How the West Was Lost

Overview

What made the West 'western'? And has Western civilisation found modernity but lost itself? This provocative and stimulating polemic argues that the modern world has destroyed western culture and civilisation without gaining anything in return, leaving contemporary man with a spiritual and cultural gap that no amount of material wealth can fill. This is a brave and challenging attempt to explain how and why this has happened and present a new concept of modern history for our complacent times.

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Overview

What made the West 'western'? And has Western civilisation found modernity but lost itself? This provocative and stimulating polemic argues that the modern world has destroyed western culture and civilisation without gaining anything in return, leaving contemporary man with a spiritual and cultural gap that no amount of material wealth can fill. This is a brave and challenging attempt to explain how and why this has happened and present a new concept of modern history for our complacent times.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781850439851
  • Publisher: I. B.Tauris & Company, Limited
  • Publication date: 9/3/2006
  • Pages: 304
  • Product dimensions: 6.37 (w) x 9.46 (h) x 1.26 (d)

Meet the Author

A philology graduate of Moscow University, Alexander Boot lectured there on English and American literature in English, wrote art criticism and got into trouble with the KGB before emigrating to the USA in 1973 - only to find that the West he was seeking was no longer there. This inspired a life-long quest for an explanation, reflected in numerous essays. He has written for a wide range of publications including the London Magazine, the Salisbury Review and the Independent. He now divides his time between London and Burgundy, working on his next two books.

Table of Contents

Pt. 1 Exposition 1
The making of western man 1
The method in the madness of modernity 4
The unfashionable thinking behind this book 8
The birth of Westman 20
Westman's youth 28
Looking out by looking in 30
The ultimate height of Westman's soul 44
Modern civilization against western culture 52
Cometh the new man 60
Pt. 2 Development 67
The battle plan of Modman 67
Modman takes on God 71
Compromise as the midwife of Westman 88
Modman's first victories 94
Modern science against western God 98
The totalitarian scientist 101
The unenlightening enlightenment 112
Modman divides into two 116
The first political state 121
The rolling juggernaut of the modern state 131
The champion of the nihilist 136
Pt. 3 Recapitulation 145
He who pays the piper 145
Is the world safe from democracy? 161
Getting down to business 175
The false prophet 189
Unheeded lessons of history 193
Glossocracy : Modman develops his own weapon 199
The non-language of politics 210
While stocks last 217
The war to end all wars 223
Art imitating death 238
The trailblazers of nihilism 245
Educating Philistine Emiles 251
Language and other victims of modernity 258
Law versus justice 264
Speak no evil - or else 275
Pt. 4 Coda 287
The mopping up 287
The Spanish detour 307
The partition of the world 310
All you need is love 316
Drugs and rock 'n roll 323
Opposites attracting 329
Is there life after death? 334

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