Pentagon Of Power: The Myth Of The Machine, Vol. II [Paperback]

Lewis Mumford (Author), Gina Maccoby Literary Agency (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Myth of the Machine | Publication Date: March 20, 1974

In this concluding volume of The Myth of the Machine, Mumford brings to a head his radical revisions of the stale popular conceptions of human and technological progress. Far from being an attack on science and technics, The Pentagon of Power seeks to establish a more organic social order based on technological resources. Index; photographs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lewis Mumford (1895-1979) was the author of numerous important books on American culture, technology, architecture, and urban life, including Technics and Civilization (1934); The Culture of Cities (1938); The City in History (1961); Myth of the Machine I: Technics and Human Development (1967); and Myth of the Machine II: Pentagon of Power (1970).

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (March 20, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156716100
• ISBN-13: 978-0156716109
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 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: #328,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars vital books, April 20, 2004

By 

Derrick Jensen (Crescent City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Myth Of The Machine - The Pentagon Of Power (Hardcover)

Lewis Mumford was one of the 20th century's most important philosophers, and the two-volume set Myth of the Machine (Volume 1 is Technics and Human Development; and Volume 2 is The Pentagon of Power) are probably his most important books: the summation of his life's work. In writing as elegant as it is clear, Mumford makes plain the death urge that has always underlain civilization, which Mumford calls "the machine," and later "the megamachine." This is a social structure organized not around any organic human needs, but around the "needs" of the machines that have come to characterize and control our lives. These are crucial, incisive, devastating books. I cannot praise them highly enough.

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rage Against the Mega-Machine, March 9, 2001

By 

Sean, [e-mail] (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentagon Of Power: The Myth Of The Machine, Vol. II (Paperback)

Nobody writes like this anymore. I hadn't expected the eminent urban historian to write such a brilliant paranoiac tract against the System and Established Order. Although often redundant, Mumford makes a heroic attempt at explaining the current problems of our times, with roots in the Middle Ages, and perhaps even the Age of the Pyramids. He echoes contempories like Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm and Marshall McLuhan, but instead of taking a Marxist, psychological or media perspective, he takes the more general view of an urbanist. The arguments are quite paralell, although considerably more holistic at times. One recognizes critiques that were earlier or later articulated by not only Marxists, but also feminists, environmentalists, and anti-Imperialists. There are also anticipations of the New Age Movement! (See Fitjof Capra's "the Turning Point.")In short, this massive volume impressively combines much historical and cultural material in its critique of Modern Western Civilization. Although the tone of the book is quite bleak -- we would all appear to be trapped in this Megamachine, the High Technology of the Power Elites -- one also senses a hope towards last chapters that an alternative is possible. He seems to suggest a New Age style withdrawal, rather than any kind of organized resistance. Draw your own conclusions.

6 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A damn good read, July 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pentagon Of Power: The Myth Of The Machine, Vol. II (Paperback)

I can't really be bothered to say much. Basically, if this sort of subject is the kind of thing that appeals to you then I suppose you should read it. If you really want to.