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Argues that the rationalist political and social experiments of the Enlightenment have degenerated into societies dominated by technology and a crude code of managerial efficiency. These are societies enslaved by manufactured fashions and artificial heroes, divorced from natural human instinct.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Throughout our high school years, sadly when we are at our weakest analytically, we inquired as to why we had to read books like the Handmaid's Tale or the yawning Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Ralston Saul finally answers the question. His argument, that the printing press and the novel are the driving forces behind much of the postive social change and negative propaganda, reteaches the much needed lesson, that even in the age of the perceived electronic media domination, the printed word, wrapped by a hardboard or paper cover, still contains the eloquent voice and raw power to evoke the most devastating and critical analyses of our societies. With his printed word, Ralston Saul has shown us that the true definition of the freedom of speech is not the ability to say what we want, but to question those people and institutions in power. Voltaire's Bastards does just that; it questions the rhetoric and consequences of corporatism, management schools, military dogma, false capitalism, vaucuous and inconsistent ideology, contempt of public eduction, and, in the end, our own (and his own I'm sure) participation in any or all of these areas. Too bad, I am unable, now in my role as a high school teacher, to convince so few of my students of the sheer rebelliousness of reading a novel or book such as Voltaire's Bastards. Hopefully, they will when they are ready.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If I could take only one book to a desert island this might be it. It can be read and re-read. If you have that niggling feeling that western society may have lost the plot, is perhaps too clever for its own good, but cannot quite put your finger on why, this book is for you. If you are becoming less and less satisfied with glib categorisations such Left, Right, Capitalist, Extrepreneur, Communist, Manager, Leader, etc etc and have a sneaking suspicion that a whole other dimension has been overlooked, as if we persist in rationalising a 3 dimensional world within a 2 dimensional comic strip, you will find this book a breath of fresh air. Such is Saul's clarity of perspective it is as if he is writing one or two centuries hence while most of us are trapped by our tools, in particular the tool of reason and narrow expertise which "is able to get away with presenting itself as the solution to the problems it creates". This profound essay is not a quick read but it is very accessable, witty and lucid. One of Saul's principal themes is the virtue of doubt; you do not need to concur with Saul to be enlightened and entertained by this marvellous book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the best book I have ever read. I've read it at least four times by now. It came at a good time for me, because I was starting to wonder why hundreds of years of financial management experience had left us with governments chronically short of money, and with institutions that have survived centuries of war and weather being destroyed by modern management techniques. If these guys are so smart, how come everything is falling apart? And why won't they accept reponsibility for their failures? After I read Voltaire's Bastards, I understood. This is a book that you will not want to lend out - you will feel disarmed without it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Giving voice to my own intuition
I had always felt an intuitive nagging in my subconscious that something was deeply wrong with the Byzantine rational model that I found so elegant and which I embraced with such... Read more
Published on 31 July 1999
not "too many notes" but just right
Essential reading for wouldbe politicians, managers, administrators and the general public. In this innovative book an author at last explains the hidden niggling feelings of... Read more
Published on 29 July 1999
brilliant
Some will find its length and Saul's, at times, flowery style a bit offputting, but this IS a masterpiece. Read more
Published on 5 July 1999
Good critical ideas, but too long
This is not the best book I ever read, but it is an intelligent one, with good ideas and excellent arguments against some naive optimistic positions about our modern world. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 1999
Read this book immediately.
I have no patience for those who say that Saul's argument is long-winded and boring. Of course it's long; there's so much wrong with the world stemming from rationalism. Read more
Published on 3 May 1999
Should be required undergraduate reading
The whole book sizzles with intellect and insight. Anyone interested in the novel, either as reader or writer, must read Saul's chapter on the subject, The Faithful Witness.
Published on 2 April 1999
Overstuffed and underfocused
A broad thesis, covering 200 years-plus, with excursions through political and cultural history... but without a clearly drawn thesis. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 1998
A book that changed my life!
Never have I been so moved by a book. John Ralston Saul has furnished us a profound, in-depth, and revealing insight into the nature of American society. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 1998
Honest, competent.
This is without doubt one of the most important books of its type ever written. Saul is a writer of great ability. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 1998
Just a little too comprehensive for its own good.
Not a bad try at covering the breadth of modern civilisations and its historical underpinnings. I am impressed by the scope of Saul's work but question the lengths that he extends... Read more
Published on 8 Jun 1997
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