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Book Description
A history of the twentieth century which covers all the ideas, people, great events, literary and artistic movements, scientific discoveries which have shaped the twentieth century.

Synopsis
All changed, changed utterly; A terrible beauty is born Easter 1916, W B Yeats Terrible Beauty presents a unique narrative of the twentieth century. Unlike more conventional histories, where the focus is on political events and personalities, on wars, treaties and elections, this book concentrates on the ideas that made the century so rich, rewarding and provocative. Beginning with four seminal ideas which were introduced in 1900 - the unconscious, the gene, the quantum and Picasso's first paintings in Paris - the book brings together the main areas of thought and juxtaposes the most original and influential ideas of our time in an immensely readable narrative. From the creation of plastic to Norman Mailer, from the discovery of the 'Big Bang' to the Counterculture, from Relativity to Susan Sontag, from Proust to Salman Rushdie, and Henri Bergson to Saul Bellow, the book's range is encyclopedic. We meet in these pages the other twentieth century, the writers, the artists, the scientists and philosophers who were not cowed by the political and military disasters raging around them, and produced some of the most amazing and rewarding ideas by which we live.Terrible Beauty, endlessly stimulating and provocative, affirms that there was much more to the twentieth century than war and genocide.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover

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Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century by Peter Watson  (1)  £9.59

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5 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   14 of 14 people found the following review helpful: Intriguing intellectual inter-leaving in narrative, 30 Jan 2001 By A Customer If you are as interested in your ignorance of the world as I am then this book will demonstrate just how little you know about the world you think you know so much about. It is a heavy and at times forboding volume, but it is simply the most rewarding thing I have read in a long time. If you are the kind of person who is often heard starting sentences, "I never realised until recently...", or, "Something I read the other day made me think...", then stop reading here and click on the "Buy this book" link. The range the author employs is nothing short of staggering - this is a history of the modern mind and covers everything you could wish to know about - but it is intensely readable. Especially impressive here are the twists on history that give a heightened impression of what really matters; JFK's murder in dallas is mentioned only as a lead in to the groundswell that led to LBJ's welfare reforms and the emergence of the green movement; Neil Armstrong landing on the moon takes us to a long discussion on the space-race, evolutionary theory, archeology and theology. And it all hangs together superbly. Although I am still blissfully ignorant of much of the world, having read this book I am at least better informed as to what I need to know more about.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   14 of 15 people found the following review helpful: A 20th century history of ideas/ developments in art/science, 2 Mar 2002 By  bendall_eve@hotmail.com (Sussex England) - See all my reviews This is a magnificent book - a 20th century history of 'the people and ideas that shaped the modern mind.'It is not about wars,politics or governments, although these are, inevitably, in the background. The author describes,and discusses, developments through the century, in the arts - from music to photography, - the natural sciences - from anthropology to quarks -, the social sciences, philosophy, education and much else. The majority of the scene is the Western world, but other areas are not neglected. The book is in 4 sections, each covering about a quarter of the century; 1' from Freud to Wittgenstein' 2)'from Spengler to Animal Farm', 3)'from Sartre to the Sea of Tranquility' and 4) 'from the counter culture to Kosovo'.The century opens with the stability and moral certainty of pre-1914 Europe, with Picasso, the unconscious,and natural selection;it ends with string theory, the genome project and post-modern, self-centered relativism. Whatever age the reader may be, he/she will not fail to be entralled to discover the roots and origins of so much now taken for granted - for example, the wisdom of an Oxford Don, born in 1835,whose advice to the young William Beveridge, led later to the setting up of the British welfare state.Whether one's interest is the increasing power of science,the decline in tradition, the changes in the arts or simply the vast number of men and women, whose ideas and work have helped to bring about change - for good or bad(!),one will marvel at this book Read - and be enthralled and educated.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   13 of 20 people found the following review helpful: Obessed with Freud!, 14 Feb 2001 By A Customer I found the book too fragmented and in some areas poorly researched. The author is obsessed with Freud. Jung's work is dismissed out of hand as being 'unscientific'. Many people do not regard Freud as the great empirical scientist that Watson appears to. Many do not consider that psychoanalysis played that great a role in development of ideas in the UK. Watson totally ignores other schools of psychology, which existed in the early part of the last century. His analysis of developmental psychologists later in the book is sadly lacking, whilst it is true that Piagetian theory played a big part in the educational policy making (esp.1960's) other theories were important too, and should not be ignored. Watson ignores the work carried out the USSR by Vygotsky and others (in fact it appears that Watson has a blind spot when it comes to Russian psychologists even the great Pavlov only gets a couple of lines). Watson is inconsistent when it comes to the notion of self-education this is seen as bad thing in Adolf Hitler but a good thing for others. Surely the point is what we do with knowledge and how that knowledge can be twisted to suit one's needs or ideology? There seems to be a strong US bias, maybe a 'terrible beauty' was written for the US market.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 5 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews Eminently dip-intoable This book provides concise and readable summaries of the key ideas of the 20th century. While some might nit-pick over details, it's ideal if you want a brief overview or... Read more Published 21 days ago by Schrodinger's cat Good book, but may be a little too much in it I really liked the subject of this book, it gives you a great overview of the main developments in every major science in the last 100 years. Read more Published on 1 Mar 2003 by Bas Röling Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 5 customer reviews...