and shifts
of international emotion and intent. A thought-provoking, readable
book, and one which merits the reputation and awards it has won.A
slightly eccentric book, presenting a portrait of the century in 60
short essays - one for every year between 1901 and 1969. These are
set in a number of different locations - London, New York, Moscow,
Philadelphia - and each is followed by speculation and rumination
about the events it chronicles. Lukas attempts to be both novelist
and essayist, and comes very near indeed to bringing off a true
tour de force. For English readers the inevitable American tone can
be slightly irritating, but in many ways the book is a great
success - partly because of Lukas' beautifully toned style and
partly because of a true historian's sense of the part played in
history not only by world-shaking events but by smaller incidents
and shifts of international emotion and intent. A
thought-provoking, readable book, which merits the reputation and
awards it has won. (Kirkus UK)
The distinguished historian John Lukacs has been described as "one
of the most powerful as well as one of the most learned minds [of
the] century" by Conor Cruise O'Brien and as "one of the most
original and profound of contemporary thinkers" by Paul Fussell.
Here Lukacs presents a series of fictionalized vignettes of daily
life as experienced by ordinary individuals in the United States
(although Lukacs takes us to some European countries as well), each
in a year from 1901 to 1969, and each followed by a short dialogue
in which the author argues with an interlocutor (who may or may not
be himself) over why he has chosen to develop a given scenario in
that particular year and what its significance might be. The period
represents the life of a single man, K., which Lukacs weaves in and
out of the text and through which can be traced the leitmotif of
the book: the decline of Anglo-American civilization and of the
ideal of the gentleman. The book is primarily a work in the history
of manners and mores, a delightful-and poignant-succession of
sketches that brings the reader into the inner and often undeclared
life of individuals and places them in the larger dramas of
historical process in this century.
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