Confucius, the man and the myth

by Herrlee G. Creel

This vintage 1949 hardcover has survived the decades nicely despite lacking its dustjacket. The book is like new on the inside, shows a little corner rounding to hardboards, rates good on the booksellers scale, mostly because of the missing dustjacket.

363 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1949

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3 stars ("liked it") at least early in the book. I think it's an interesting read, stripping away the accretions of history, interpolation, and interpretation, Creel attempts to find the historical Confucius and his humanistic and political philosophies before his philosophy grew to become Confucianism, state orthodoxy, or Neo-Confucianism, etc.


Nevertheless, he has a clear thesis he wishes to prove. I haven't yet finished my readings of the original classical texts, but based on the evidence provided by Creel, I think he goes to far to assert that Confucius was "a forerunner of democracy, a voice crying in the wilderness."