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Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century
 
 

Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

by Mark Sedgwick (Author) "volt against the Modern World was the work of Julius Evola, whom we will meet later. The Traditionalists who are discussed in this book constitute..." (more)
3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: OUP USA (17 Jun 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0195152972
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195152975
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 498,043 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review
Sedgwick's scholarship regarding Traditionalists themselves is exhaustive and admirable ... Sedgwick contributes an introduction and overview of an otherwise little-known, but important, moment in modern intellectual history. (Colin Beech, Journal of World History )

... a wealth of information on the lives of the Traditionalists ... This book is a valuable companion to their works, a comprehensive and neutrally presented archive of the personalities and authors, along with their political activities and personal lives. (Financial Times Magazine - Weekend )

Against the Modern World is a valuable and comprehensive effort by a non-Traditionalist to chronicle this fascinating and often troubling movement in its entirety. (Financial Times Magazine - Weekend )

Product Description
Against the Modern World is the first history of Traditionalism, an influential yet surprisingly little-known twentieth century anti-modernist movement. Involving a number of important, yet often secret, religious groups in the West and Islamic world, it affected mainstream and radical politics in Europe and religious studies in the United States. Emerging from the 'discovery' in the West of non-Western religious writings, at a time in the nineteeth century when progressive intellectuals had lost faith in the ability of Christianity to deliver religious and spiritual truth, it was fuelled by the widespread religious scepticism that followed World War I. It found its voice in Rene Guenon, a French writer who rejected modernity as a dark age, and sought to reconstruct the Perennial Philosophy - the fundamental truth uniting all the world's religions. Mark Sedgwick reveals how this pervasive intellectual movement helped shape major events in twentieth century religious life, politics and scholarship - all the while remaining invisible to outsiders.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
volt against the Modern World was the work of Julius Evola, whom we will meet later. The Traditionalists who are discussed in this book constitute a movement in the loosest sense of the word. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century
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Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century 3.5 out of 5 stars (4)
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Correction to review below, 30 Jul 2007
By Mr. E. Albert (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Note that the Michael Fitzgerald written about in the review below by Peter Kristofferson is not, in fact, a Catholic archbishop but rather the traditionalist author and scholar Michael Oren Fitzgerald.
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A reference work on Traditionalism., 3 Jun 2006
By Peter A. Kristoffersen (Oslo) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Mark Sedgwick's book is definitely a reference work on the Traditionalist movement. His work is based on a painstaking work with original manuscripts and central works on the subject. The definitions he uses are uncontroversial in the Science of Religion. It comes as no surprise that the theologian and Roman Catholic archbishop Michael Fitzgerald could be troubled. Fitzgerald was heading the department for interfaith dialogue in the Vatican, but the criticism he comes up with here, certainly does not promote dialogue with academics. By reading Fitzgerald's reaction that Sedgwick "inappropriately stretches the definition of a Traditionalist in unprecedented and inappropriate ways", Fitzgerald is talking about Sedgwick's linking of Traditionalist ideas to Fascism trough Julius Evola and Mircea Eliade among others. Sedgwick does this in a cautious manner, and does not in any way connect Rene Guénon with Fascism. The book is an good account on how Traditionalist thought has been used, and can be used. Other than that, Fitzgerald's "book review" uses a lot of space on argumentum ad hominem, and contains numerous unverified accounts of Sedgwick being a "convert to Islam who became a disillusioned Sufi aspirant" and other things that would make an excellent front page in the coloured press.

I want to recommend this book to everyone that wants insight into Traditionalism, and who is not afraid to read it even if a representative of the Roman Catholic Church want the book officially burned.

Fitzgerald's complete book review can be obtained on the internet on a page dedicated to Traditionalism and Perennialism.

More about Sedgwick's works can be found on his homepage.
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5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Closer to Science Fiction, 30 Oct 2005
By A Customer
This is part of a review I found, written by Michael Fitzgerald, who I think sums the book up very well in these few lines:

'...anyone interested in understanding the basis of Traditionalism must look elsewhere, because the book does not explore the actual writings or thought of any Traditionalist author in detail. The book purports to be a scholarly document, but it fails on several counts to meet the criteria of such a work. This review will examine the following notable flaws: 1) The author created advertising story lines for the book that are overly sensationalized, thus distorting the facts. 2) The author has an undisclosed personal history with Traditionalism that may have created a bias in his point of view. 3) Several of the author’s generalizations and unilateral assertions about Islam demonstrate a narrow and intolerant interpretation that is characteristic of fundamentalist Islamic movements. 4) The author coins terms without adequately defining what he means by them, while ignoring established definitions. 5) The author makes connections between people, ideas and events that are superficial, misleading and contrary to existing scholarship. 6) The author inappropriately stretches the definition of a Traditionalist in unprecedented and inappropriate ways, while inaccurately narrowing the current understanding of Traditionalist philosophy. 7) The author’s research ignores existing scholarship that is contrary to his conclusions, and his methods encourage unsubstantiated allegations from informants who appear to harbor hostility toward Traditionalism.'

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5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal account of "Traditionalism"
The secretive 20th-century intellectual movement that became known as "Traditionalism" has, until recently, received little attention in scholarly literature. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Andreas Umland

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