Lessons of History Paperback – 16 Feb. 2010

Everything to my full satisfaction. Arrived on time in the stated condition. Would buy again from this seller.

An incredible ride through the chief zeitgeists of recorded history.This reads like a long-form riff or poem. It kept reminding me of Ginsberg's 'Howl', not due to any ideological or intellectual alignment of the work, but the sheer pace and speed at which so many ideas are being flung at you; kind of like standing in front of a tennis ball machine in a strong head wind. Many of the positions and musings the author may hold are ambiguously presented with a degree of arm's length and sense of distance, sometimes hinting at a through-line of reasoning and ideological compass, only to be thwarted by another bent that scrambles your coordinated assumptions on just what Will Durant's political conclusions about history are. He will say one thing that devastates the Right-Wing, only to pivot to doing the same to the Left-Wing.The amount of mileage to the gallon this text produces is remarkable. Obviously, tackling all of human civilised history is no mean feat in itself, but to do so in just over 100 pages without seeming reductionist, lazy or glib is one of another kind. In fact, it is a kaleidoscopic ride at times. Without pauses for breath or sober reflection (though you might impose those on yourself as a form of strategy of recuperation), it bulldozes through history, flagging catastrophes, wars, ideological epochs, deceased civilisations and everything in between in a way that is both harrowing and uplifting.The conclusions are apt and revealing. I won't spoil those for you, but you will have your own by the end, due to the process of joining dots you had previously not. An excellent primer for budding historians and a good long-form essay for those more experience who just enjoy good writing.

There is so much to learn from history. And much more than is described in this book. However this is a lovely, concise yet very rich book that offers insights from a brilliant point of view. It’s is a curiosity in my vast collection of history books. There aren’t that many books where so much substance is packed in such a small amount of pages. The 120-page book essentially deals with a selection principles and commonalities that bind human societies even though there are that separated by thousands of years. The thing, according to the authors, is that common human passions and desires drive comparable motivations, behaviour and societal change. All is based on the Durant’s decades-long study of and publications on historic topics. It’s simply a distillation of their academic work, brought back to a few essential points. None of the chapters cover more than few pages, yet the book covers the entirety of human history.They explain how in their view historic events are driven by several factors those being biology, race, morals, religion, economics, government, war, progress and decline. To support their conclusions they will present examples. Now, a couple of statements and findings are deeply coloured by the era when the authors were publishing (1967). So while most is timeless and universal, communism comes up a lot. But also homosexuality is cited as a symptom of the degeneration of societies as is modern art. And democracy is not presented as the panacea to all social strive.In fact, they also make a point that monarchy has been the more stable successful form of government and that democracy is hard to execute in practice. The impact of religious institutions on societies in general is being played down a,s according to the authors, they only have a role in moderating personal behaviour. Even if you disagree with some of these views / findings it is still super interesting to think about these issues and form your own conclusions.So I think this book is really brilliant and unique in its set up. The authors, even if a bit quaint from time to time, make a brave and bold effort to offer some general findings and insight, rather than proving insight on specific events. All statements and conclusions are supported by historic examples, so it makes an interesting read, even if you don’t agree with all conclusions.I think that a wide range of readers can benefit from the wisdom in this book although it helps if you have a good framework of history and social science as this will tie a good few things together.The book provides a readable, original look on history but some if it comes close to prose, some of the arguing deals with complex issues or topics that are only mentioned such as the Anabaptists (a topic that fascinates me tremendously). But if you give it a chance it should be well worth reading.

A beautifully written and concise description of learnings from history. Not necessarily unique views but a compilation and insightful reflection on historical events. Carefully compressed and honed prose to provide useful broad principles for the reader to interpret events in their own lives and the wider world. At times the writing is almost poetic - "all economic history is the slow heartbeat of the social organism, a vast systole and diastole of concentrating wealth and compulsive recirculation.”Truly exceptional piece of work, would re-read, recommend and gift. As relevant today as when it was written.

For me, the writing style gets in the way of the message. It is a very formal, stuffy, heavy, and old-school style of writing, and I suspect for this reason that many people will find this small book very tough-going, and will not get to the end of it. Even though this book is not hugely old, it almost needs a modern translation!

Astonishingly prescient about 21st challenges even though written in 1968. As a primer for the big themes of history it is majestic. The amount of wisdom in this book far exceeds most tat are much longer. An absolute classic

Came promptly and was a good read

Gran lectura con temas aún de actualidad. Geniales los autores.

Among the better historians the world has known (Medal of Freedom and Pulitzer honoree)..Durant is a passion that need not be left to old age to enjoy. First course in Western Civilization at USC introduced Durant to those of us that attended there (and other ).Durant deals, in this very readable book, with real history and various aspects of life that are revealed thru history.Among those are Morals, History, Biology, Race, Character, Religion, Economics, Socialism, Government, War, Growth and Decay, Progress (is it real?)Concepts and Ideas based on the historical background surrounding almost all key elements that Durant and his wife Ariel researched and wrote mssive tomes surrounding (The Story of Civilization - 10 volumes & perhaps 11,000 pages!!...Beginning in volume I (almost a summary of what is to come for 9 more)) will engage and open our world from before a time when mankind was still just off the savannas and wondering what was over the next hill, mountain, river and ocean.Very readable prose, engaging, humorous and playful in it's dealings with human activity (Volume I sneaks up in so many ways...as in when we encounter the statement "When the Gods became useful they became numerous"Having gifted or loaned the first of Durant's Story of Civilization it soon became apparent that there is a deep yearning for this depth of inquiry and explanation...Since have given this little book (Lessons of History) to many....old and young. Revealing, humorous, challenging, and rewarding....Lessons of History is such....coupled with Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness....are Human Nature revealed ... jcmb

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