Customer Reviews

The De-moralization Of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gertrude Himmelfarb provides an interesting and thought-provoking analysis of the Victorian Age. Her formidable logic, study, and sources enable her to break down the stereotypes of Victoria's Britain. In doing so, she constructs a far more realistic, fair, and honest portrayl of Victoria's reign. Do not be fooled, Ms. Himmelfarb does not simply lavish praise on the past and turn her nose up at modern culture; she provides a reasoned and valuable look at the two times.

This book should be read by anyone who seeks to understand where we have been and where we are going.

At last, a readable, non-revisionist, and quite relevant discussion of the history of our "moral" system. Professor Himmelfarb is an excellent writer who makes history for nonhistorians come alive. I will never again read Keats, Shelley, Wells, or Mill without placing them in the historical context presented in this book. It is a relief to know that some realism remains in the debauched, angst-filled, revisionist halls of modern academia. This is a wonderful book!

I was brought up to think of all things Victorian as stuffy, repressed and backward. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that far from being a social wilderness, Victorian England and America had much about them to admire.

The belief in God, country, indisputable truths, and loyalty to family were the hallmarks of the Victorians. It is regrettable that in our own time we have no constant stars to guide us as our recent forbears had.

The advances in medicine and science are all good. But it sad that with all these scientific advances, people feel more isolated and insecure than the erstwhile Victorians encumbered with all the constraints of that age.

Wisdom and temperance are two of the virtues that the author discusses. She says that wisdom is the virtue that most of us would most like to have and temperance is the virtue that is most needed by our society.

This book is a readable and relevant discussion of the history of our moral standards. The author is an excellent writer and she makes history come alive for the reader. She is the current authority on all aspects of the Victorian age. She writes adoringly of Victorian virtues, a set of rigid standards that spanned all classes, genders, economic classes, politics and religious groups.

I gave it 4 stars because I enjoyed On Looking Into the Abyss more and the repetitious nature of this book did not hold my interest as intensely. Still there was a lot to absorb about Victorian society and how different the meaning of words and actions was then, compared to now. "Family values, Victorian values"-what were they at the time? Probably not what someone today tells you. And how do they differ from "virtues"? That is the underlying discussion of the book. Here are some quotes:

P.10 "It was in the 1880s that Friedrich Nietzsche began to speak of 'values' in its present sense-not as a verb, meaning to value or esteem something; nor as a singular noun, meaning the measure of a thing (the economic value of money, labor, or property); but in the plural, connoting the moral beliefs and attitudes of a society. Moreover, he used the word consciously, repeatedly, indeed insistently, to signify what he took to be the most profound event in human history. His 'transvaluation of values' was to be the final, ultimate revolution, a revolution against both the classical virtues and the Judaic-Christian ones. The 'death of God' would mean the death of morality and the death of truth-above all, the truth of any morality. There would be no good and evil, no virtue and vice. There would be only 'values'."

P.262 "Victorian moralists were of a different order. They did not presume to create a new set of values to be imposed upon society. They sought rather to sustain those traditional values that encouraged the individual to be virtuous. Responsibility, respectability, sobriety, independence were the common values of everyday life."

This book was very interesting. I learned a lot about the Victorians. I agree with her that this society needs to go back to Victorian values. I love everything she writes.

Ms. Himmelfarb remains the current authority on all aspects of Victoriana, with each of her dozen or so books explicating one aspect of Victorian England in great depth. "De-moralization" writes adoringly of Victorian virtues, a set of rigid standards that spanned all classes, genders, economic levels, politics, and religious groups -- her chapter on Victorian Jews is priceless! Heavily documented and written in "textbook" style (many footnotes, a few charts and graphs), Himmelfarb uses her Victorian books as propaganda to show how removed today's "values" are from our ancestor's "virtues." Her weak link here is in documenting the damage such change has wrecked on our current social scene, although she makes brief references. Her idealistic take on the Victorians shows them as models of excellence, charitable, hardworking, bonded, intelligent, and responsible, without dwelling on the negative aspects of industrialism, ethnocentrism, or racial and sexual discrimination. Still, the wealth of facts she has accumulated is invaluable if one does not get caught up in her conservative rantings and broad assumptions. Can we return to the best that the Victorian era offered? Himmelfarb makes it clear that this would be impossible without an organized society and a strong moral leader who could "lay back and think of England!"

Very useful as an insight as to "intellectual" and "scholar" (and the adjectives derived from both)have been debased (perhaps merely "abused") to give creed to this sort of writing: if you have been in the academia business (no other way of putting it, sorry) long enough and coherently enough and done your homework to a t you can go on to destroy not only myths(kudos! hence the stars given) but also to allow your rationalized fanaticism to get the better of you.
That said, this is a most educating (no, not educational at all in my opinion) and revealing view of how people who still see the world in black and white are trying to reinvent themselves as both interpreters and apologetic, explanatory for what was and what they imagined it meant.
Fascinating. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's not already converted to the very idiosyncratic ideology that underlines every single page though. It is not factual History. It is a personal "thingy". The book hasn't been translated into the local language of where I am living these days and I can understand why but it is unpardonable not to share with the rest of the world these "facts" and these views. Very entertaining and up there with Dr. Phil for wonderful, precious use of the language: when in doubt either obfuscate or reduce ideas to something so simple not even an american or english reader will fail to comprehend. As both of those I am used to the condescension but could do without the style.