In a Dark Time

by Robert Jay Lifton (Editor)

In a Dark Time is an anthology for the nuclear age, created by two professional psychologists who have ordered their material so that the successive selections reflect and comment on one another, compelling the reader to think about the insanity of war. This book draws on thoughts and writings from more than two poets from Sappho to Robert Lowell, dreamers from Saint John the Divine to Martin Luther King, Jr., statesmen from Seneca to Winston Churchill, soldiers, churchmen, writers, leaders. Along with them are mingled the voices of people who have faced appalling danger in their own lifetimes--an American schoolchild, a Hiroshima grocer, a plague survivor, a Turkish dissident. Human beings appear at their best and at their as savage warriors, as helpless victims, as dupes of "Nukespeak" and warlike propaganda, and finally as individuals with the courage to say no. In a Dark Time will shock, warn, and ultimately inspire those many people who share the perception that humankind now stands on the brink of self-annihilation but who believe, with Theodore Roethke, that "in a dark time, the eye begins to see."

Genres: Poetry, Philosophy

Hardcover

First published September 7, 1984

About the author

Robert Jay Lifton was an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of wars and political violence, and for his theory of thought reform. He was an early proponent of the techniques of psychohistory.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

My parents had this book growing up in the 1980s.

I was too young to understand it but it still made a deep impression with all its dark essays about death and devastation.

I wonder what effect growing up during the Cold War had on us?

[Colleen]

This ended up on my desk today, needed my attention, perhaps in more ways than one? The library works in very mysterious ways.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up on eBay after researching one of the editors Robert Jay Lifton. Seller on eBay emailed me to tell me what an interesting read it was and he wasn’t wrong. Nuclear war… I didn’t realise how triggering this would be but it took me right back to young teen me in the 80s worrying about the pointlessness of it all and man’s inhumanity to man etc, and fused with middle aged me and my nihilistic mindset when it comes to climate change. The parallels are so strong they can’t be denied. Scary, enraging, moving and hopeful; timely though published in the 80s. Nothing really changes. Sadly.