Buy used:

$37.49

FREE delivery May 3 - 4

Or fastest delivery April 25 - 29

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by Super AM

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Charles Murray

Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 Paperback – November 9, 2004

by Charles Murray (Author)

122 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$16.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$59.16

$57.00

$8.09

Paperback

"Please retry"

$37.49

$95.00

$18.99

A sweeping cultural survey reminiscent of Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence.

"At irregular times and in scattered settings, human beings have achieved great things. Human Accomplishment is about those great things, falling in the domains known as the arts and sciences, and the people who did them.'

So begins Charles Murray's unique account of human excellence, from the age of Homer to our own time. Employing techniques that historians have developed over the last century but that have rarely been applied to books written for the general public, Murray compiles inventories of the people who have been essential to the stories of literature, music, art, philosophy, and the sciences—a total of 4,002 men and women from around the world, ranked according to their eminence.

The heart of Human Accomplishment is a series of enthralling descriptive chapters: on the giants in the arts and what sets them apart from the merely great; on the differences between great achievement in the arts and in the sciences; on the meta-inventions, 14 crucial leaps in human capacity to create great art and science; and on the patterns and trajectories of accomplishment across time and geography.

Straightforwardly and undogmatically, Charles Murray takes on some controversial questions. Why has accomplishment been so concentrated in Europe? Among men? Since 1400? He presents evidence that the rate of great accomplishment has been declining in the last century, asks what it means, and offers a rich framework for thinking about the conditions under which the human spirit has expressed itself most gloriously. Eye-opening and humbling, Human Accomplishment is a fascinating work that describes what humans at their best can achieve, provides tools for exploring its wellsprings, and celebrates the continuing common quest of humans everywhere to discover truths, create beauty, and apprehend the good.

Print length

688 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Perennial
Publication date

November 9, 2004
Dimensions

6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

9780060929640
ISBN-13

978-0060929640
See all details

Charles Murray
761
Hardcover
53 offers from $9.99
Charles Murray
520
Hardcover
57 offers from $8.09
Charles Murray
158
Hardcover
58 offers from $1.35
Richard J. Herrnstein
1,302
Paperback
110 offers from $4.88
Charles Murray
163
Paperback
24 offers from $5.00
Charles Murray
395
Hardcover
96 offers from $2.00

Charles Murray
761
Hardcover
53 offers from $9.99
Charles Murray
520
Hardcover
57 offers from $8.09
Plato
765
Hardcover
45 offers from $32.95
Richard J. Herrnstein
1,302
Paperback
110 offers from $4.88
Steven E. Koonin
3,108
Hardcover
43 offers from $15.95
Charles Murray
983
Paperback
149 offers from $0.61

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Murray’s overview…is engaging, user-friendly....[readers] are sure to enjoy his arguments and elegant presentation.” -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Charles Murray is the W. H. Brady Scholar in Culture and Freedom at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of seven other books, including Losing Ground and The Bell Curve, with Richard J. Herrnstein.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0060929642
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial (November 9, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 688 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780060929640
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060929640
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.57 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #596,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,372 in History of Civilization & Culture
- #1,564 in Medical Social Psychology & Interactions
- #1,744 in General Gender Studies

Customer Reviews:
122 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Charles Murray

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Charles Murray is a political scientist, author, and libertarian. He first came to national attention in 1984 with the publication of "Losing Ground," which has been credited as the intellectual foundation for the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. His 1994 New York Times bestseller, "The Bell Curve" (Free Press, 1994), coauthored with the late Richard J. Herrnstein, sparked heated controversy for its analysis of the role of IQ in shaping America's class structure. Murray's other books include "What It Means to Be a Libertarian" (1997), "Human Accomplishment" (2003), "In Our Hands" (2006), and "Real Education" (2008). His 2012 book, "Coming Apart" (Crown Forum, 2012), describes an unprecedented divergence in American classes over the last half century. His most recent book is "By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission" (Crown Forum, 2015).

Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		12%
3 star		8%
2 star		6%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

N N Taleb

Shockingly ignorant book full of elementary errors, absence of scholarship

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2019

Murray seems to gerrymander what the West means and doesn't know what gerrymandering means: pick what works and call it the West. But worse, he is no scholar. Clueless mistakes.
Take one page, 588. It has the following errors. Under "National Origin", he misclassifies people:
+ AlKindi was Arabian not from Persia in "National Origin"
+Saadia Gaon was Egyptian/Babylonian Jew not from Persia in "National Origin"
+Manichaeus was Persian not from Rome in "National Origin"
+Plutarch was Greek not from Rome in "National Origin"
+Philo Judaeus was an Egyptian/Mizrahi Jew not from Greece in "National Origin"
+Porphirius was Phoenician not from Greece in "National Origin"
+Tertullian was a Berber not from Rome in "National Origin"
+Posidonius was Apamean Syrian not from Greece in "National Origin"
+Zeno was Cypriot Phoenician from Kition not from Greece in "National Origin"
+Maimonides was a Sephardic Jew not a Spaniard, and if Spaniard then Averroes also born in Cordova shd be so. And Seneca also born in Spain is deemed to be from Rome in "National Origin".

159 people found this helpful

Helpful

A lovely book.

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a stunning book from one of the world's great public intellectuals. CM is a sociologist, a political scientist, an applied geneticist, and many other things. Here he reveals himself as a sophisticated historian of science and of (certain portions of) the arts. The purpose of the book is to understand the nature of human accomplishment—true excellence, not high competence—and see who (and when, and why) has achieved the most of it. What are the conditions that give rise to it? What are the foundations that are largely necessary for it? Is it now in decline?

