Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Harper & Row (1965), Paperback, 304 pages
Description
Western Civilisation was in its pomp when Jacob Burckhardt delivered his Judgements on History and Historians; European Empires spanned the globe, while the modern age was being forged in the nationalist revolutions of 1848. As a tutor to the young Friedrich Nietzsche as well as one of the first historians to take 'culture' as his subject rather than the triumphs and travails of kings and generals, Burckhardt was at the vanguard of this modern sensibility. Ambitious in its scope, ranging from the days of Ancient Egypt, through the Reformation to the time of Napoleon, this is indeed a history of 'Western Civilization', written before two monstrous world wars threw such a concept into disrepute.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jrgoetziii
Burckhardt is halfway decent in terms of assessing character and predicting the direction of social movements but is also completely paranoid and bitter about something or other. WHat would be a better book is also marred by overt and contemptible anti-Semitism, which is out of place here in a way
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
1299077269 / 9781299077263
Local notes
Torchbooks TB 1216 J