The Lessons of History

de Will Durant et Ariel Durant (éd. de 1997)

Quatrième de couverture

Will Durant once wrote that "most history is guessing, & the rest is prejudice." Now, 33 years later, the Durants, in this peroration to their monumental "Story of Civilization," look back to record the lessons & conclusions of their 10-volume excursion into human folly & achievement--&, coincidentally, to determine what value historical guesswork & historians' predispositions may have in understanding the nature of humanity. Their reflections are thematic in nature, discussing the influence & effect upon history of certain qualities, institutions & movements: race, character, moral systems, religion, socialism, government, war etc. Their overall conclusion is at once optimistic & realistic; the phenomenon of progress is no figment of the historian's imagination; it's real, in the sense that each generation is born to a heritage richer than that received by their fathers. Thus, the 20th century is the most blessed of all eras so far, from a cultural standpoint, for it has assimilated the best of the Periclean Greeks, of the Renaissance, of the Voltairian age etc. The Durants' "Story" is, despite the cavils of a few disputatious historians, the historical synthesis par excellence for the intelligent nonspecialist. The Lessons of History, despite its extreme brevity, forms an integrally necessary part of that opus & must be read as such, or as an independent work in the tradition of Augustine's Retractationes & Toynbee's Reconsiderations.--Kirkus (edited)

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Ma note :
La note de la communauté Goodreads : 4.07 pour 16 755 personnes
J'ai lu ce livre 1 fois : le 8 juin 2021
Il fait partie des 277 livres de ma bibliothèque annotée.

Mon commentaire

Ce livre reprend les apprentissages clés de l'encyclopédie historique écrite par les Durant. Bien qu'intéressante, leur vision de l'histoire correspond à un mode un peu daté, notamment autour du progrès. Néanmoins, leur perspective est toujours intéressante à prendre.