The principal method is to check with standard, encyclopedic and historical sources and see the degree of attention accorded to particular individuals and accomplishments. Corrections for national bias are made, so that, e.g., non-English sources are used to assess English accomplishments.

The results are predictable with a few exceptions. Rousseau, e.g., is accorded more attention that I believe he deserves. Ditto Sir Walter Scott. However, I can see the reasons for some of these assessments. Dead white European males predominate in the inventories and CM is at pains to demonstrate why this is the case. At bottom, the book attempts to relieve us of our concerns that we are biased because our initial impressions (which turn out largely to be true) are justified with elaborate statistical argument. Approximately 200 pp. are devoted to appendices, notes, bibliography, index and, in general, explanations for the methods employed. (For those unfamiliar with regression analysis, e.g., CM provides explanatory descriptions of the method.)

The key takeaway is an old key takeaway—the importance of religion and faith and the worldview that they entail. CM positions himself against the arid secularism and abandonment of the notions of truth, goodness and beauty embraced by much of the modern arts community, attributing the decline in human achievement (in part) to the loss of a worldview that produced, e.g., the great art of the renaissance. He supports his argument with statistics. One can find another instance of this argument in the magisterial work of George Steiner (using philosophy, theology, language, literature and science to make the case). Camille Paglia (herself an atheist) has also made this case.

Bottom line: a very interesting and important book, particularly in a world where the very notion of excellence and accomplishment is under constant fire. This book leaves no room for participation trophies; many contemporary academics leave no room for beauty, goodness and truth. That is why CM must go to such lengths (a book of nearly 700 pp.) to reassure us that Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mozart, Newton, Einstein, Galileo, Michelangelo, Pasteur, Lavoisier, Darwin, Euler, Lyell, Edison, Aristotle, et al. should be familiar to all educated citizens and should be taught in all of our universities and colleges. We need to stay in touch with greatness; it elevates and inspires us as human beings.

28 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gordon H

Loved it - for the most part.

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

By no means is this a book for everyone. It is a slog to get through it. Seriously. I loved it. Until I retired I was a heavy user of statistics. I am even more deeply an historian. (Can't possibly make a decent living with that.) Plus some other mental decoration. This book was my cup of tea. ASTONISHINGLY he is rational, reasonable, and straightforward. Rare! (Naturally I would say that about one with whom I share much agreement.) As I was reading the book, from time to time I wondered how I could encourage my extended family to include this book as part of the home schooling curriculum. It is that important. (Thinking of the children, as Mr. Murray does, I recommend skipping until later the details of the data development and statistical analysis. Yes, important. No, not a lot of fun and insight.)
Now then, a dose of reality. It is too little too late.. Even if we teach our children the things he develops it will only allow them to see and understand the collapse. Mr. Murray peripherally acknowledges the overriding importance of worldview in the culture(s) that drives accomplishment. I think he may have been a little weak with respect to this but not entirely.
I heartily recommend this book to those who enjoy the patterns and subtleties of long term cultural history. Mr Murray provides many, many insights.

39 people found this helpful

Helpful

nwman7

Great Read

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

Hard to read because the current democratic party demonizes whiteness. Facts show what contributions have been made by WHITE PEOPLE.

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sjogren's Patient

Excellent Compilation

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

If one considers that totality of Charles Murray's works, you can tell that this guy really loves Humankind and genuinely strives to understand it. Charles Murray is a good example of why we push the top 1 percent forward to Harvard and MIT... because some of them really do give back to Society and Mankind through relentless scholarship and hard work. Charles Murray makes me want to be a quantitative sociologist!

14 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Kublai

Human accomplishment - in Christian culture and society

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

A statistical look at the great artists and scientists of human history. If you know your history there isn't too much to surprise in Murray's findings but it is a well put together book, and very fairly considered.

He finds (Spoilers!) that almost all the great scientists and artists of the world have been European. At one point he faces the figure of 97% being western. And he is extremely kind to Asian, Indian and Arab history throughout, inflating the role of these parts of the globe, which at times diminishes the whole point of his statistical method:

It is something of a contradiction to have to include Confucious as the number one Asian eminent figure, scholars in Neo-Confuciansm close behind, Buddhist thinkers also in the list, and later explain how their thinking was a main reason for Asian society being restricted, lacking curiosity and inspiration, and producing few noteworthy talents.

He also avoids/underplays the most obvious reason for western achievement for the majority of the book - which is Christianity. It is no coincidence that the places in which Christian culture bloomed with a sense of individual freedom and purpose - Renaissance Italy, and Protestant Northern Europe - are the exact places which contribute the vast majority of significant accomplishments.

It's a good book, and I applaud him for again going where he knows politically correct commentators don't want to look. However, in trying to keep their cries of disquiet to a minimum and maintain the possibility of discussion he rather misses the major points of his work. Michelangelo is often mentioned, but never the subjects about which his great works were concerned; he was a great artist because of his ability but also because of what he painted and sculpted: the touch between God and man, the Biblical David, etc. So many of the scientists he mentions did what they did because they were exploring God's laws. Greatness amongst human achievement is unequivocally linked to seeing the greatness of the Christian God, and living in a society that does, and Murray's statistics attest to this throughout.

5 people found this helpful

GHL

Interesting

Reviewed in Canada on December 5, 2019

Verified Purchase

But boring...

See all reviews

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 Paperback – November 9, 2004

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Charles Murray

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries