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The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century Reprint edition Edition

4.1 out of 5 stars 57 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0060084387
ISBN-10: 0060084383
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 864 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition edition (July 23, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060084383
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060084387
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Hardcover
At 800 pages the heft of the book makes you quite aware that you should think of it as a reference book. But then, you open it up and start reading, and suddenly, you're hooked. You're hooked because Mr. Watson is telling you the great, scary, tragic story of the 20th century, moving from the nearly unbridled optimism at the beginning of the century through the despair and disenchantment and dark days of WWI, Stalinism, WWII, into Vietnam and the rejection of liberalism and modernism in the last decades of the 20th Century, and he's telling it in an inherently fascinating way: through the leading lights in the arts, sciences and humanities -- a kind of meta-biography. Because he moves chronologically, you begin to anticipate the next raft of intellectuals, the next slew of scientific achievements. Then, later, you get the next iteration of certain theories and ideas in the hands of greater and lesser minds. Or, you start to fear how certain misguided ideas -- eugenics and defective Darwinism, for instance -- will be transmogrified into the rationale for evil. What's most valuable is that Mr. Watson also puts various schools of thought -- the Vienna Circle, the Frankfurt School for instance -- into their proper relation in terms of intellectual history. Mr. Watson's grasp of what's important and what's not, of whom to speak at length and of whom simply to mention, is for the most part nearly faultless. But that is another of the lures of the book -- seeing if you agree with his characterizations and the amount of space he dedicates to each one! For those who crave the long view, who weren't alive in Vienna in the 1900s, or Paris in the 1910s, New York in the 20s, Berlin in the 30s, Paris after WWII, New York in the 50s, who have tried to grasp the overlapping histories of the fine arts, music, literature and science in some kind of systematic way, this book is the answer. An awesome achievment!
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Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
In writing The Modern Mind, Peter Watson has attempted the impossible. He tries to give us a look at the entirety of twentieth century thought. Still, though there are bound to be omissions and inaccuracies in such a book, Watson succeeds admirably in giving us a taste of the intellectual achievements of the past 100 years.
There is so much I like about this book. I like the fact that he sticks to his purpose. He stays away from the wars and politics that dominate most histories and focuses on scientific, literary, artistic and other intellectual achievements. Not that I have no interest in our political history but it is nice to be able to give some consideration to what is often best in humankind--the achievements of the mind.
Also, this is a very well-written book. It is long, but broken up into easily digestible segments with important names and concepts highlighted. Reading too much at one sitting can lead to information overload but in short gulps this book can really educate. I am amazed at the breadth of knowledge Watson displays in this book. I, for one, felt that I gained a lot of insight into things of which I already had some knowledge and, in addition, picked up many new things.
Of course, a book like this with such a large scope can be by no means complete. On the other hand, it achieved something that is rare and that I enjoy very much while reading--it lead me to new people, new ideas and new books to read. I was encouraged to track down and read a handful of titles that I might never have come across without reading this book.
A final warning: if you are a fan of Freud and psychoanalysis, you will not like this book.
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Format: Paperback
The essential virtue of this book is that there is nothing else like it out there. So if you want to read a book like this, this is the best one available. Thus it gets 5 stars and I strongly recommend it.

In particular, there is strong coverage of science's progress (toward consilience), and its influence and intimidation of the humanities (although the Sokal hoax is unfortunately not mentioned). The influence and eventual failure of Freud, and its implication for his followers (not only the French left but a lot of self-conscious art and critical theory) is a major theme, along with the failure of socialism. But also, economic criticism of capitalism is well covered; as are questions about the meaning of life in capitalist societies. A related theme is the end of high art and the rise of pop. In the early part of the century the discovery of the non-Western mind in anthropology, archaeology and history is considered well; appropriately balanced by the emergence of non-Western intellectuals in various disciplines in the latter half of the century. But the failure to deal with racial inequality in the US (and now, Europe) is considered as well.

Those are the just major themes that I picked out; many more minor issues are dealt with as well. No other book that I know of covers this range of themes.

But I do have to criticize it a bit, hoping that something better does come out.

A minor criticism, which the author acknowledges and is perhaps somewhat inevitable, is that he relies heavily on a few other books, which maybe you should just as well read.

The essential criticism is that it is too brief.
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