Confessions of an Original Sinner [Hardcover]

John Lukacs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000

In this eloquent and thought-provoking "autohistory," John Lukacs, distinguished historian and writer, describes the history of his own convictions and beliefs. The journey takes us from the Hungary of the 1930s and the ravaged Budapest of World War II to Lukacs’s discovery of the New World, his forays into the intellectual life of New York City, and finally his settling in Philadelphia.

Along the way, Lukacs examines many of the major currents of our period, including fascism, communism, democracy, anti-Semitism, and the Christian realism from which springs the book’s title. What emerges is a mind that brings to bear on the conflicts of the twentieth century the erudition of the European heritage and the independence of the American.

In prose as elegant as it is supple, Confessions of an Original Sinner is at once the vivid account of one man’s voyage and an important contribution to that small library that brings into sharp focus the major intellectual developments of our time.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In Confessions of an Original Sinner, Hungarian-born historian and writer John Lukacs describes the history of his convictions and beliefs. Born in 1924, Lukacs describes his journey from the Hungary of the 1930s and the ravages of Budapest in World War II to his discovery of America and forays into the intellectual life of New York City, and finally, his settling in Philadelphia. The "passing of the Modern Age" thematically unites Lukacs's nine chapters, which address many of the major currents of our period, including fascism, communism, democracy, anti-Semitism, and Christianity.

Written between 1983 and 1988, Confessions offers reflective, thought-provoking observations from a "man who knows that he is living during the end of an age." Like many immigrant intellectuals, Lukacs maintains a critical skepticism toward his adopted country and a distanced objectivity toward his homeland. As a result, his writings often illustrate the intersection--and frequent collision--of his humanistic European background with the American spirit of independence: "I could not believe that the future of Western civilization was California." Lukacs seamlessly weaves his complex thoughts into an entertaining, provocative narrative. For example, the chapter on "Dwelling" guides the reader from renovating a suburban home to the absurdity of urban sprawl, skepticism about the democratic process, involvement in local politics, the death of a loved one, and disillusion with a decaying social order. With reflections ranging from the individual ("All my life I have felt and recognized the presence of history within descriptive prose") to the universal ("One cannot be deeply bourgeois and deeply Christian at the same time"), Confessions of an Original Sinner challenges and delights at the same time, providing insight into the profound and frequently witty observations of one of our most perceptive thinkers. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack

Review

". . . a superb guidebook to a rich intellect." -- Wall Street Journal

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: St. Augustine's Press (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890318124
• ISBN-13: 978-1890318123
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,664,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and Inisghtful View of Life, January 20, 2001

By 

Thomas Stamper (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Confessions of an Original Sinner (Hardcover)

This is no doubt one the most heartfelt and honest memoirs I have ever read. John Lucaks, teacher and historian, tells us early on of how he escaped from Hungary shortly after World War II. He lived under the Nazi's and then the Communists, despised both, and then made a life for himself in America.

Good writing is about good writing. Any subject is interesting when presented the right way and Lucaks goes a long way in presenting his story in a way that is fresh and full of life. He reveals many personal observations and details that leave him bare. He laments the loss of his first mistress (a married Hungarian lady with two children) and keeps her picture still. He describes, in detail, the harrowing illness and death of his first wife and the sadly sweet feelings that her memory still conjure up. He goes a long way in describing why Philadelphia is superior to New York City and why the Pennsylvania countryside is superior to both.

But mostly, Lucaks explains why he is a political reactionary, why that distinction is a noble one, and why it suits him so well. Don't construe this to mean that he is a member of the John Birch society or something, his political opinions are really hard to pigeonhole. He is a man of unique perspective, who had a front row seat to the happenings in the Second World War. He saw his people at their best and at their worst. He witnessed people who blew with the wind, and others that stood on conviction. He got a glimpse of what Eastern Europe could have been like if the Americans hadn't left it in the hands of the Russians.

The one caveat I have to offer is that this book is not breeze to read. The language is easy enough, but Lucaks insists that you think about his writing, and that takes a little more time than reading the latest popular novel.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Original Life, February 16, 2001

By 

Panopticonman "panopticonman" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Confessions of an Original Sinner (Hardcover)

Lukacs gets to you slowly in this marvelous autobiography. It's partly the way he structures his life, and partly his remarkable prose. Structurally, he moves chronologically through his life, but also moves thematically at the same time, coming back around to the same preoccupations again and again but from different angles, foreshadowing what's to come, commenting on his earlier follies and triumphs. And so, slowly, he gnaws away at your preconceptions about history, especially U.S. history. Particularly entertaining are his witty criticisms of U.S. academia, his stinging assessments of Kissinger and Reagan from his perspective as a "reactionary" historian. Direct and simple, never-simplistic, he paints his experience as an exile coming to the U.S. after WWII truthfully, with wit, self-deprecation, and remarkable self-knowledge. There are passages in this book which are remarkably moving. His description of his first wife's illness and death, the slow dissolution of his connections to Hungary, the mother and family he left behind, are restrained, but all the more emotionally compelling because of that restraint. An original thinker, Lukacs never accepts anything at face value. After reading him, your view of 20th Century U.S. and world history will be changed. You may even be tempted to adopt his "reactionary" values.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Lukacs wears his humanity on his sleeve, October 26, 2002

By 

John Nygate (London) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Confessions of an Original Sinner (Hardcover)

I agree with the two reviewers who give the book five stars. In almost every sentence one can feel Mr Lukacs' humanity. Strangely, in my youth, I spent a summer in Norristown, a northwest suburb of Philadelphia, close to where Mr Lukacs lives. I too was struck by the verdant beauty of the countryside of southeast Pennsylvania. It is a mystery that its beauty is not more widely known.