The Decline of the West (Oxford Paperbacks) Abridged Edition

by Oswald Spengler (Author), Helmut Werner (Editor), Arthur Helps (Translator),

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ISBN-13: 978-0195066340

ISBN-10: 0195066340

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Since its first publication in two volumes between 1918-1923, The Decline of the West has ranked as one of the most widely read and most talked about books of our time. In all its various editions, it has sold nearly 100,000 copies. A twentieth-century Cassandra, Oswald Spengler
thoroughly probed the origin and "fate" of our civilization, and the result can be (and has been) read as a prophesy of the Nazi regime. His challenging views have led to harsh criticism over the years, but the knowledge and eloquence that went into his sweeping study of Western culture have kept
The Decline of the West alive. As the face of Germany and Europe as a whole continues to change each day, The Decline of the West cannot be ignored.
The abridgment, prepared by the German scholar Helmut Werner, with the blessing of the Spengler estate, consists of selections from the original (translated into English by Charles Francis Atkinson) linked by explanatory passages which have been put into English by Arthur Helps. H. Stuart
Hughes has written a new introduction for this edition.
In this engrossing and highly controversial philosophy of history, Spengler describes how we have entered into a centuries-long "world-historical" phase comparable to late antiquity. Guided by the philosophies of Goethe and Nietzsche, he rejects linear progression, and instead presents a world
view based on the cyclical rise and decline of civilizations. He argues that a culture blossoms from the soil of a definable landscape and dies when it has exhausted all of its possibilities.
Despite Spengler's reputation today as an extreme pessimist, The Decline of the West remains essential reading for anyone interested in the history of civilization.

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Editorial Reviews

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"This is a splendid edition. The introductory material is pointed and intriguing. The editing is superb. This volume is the best, and realistically, the only way to introduce Spengler to undergraduates."―Daniel P. Murphy, Hanover College

"There is nothing in our contemporary literature quite like the xperience of reading Oswald Spengler's classic The Decline of the West....There is no matching his throwaway erudition, the sheer poetry of his symbols and images and the vaulting majesty of his thought....Especially welcome for the brief but brilliantly incisive preface by America's best Spengler scholar, H. Stuart Hughes."―The Washington Times

"An abridged edition of Spengler's classic is long overdue. it is one of the great masterpieces of German historical prose, and the translation conveys the beauty and eloquence of the original language. its importance to today's student should be immediately grasped by anyone who appreciates the problem of decline and its relevance for contemporary American (and Western) society."―William Falcetano, Merrimack College

"Often damned but still cited (the very title can turn a whole evening into a disputation), it is still a provocative and often dazzling book....An exciting excursion through history."―Time

"Apocalyptic in tone, it is a massive, somber interpretation of the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations, much in the spirit and tradition of historical analysis displayed by another twentieth-century prophet, Arnold J. Toynbee....The contemporary reader will find much that is stimulating in Spengler's criticism of our age."―San Francisco Chronicle

"What [Spengler] wrote was an epic poem....The lesson to be learned from him is that writers too can be seismographs; the trembling of Spengler's themes signaled the coming of the Nazi earthquake."―New Statesman

About the Author

Oswald Spengler, one of the most controversial historians of this century, was born in Blankenburg, Germany in 1880 and died in Munich in 1936.
H. Stuart Hughes is Professor of History, Emeritus, at the University of California at San Diego. He is the author of many books, including Oswald Spengler: A Critical Estimate, Consciousness and Society and, most recently, Sophisticated Rebels.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Abridged edition (February 14, 1991)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 492 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195066340
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195066340
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.23 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.75 x 5.25 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #824,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #115 in Aesthetics (Books)
- #578 in Philosophy Aesthetics
- #1,907 in History of Civilization & Culture

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Oswald Spengler

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Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) was a philosopher of history who is regarded as one of the principal Conservative Revolutionary figures of the Weimar period in Germany. His most important work was his two volume 1918/23 book The Decline of the West, in which he theorised that all civilisations go through an inevitable cycle of ages of rise and decline in power, with the West currently entering its declining period. The book went on to be immensely influential throughout the world. He saw a distinction between what he termed “German socialism” and Marxism. Although a nationalist, he was skeptical about the Nazis when they came to power, disagreeing particularly with their racial policies. He joined the German Academy in 1933. Arktos has issued reprints of the German and Swedish-language editions of his books, Man and Technics, Prussianism and Socialism and The Hour of Decision. English translations are forthcoming.

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C. Kiefer

A Xerox print bound between two pieces of cardboard

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018

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In music, there is the technique of audio being "remastered," which due to its labor, is generally only worth the hassle for an important album. I'm a fool for buying this product simply on the strength and importance of Spengler's work. It never occurred to me that a publisher would treat Spengler in such a slapdash fashion. If it was my publishing company, I might have taken the time to retype the text to achieve crisp, vectored readability. Desktop publishing has been around for three decades now. Make no mistake: this so-called book is a Xerox print bound between two pieces of cardboard. I'll have to seek a vintage hardbound print elsewhere.

