First Harper torchbook edition l972.

At the End of an Age isa deeply informed and rewarding reflection on the nature of historical and scientific knowledge. Of extraordinary philosophical, religious, and historical scope, it is the product of a great historian's lifetime of thought on the subject of his discipline and the human condition. While running counter to most of the accepted ideas and doctrines of our time, it offers a compelling framework for understanding history, science, and man's capacity for self-knowledge. In this work, John Lukacs describes how we in the Western world have now been living through the ending of an entire historical age that began in Western Europe about five hundred years ago. Unlike people during the ending of the Middle Ages or the Roman empire, we can know where we are. But how and what is it that we know? In John Lukacs's view, there is no science apart from scientists, and all of "Science," including our view of the universe, is a human creation, imagined and defined by fallible human beings in a historical continuum. This radical and reactionary assertion--in its way a summa ofthe author's thinking, expressed here and there in many of his previous twenty-odd books--leads to his fundamental assertion that, contrary to all existing cosmological doctrines and theories, it is this earth which is the very center of the universe--the only universe we know and can know.

First Harper torchbook edition l972.

A groundbreaking study of how emotions motivate attempts to counter species loss. This groundbreaking book brings together environmental history and the history of emotions to examine the motivations behind species conservation actions. In Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age, Dolly Jørgensen uses the environmental histories of reintroduction, rewilding, and resurrection to view the modern conservation paradigm of the recovery of nature as an emotionally charged practice. Jørgensen argues that the recovery of nature—identifying that something is lost and then going out to find it and bring it back—is a nostalgic practice that looks to a historical past and relies on the concept of belonging to justify future-oriented action. The recovery impulse depends on emotional responses to what is lost, particularly a longing for recovery that manifests itself in such emotions as guilt, hope, fear, and grief. Jørgensen explains why emotional frameworks matter deeply—both for how people understand nature theoretically and how they interact with it physically. The identification of what belongs (the lost nature) and our longing (the emotional attachment to it) in the present will affect how environmental restoration practices are carried out in the future. A sustainable future will depend on questioning how and why belonging and longing factor into the choices we make about what to recover.

In Only the Dead, Bear Braumoeller assesses the claim that armed conflict is in decline and finds it wanting. In the course of his assessment, he also develops a powerful explanation for trends in warfare over time. His central finding is that, although there has been a drop in the rate of international conflict following the end of the Cold War, that drop followed nearly two centuries of steady increases in the rate of conflict initiation.

So connected, we disconnected and find ourselves desperately alone drowning in an ocean of infinite possibilities. “A masterpiece that beautifully demystifies the evolutionary role of loneliness, echoes a powerful existential message for mankind, and amplifies people’s faith in the power of love.” Jack Canfield -Co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul™ Meticulously researched and written, #Loneliness: The Virus of the Modern Age explores the fierce scientific, psychological and spiritual impact of loneliness – a problem that has become an ironic epidemic in a world that is more interconnected than ever before. In a world where communication is instant, where billions of people can interact at just a moment’s notice, it will come as a shock to many to learn that loneliness is an epidemic more rampant and destructive than at any point in history. Almost everyone faces adversity from the isolation that causes us some degree of depression, anxiety or diminished self-esteem. We have become accustomed to a new way of being alone together in a technological cocoon that covers up our real pain. Our true essence is hidden behind facades that we show to the world from the fear of being judged, criticized, and rejected. This is what brings us out of a natural state of healthy balance, is the root cause of disease, and what creates the segregation experienced worldwide. #Loneliness is a global call for people to redefine themselves in the face of life's most significant challenges. Comforting, moving, and spiritually practical, this book is a guide to help you break through your apparent loneliness, and shift you toward crowd-nurtured world peace and the next stage in our evolution. Loneliness not only disintegrates your mental and physical health but also infects your genome and leads to multiple changes while painting a dark and negative picture of the world around you. The most surprising thing to learn is that today’s obsession with technology does nothing more than simply awaken the segregation, discord, and loneliness already inside us all, which further spirals our moods and outlook. Read this book to make you aware of that problem, create a road map that safely guides you out of your dis-empowered states, and empower yourself to redefine the meaning of your life so you can overcome adversity with ease and build the happiness and prosperity you so deeply crave. Use it to reveal how inner discord creates your deceptive loneliness, which is spontaneously appearing around the world in the form of war, racism, nationalism, xenophobia, homophobia, illness, high divorce rates, financial crisis, and so much more. A life manual that shows you how to extract wisdom from every life adversity, so you become a more balanced, mindful, and heart-centred individual, leader, parent, teacher, and human being. If you let it, each page will guide you and encourage you to make the changes that your soul is craving. The principles and ideas shared will teach you how to listen to your heart in ways you didn’t know possible, amplify your awareness and ultimately break free of the cocoon that is stopping you from seeing and embracing the beauty of this world. But it goes beyond you as individuals; it will teach you how to unite and ignite humanity’s collective voice so we can progress to the next stage of our evolution. If this is you calling, then get this book to breakthrough loneliness and live a more connected and love-infused life.

In this wide-ranging meditation on the meaning of time, Agacinski weaves together discussions of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Freud, Heidegger, Baudelaire, Barthes, and especially Walter Benjamin--her model for the modern "passer of time"--as she traces a time-line of the philosophy of time.

One of the most important developments of Western civilization has been the growth of historical consciousness. Consciously or not, history has become a form of thought applied to every facet of human experience; every field of human action can be studied, described, or understood through its history. In this extraordinary analysis of the meaning of the remembered past, John Lukacs discusses the evolution of historical consciousness since its first emergence about three centuries ago.

In The Inklings, the Victorians, and the Moderns, the author examines the dynamics of a small group of twentieth-century traditionalists who reacted in opposition to the spirit of the intellectual movements of the modern age. In particular, he draws on the Inklings (e.g., C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien), Christian humanists such as G.K Chesterton, and other proponents of the Great Books and classical liberal learning to outline a position that eschewed reactionary rejections of modern thought, but sought to transcend its perceived limitations by asserting the continued value of myth, religion, liberal education, and ancient texts. They were more than instigators and wished to reconcile and translate conservative traditional ideas within a progressive modern scientific context. The author magnifies the intellectual trends in modern Western thought in the twentieth-century and provides the historical context for the resistance to the prominent and convincing tenets of modernity. Given the myriad responses, he focuses on a more conservative response to reductive definitions born out of well-intentioned progressivism. The author approaches the subject matter from an historical perspective, but utilizes an interdisciplinary discourse to create a multi-dimensional explanation of the intellectual atmosphere of the twentieth-century.

New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award "Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.