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Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century (Yale Nota Bene)
 
 
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Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century (Yale Nota Bene) (Paperback)

by Jonathan Glover (Author) "In Europe at the start of the twentieth century most people accepted the authority of morality ..." (more)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press (11 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0300087152
  • ISBN-13: 978-0300087154
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 405,046 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

An ominously dark cover reflects the mood for this sobering and intermittently brilliant appraisal of 20th-century morality or, to be fatuous, of men behaving very badly. Jonathan Glover, author of Causing Death and Saving Lives, argues that the 20th century has been less punctuated than characterised by atrocities because of rampant technology and the disappearance of an external moral force to guide people. Interweaving readable narrative with skilful analysis, Glover considers the major human disasters of the period, from the regimes of Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot to its defining events. The two world wars, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, Rwanda and Yugoslavia receive painstaking autopsies, culminating in an appraisal of Nazi Germany, which, though it slaughtered fewer people than Stalin's Soviet Union, and proportionately fewer than PolPot's Khmer Rouge, was unique in its ruthless use of the instrument of government to enforce its evil.

Glover's approach to history is based on anecdotal and eyewitness accounts, refreshingly clear of statistical marshland, and while he does not shy from unequivocal condemnation, he shows wise restraint in a volume that could as easily have been entitled "Hindsight." Physical distance from battle leading to emotional detachment, distillation of Social Darwinism, "positive hatred", brutalising removal of dignity to render the victim no more than an animal, "cold jokes", lack of individual responsibility and the cult of tribalism are all identified as having contributed to a spirit of partisan malevolence to which, for Glover, the phrase "never again" is the only adequate ethical response. "Where were the philosophers?" runs the refrain of his battle-cry. Watching inactive and inadequate, like most of the rest of us, is the depressingly recurrent reply. The darkness is not unremitting; it is consciously entitled Humanity, and Glover is an optimist, albeit with grave concerns, who strives to highlight individual acts of kindness that transcend circumstance to offer hope for the future. After 10 years of research and writing, he has produced a stirringly intelligent and urgent lament for an arduous century, pockmarked by those who sought to dominate it, and unable to forget as selectively as it remembers. -- David Vincent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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8 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Uncomfortable examination of humanity's dark side, 12 Mar 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)
This book is not an enjoyable read, but it is a necessary one. Jonathan Glover's method, tying together humanity's worst episodes in the twentieth century, gives a far more positive framework than the subject matter would suggest. But the main benefit is the examination of the episodes themselves - from Mao to firebombing Germany to the Cuban missile crisis - all beautifully illustrated by first hand accounts. Beyond the overall lessons he attempts to draw, I was left with a greater understanding of events such as the personal impact of Mao's cultural revolution. I found the examination of the Nazi philosophy to be the most telling part of the book, giving the lie to labelling amateur rabble-rousers like Joerg Haider as Nazis, and exposing the brutal nihilism at the root of humanity's blackest moment, not just of this century, but of any century. Uncomfortable, but compelling.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books you'll ever read, 24 Aug 2008
Reviews, be they positive or negative, can often abound with distressing hyperbole. There is a risk of this review being no different.

As such I will make one sentance and ask you to trust it: 'I am not inclined to hyperbole' - in the hope that you will do the same with the next. Jonathan Glover's 'Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century' is quite simply one of the most important books that has been written, in my view, in the last 100 years. Expansive, powerful, and enormously and appropriately distressing, Jonathan Glover is writing less of a history, than using historical narratives as a medium for a philosophical and humanist project that should be valued by anyone who is moved against acts of cruelty and inhumanity in the world. Glover seeks to examine no less of a question than how humanity's often immense immorality is possible, and what must change, or be avoided, to prevent repetitions of such immorality. He provides a deep, complex and thoroughly human account of human tragedies, that is simultaneously moving and enlightening. He traces a vast account of human cruelty, from War Crimes in Vietnam, to British colonial oppression, from Fascist and Stalinist totalitarianism to ethnic cleansing, and seeks to explain it, and help us learn from it.

This is an accessible and moving intellectual work. It is a must read for anyone concerned about immorality, inhumanity and evil in the world. I cannot recommend it more highly to everyone. It is the most important and impressive book I have ever read.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Darkness and Hope, 1 Feb 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)
While a book should not judged by it's cover, the very darkness of the edition gives valuable insight into what lies between the covers. This is after all a history of the 20th Century, which though the media allows the world to see what a dark century this has been. Glover covers Cambodia, Rwanda, Vietnam and many others but has particular emphasis on the Nazi period which at first seem unfair considering the so many other regimes and genocides. After reading this set of chapters, Glover's emphasis is justified in his small focus on the Nazi regime. His look on the history of 20th Century earth is not without bias, he is a moral philosopher, however the descriptions and analysis of the event of the last century encompass religion, human values and morals, political systems and pyschology. It is a refreshing change to the rigid and academic history of the events Glover covers found in other books. This gives a unsentimental but deeply touching books. His understanding is immense, his insight huge which makes this book one of the most demanding and one of the most hopeful books written on some of the darkest period of our humanity. A necessary book for all to read. I await his next book with intrepidation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark & disturbing, but gripping
Glover's "Humanity" is a highly accessible and equally balanced work on the history and morality of the 20th Century. Read more
Published 15 months ago by P. M. Buttigieg

5.0 out of 5 stars One for the Home Book Shelf
I'm one of those people who are often intrigued by the titles andpresentations of books. I am not a philosophy or a history student but iwas breath-taken by this book. Read more
Published on 26 April 2004 by Mr. M. Hameed

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves to be a classic
If you have ever watched TV news, listened to the radio, or read any book about the terrible things people do to each other, any wondered 'Why?', this book is for you. Read more
Published on 23 Jul 2001 by peterloader@hotmail.com

3.0 out of 5 stars This book ought to be called a history of 20th C. depravity
In many ways this isn't a book about Humanity at all is rather a jog trot through the very worse of the 20th Century. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars An uncomfortable read, but very readable...
The review in 'The Economist' caught my attention. The breadth of the inhumanites of the 20th century is dismaying, but the author covers many of them with an even-handed and... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2000 by jwp@aloha.net

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