27 people found this helpful

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Connoisseur

Words of a Sage

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2017

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There is hardly a book written in the past 150 years that can surpass Spengler's 'Decline of the West' in the depth of understanding, interpreting and explaining the logic behind cultural phenomena and its relationship to the historical development of civilizations in general. This is 'THE THEORY of EVERYTHING' in the field of Humanities. Moreover, if you are an open-minded student and the 'college progressivism' hasn't infected your brain, this book will open your eyes to a whole new level of understanding that will allow you to look at the world more wisely. So remember, your social science professor might not be pleased that you are reading Spengler and not Marx.

36 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

The prefaces written by other authors really encapsulate Spengler's best ideas, especially Spengler's prophecy of a coming Caesar ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2017

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I'm only 3/4 of the way through this dense text and if anything changes I will edit this accordingly.

Spengler clearly possesses an immense foundation of erudition, in which he heavily relies on as opposed to postulating new ideals, concepts, or even displaying his poetic prowess. The text appears to be far more interesting than it actually is, given that it was the philosophical basis for Francis Parker Yockey's Imperium (which is the whole reason why I'm reading it in the first place as a sort of prequel). For the majority of the book (and this is an understatement really), Spengler seems to divert from his thesis of higher culture and its transition into civilization (the end of high culture). This is for at least the first 1/4 of the text. The prefaces written by other authors really encapsulate Spengler's best ideas, especially Spengler's prophecy of a coming Caesar or sort of a Mahdi figure in Islamic lore that would become the future Emperor of the West (I can see where Yockey would get the idea of an "Imperium" from). Written prior to the ascension of Adolf Hitler, it is said in the prefaces that Spengler denied Hitler as being this Caesar.

Spengler's thesis is quite oxymoron especially when it comes to race. He views culture as organisms, that live and die, but when it comes to race, the biological entities that encompass these cultures, he denies race as a mere abstract concept like most Postmodernist thinkers of today. If culture is an organism, it is an organism because of the collective, homogeneous biological entity that constitutes said nation. Spengler's view of race paves the way for Progressive Nationalism or Civic Nationalism, and in the age of Trumpism we are not witnessing that just because one feels "American" does not unite all the races within a multicultural, motley state. The Hitlerist Darwanistic view of race fulfilled the abstract abyss of Spenglerian racial thought. I don't not know why Spengler is revered in many far-right and alternative right circles. Maybe it's because Yockey extracted so much from him, I'm not sure (I'm almost certain that Yockey adopted Spengler's exact view on race). But I can say for certain that many did not actually understand Spengler.

26 people found this helpful

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hensleythelesser

German man grapples with realities of modernity

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2020

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Decline of the west is a beautifully written book that takes a comparative analysis of systems of culture across the world, and then a larger analysis of the "Western" culture and how its story fits the greater system of humanity. It's grand prediction is that eventually the 'faustian man' of the west will soon begin to question all of the foundations which creates and maintains western civilization, causing a caesarian moment, a great decline, and a resurgence of new warring cultures.

He takes a large analysis over the "Seasons" of different cultures, expanding from the essential parts of its mathematical roots, expanding on the Nietzschean worldview to the anthropological field and further into geopolitics.

However true or factual his statements may be, he sort of takes a lackluster "Facts over truth" that he believes elevates what he says over all other intellects. As if his worldview and viewpoints are somewhat more real than others because he can self-assess it, although he fails to realize that his systems are just as rooted as any other.

His predictions and assessments of his contemporary are also shaky, where he is comparing the 'soulful' timeless creations, which survived history, with the 'soulless' everything of his modernity, not seeing that what makes something of great value is time itself. So naturally, at every given time, we can make the mistake of believing that nothing of which our modern times create has value. Yet we see that there is much of the early 20th century that have survived and are of great value to us, even comparable to the great works of his reference.

Over all I believe it to be an essential read to understanding the core foundations of conservative thought, in a very tangible academic viewpoint, essential but too often missed in understanding today's politics.

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Psychopomp

A classic from Oswald Spengler

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2016

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Spengler's writing was the underpinning of James Blish's okie/cities books. I read this book because of my enjoyment of Blish's books and recommend it if you want to help understand his underpinning inspiration. When published in 1918, The Decline .... was a worldwide success and resulted in much comment from intellectuals of the time and later. A more than worthwhile read in its own right.

3 people found this helpful

Simon

Atrocious edition.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2013

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Save your money. Each page of this kindle edition is scanned directly from the original book, meaning that you are extremely limited in how far you can zoom in to the text. Many readers will find the tiny font size unreadable. You can't underline/take note of anything either, so it's useless for any academic purposes (you can, however, see where the owner of the original book has made their notes.)

Seriously. Don't bother.

9 people found this helpful

George Tait Edwards

A Partly Prophetic Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2018

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A key book especially in its observations that a money-serrving oligarchy is the natural end of the democracies

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Formatting issues

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2019

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The formatting of this is terrible. Pages and paragraphs begin and end with no rhyme or reason.
I would not recommend purchasing a copy of it as it isn't readable.

3 people found this helpful

J V O’Ryan

Provocative.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2021

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Thought provoking. Contestable, but quite a tour de force.

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The Decline of the West (Oxford Paperbacks) Abridged Edition

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