Customer Reviews

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

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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.