History and the Human Condition: A Historian's Pursuit of Knowledge
“This the best introduction to the historical craft of John Lukacs . . . one of the true creative geniuses of his profession.”
The American Conservative  
In a career spanning more than sixty-five years, John Lukacs (1924-2019) established himself as one of our most accomplished historians. In History and the Human Condition, Lukacs offers his profound reflections on the very nature of history, the role of the historian, the limits of knowledge, and more.

Guiding us on a quest for knowledge, Lukacs ranges far and wide over the past two centuries. The pursuit takes us from Alexis de Tocqueville to the atomic bomb, from American “exceptionalism” to Nazi expansionism, from the closing of the American frontier to the passing of the modern age.

Lukacs’s insights about the past have important implications for the present and future. In chronicling the twentieth-century decline of liberalism and rise of conservatism, for example, he forces us to rethink the terms of the liberal-versus-conservative debate—and what true conservatism is.

Lukacs concludes by shifting his gaze from the broad currents of history to the world immediately around him. His reflections on his home, his town, his career, and his experiences as an immigrant to the United States illuminate deeper truths about America, the challenges of modernity, the sense of displacement that increasingly characterizes twenty-first-century life, and much more. Moving and insightful, this closing section masterfully displays how right Lukacs was that history, at its best, is personal and participatory.

History and the Human Condition is John Lukacs’s final word on the great themes that defined him as a historian and a writer.
 
“Lukacs has created a body of work unmatched by any American historian of the 20th (let alone 21st) century.”Chronicles
 
“One of the more incisive historians of the twentieth century.” Washington Times
 
“One of the outstanding historians of the generation and, indeed, of our time.”Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence
1111349000
History and the Human Condition: A Historian's Pursuit of Knowledge
“This the best introduction to the historical craft of John Lukacs . . . one of the true creative geniuses of his profession.”
The American Conservative  
In a career spanning more than sixty-five years, John Lukacs (1924-2019) established himself as one of our most accomplished historians. In History and the Human Condition, Lukacs offers his profound reflections on the very nature of history, the role of the historian, the limits of knowledge, and more.

Guiding us on a quest for knowledge, Lukacs ranges far and wide over the past two centuries. The pursuit takes us from Alexis de Tocqueville to the atomic bomb, from American “exceptionalism” to Nazi expansionism, from the closing of the American frontier to the passing of the modern age.

Lukacs’s insights about the past have important implications for the present and future. In chronicling the twentieth-century decline of liberalism and rise of conservatism, for example, he forces us to rethink the terms of the liberal-versus-conservative debate—and what true conservatism is.

Lukacs concludes by shifting his gaze from the broad currents of history to the world immediately around him. His reflections on his home, his town, his career, and his experiences as an immigrant to the United States illuminate deeper truths about America, the challenges of modernity, the sense of displacement that increasingly characterizes twenty-first-century life, and much more. Moving and insightful, this closing section masterfully displays how right Lukacs was that history, at its best, is personal and participatory.

History and the Human Condition is John Lukacs’s final word on the great themes that defined him as a historian and a writer.
 
“Lukacs has created a body of work unmatched by any American historian of the 20th (let alone 21st) century.”Chronicles
 
“One of the more incisive historians of the twentieth century.” Washington Times
 
“One of the outstanding historians of the generation and, indeed, of our time.”Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence
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History and the Human Condition: A Historian's Pursuit of Knowledge

History and the Human Condition: A Historian's Pursuit of Knowledge

by John Lukacs
History and the Human Condition: A Historian's Pursuit of Knowledge

History and the Human Condition: A Historian's Pursuit of Knowledge

by John Lukacs

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Overview

“This the best introduction to the historical craft of John Lukacs . . . one of the true creative geniuses of his profession.”
The American Conservative  
In a career spanning more than sixty-five years, John Lukacs (1924-2019) established himself as one of our most accomplished historians. In History and the Human Condition, Lukacs offers his profound reflections on the very nature of history, the role of the historian, the limits of knowledge, and more.

Guiding us on a quest for knowledge, Lukacs ranges far and wide over the past two centuries. The pursuit takes us from Alexis de Tocqueville to the atomic bomb, from American “exceptionalism” to Nazi expansionism, from the closing of the American frontier to the passing of the modern age.

Lukacs’s insights about the past have important implications for the present and future. In chronicling the twentieth-century decline of liberalism and rise of conservatism, for example, he forces us to rethink the terms of the liberal-versus-conservative debate—and what true conservatism is.

Lukacs concludes by shifting his gaze from the broad currents of history to the world immediately around him. His reflections on his home, his town, his career, and his experiences as an immigrant to the United States illuminate deeper truths about America, the challenges of modernity, the sense of displacement that increasingly characterizes twenty-first-century life, and much more. Moving and insightful, this closing section masterfully displays how right Lukacs was that history, at its best, is personal and participatory.

History and the Human Condition is John Lukacs’s final word on the great themes that defined him as a historian and a writer.
 
“Lukacs has created a body of work unmatched by any American historian of the 20th (let alone 21st) century.”Chronicles
 
“One of the more incisive historians of the twentieth century.” Washington Times
 
“One of the outstanding historians of the generation and, indeed, of our time.”Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781610171625
Publisher: ISI Books
Publication date: 10/12/2020
Edition description: 1
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range: 3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

John Lukacs (1924-2019) wrote more than thirty works of history, including Five Days in London, Historical Consciousness, Confessions of an Original Sinner, The Legacy of the Second World War, and The Future of History.

Table of Contents

Preface

1 History as Literature 1

2 American "Exceptionalism" 19

3 The Germans' Two Wars: Heisenberg and Bohr 27

4 Necessary Evil 51

5 The Origins of the Cold War 57

6 The Vital Center Did Not Hold 87

7 A Tocqueville Tide 97

8 The World Around Me: My Adopted Country 109

Notes 143

Bibliography 157

Permissions 223

Index 225

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