Enlightenment's Wake: Politics and Culture at the Close of the Modern Age [Hardcover]

John Gray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0415124751 | ISBN-13: 978-0415124751 | Edition: 1

Now in paperback, Enlightenment's Wake stakes out the elements of John Gray's new position. He argues that all schools of contemporary political thought are variations on the Enlightenment Project - the Westernizing project of a universal civilization - and that this Enlightenment Project has proved self-undermining and is now exhausted. Fresh thought is needed on the dilemmas of the late modern age.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Gray is a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. He has been visiting professor at Harvard, Yale and Tulane universities.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415124751
• ISBN-13: 978-0415124751
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,108,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JOHN GRAY is Emeritus Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement and the author of over a dozen books, including Heresies and the bestselling Straw Dogs. False Dawn has been translated into sixteen languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars This work is a must read for anyone interested in the future of the west., June 22, 2009

By 

Patrick J. Rabb (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Enlightenment's Wake: Politics and Culture at the Close of the Modern Age (Hardcover)

I first encountered John Gray and his philosophical views in the special features portion of the movie Children of Men based on the book Children of Men by P.D. James and directed by Alfonso Cuaron. John Gray was making a startling claim about the future of the west and philosophy that held my mind captive until I decided to research his work and thought. I decided to first read Enlightenments Wake because I had grappled with other works on the Enlightenment and what it meant for the modern world. I discovered that there are some provocative and controversial claims made in the work that is edifying, however I did feel that Gray made a pedantic show of his clearly elite education. The reading was at time very difficult due to a writing style that was too loaded down with esoteric philosophical examples and an overloaded sentence stucture that made his points difficult to put together. All in all it is worth reading but is not for the faint of heart or the easily bored reader.