A Thread of Years [Hardcover]

John Lukacs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 1998

In this book historian John Lukacs presents a series of fictionalized vignettes of daily life as experienced by ordinary individuals in the United States (although Lukacs takes us to some European countries as well), each in a year from 1901 to 1969, and each followed by a short dialogue in which the author argues with an interlocutor (who may or may not be himself) over why he has chosen to develop a given scenario in that particular year and what its significance might be. The period represents the life of a single man, K, which Lukacs weaves an and out of the text and through which can be traced the leitmotif of the book: the decline of Anglo-American civilization and of the ideal of the gentleman. The book is primarily a work in the history of manners and mores, a succession of sketches that brings the reader into the inner and often undeclared life of individuals and places them in the larger dramas of historical process in this century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How does one go about depicting the intangible decline of moral codes of behavior? John Lukacs, author of The Hitler of History, explores this issue in A Thread of Years, an impressionist illustration of social history in the 20th century that focuses on the decline of honor and moral behavior in America. Lukacs's narrative falls somewhere between factual, tangible history and well-written romance, with a nod to the latter embodied in the brief fictional vignettes he uses to begin each chapter. The book moves chronologically from 1901 to 1969, presenting along the way a number of characters and scenarios Lukacs considers indicative of their respective eras. His purpose is to show that since 1969, Anglo-American civilization and ideals have fallen dramatically.

Lukacs is careful to back up his points, arguing that the decline of imperialist Britain's influence, the rise of immigration, and the slow erosion of religion, along with an apathetic elite class's refusal to give society more support, have all contributed to the decline of morals over the course of this century. This highly original study is more a romantic romp through the last century than a concise analytical account, yet Lukacs has created a fascinating retrospective portrait of society, one that will have readers pondering the direction of contemporary American morals.

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific Lukacs, author or editor of 18 previous books (including The Hitler of History), has written something so original in form that describing it is difficult. Starting with the year 1901 and ending with the year 1969, Lukacs presents vignettes, one per year, that could be labeled historical fiction. Although real-life people show up in the vignettes, the protagonists are characters created by Lukacs. The purpose of the loosely connected sketches is to portray the history of manners in 20th-century America and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. The theme behind the exercise is the decline of Western civilization as the ideal of the gentleman is dismissed as anachronistic. These annual scenes would be daring as is, but Lukacs takes his unusual form a step further into the experimental realm by following each with a dialogue. Participants in the dialogue are the author and an unnamed second person who challenges Lukacs's substance and style. Lukacs, a well-known maverick within the discipline of history, is self-conscious in his choice of format. As he puts it, he has chosen to move away from attributing thoughts, words and deeds to persons deemed great by historians. Instead, he has chosen to write about individuals (who are sometimes representative of types) "whose plausibility exists only because of the historical reality about their places and times." The book is filled with interesting contradictions, including Lukacs's claim to avant-garde status while simultaneously casting doubt on the avant-garde. Whatever readers conclude about Lukacs's experiment, one quality is undeniably refreshing?his emphasis on the history of common individuals rather than presidents, kings or the nameless masses.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 490 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1ST edition (February 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300071884
• ISBN-13: 978-0300071887
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,284,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and interesting, May 20, 2003

By 

Chuck (The Great White North) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Thread of Years (Paperback)

The author takes on an interesting challenge: to provide a short scene or story for each year beginning in 1900. After each setting, he has a discussion with his alter ego. The dialogue, especially with his alter ego are the highlight of the book. I would have given this book five stars except for a few weaknesses. The settings are over represented by Philadelphia and Budapest, perhaps using settings the author is most familiar with. The author promised to show the disintigration of culture from 1900 to 1969. I believe he failed to miss the mark. Better that he would have continued through to 2000, and in doing so make the point that corporate power has come full circle in a century. Finally, the disdain the author has for progressive and liberal thinking is abundantly clear, but no justification for this hatred is given.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, poor execution, March 23, 2009

By 

Jules Mazarin (Richardson, TX) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Thread of Years (Hardcover)

John Lukacs' idea of illustrating the development of twentieth century American culture and history through a series of "vignettes" interspersed with commentaries must have made for a good proposal--were I a publisher, I'd snap it up, particularly because I have admired many of the other books written by this historian. Regrettably, Lukacs fails in this opus for a very simple reason: he is not a "literary" writer; Lukacs is an insightful historian, and his expository writing is excellent, but Lucaks is no story-teller. His vignettes are simply boring. The commentaries that separate these bits of "fiction"--written as an inner dialogue between Lukacs the historian and Lukacs the narrator (or various parts of Lukacs' complex mind, at any rate)--remains as unfocused and flat as the vignettes.

This might have been a much better book, had Lukacs collaborated with a talented writer of historical fiction. The storyteller could have written the vignettes, and Lukacs could have supplied the commentary. As it is, the book is a failed experiment (a failure Lukacs himself anticipates in his introduction to the work) best ignored in favor of this historian's many better books.

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A rehablitation of American values written by an European, September 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Thread of Years (Hardcover)

One of the most difficult themes: Americans in Europe, Europe in America. Very daring literary form of "vignettes" and some socratic dialogue. It is a success.

Professionally the facts and conslusions are what they should be, the author being a Yale professor.

This fro the point of view of an Northern European historian.