AT THE EDGE OF HISTORY Speculations on the Transformations of Culture

by William Irwin Thompson

Seminal works of cultural history that changed the way we think about ourselves.

Genres: History, Esoterica, Nonfiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

William Irwin Thompson is an American social philosopher, cultural critic, and poet. He received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He describes his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz on ancient texts". He is the founder of the Lindisfarne Association.

Reviews

[Linn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it a few times, the first time at University. It's provided a lot of the framework I've unconsciously used to process and understand and just make sense of current events and politics and social justice issues. Well, more specifically, modern American culture and how it interacts with those things. I can't say enough about it. Although somewhat dated, I think it should be required reading for anyone who chooses to think in this life.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

* At the Edge of History: Speculations of the Transformation of Culture* is an interesting title to me, a former graduate student in history. The author of this useful work mentions Jacques Ellul's very perceptive tome *The Technological Society* (1967): "To separate the way in which men have finally listened to themselves is to achieve the triumph of what Jacques Ellul calls 'technique' by substituting the efficiency fo systems for the experience of men (Thompson, p, 110)." Thompson advocates for the transformation of the liberal-industrial worldview, ideology. "We will have come right up to where we are, and who we are. At the edge of history, history itself can no longer help us, and only myth remains equal to reality. What we know is less than what we are, and the politics of miracle must be unacceptable to our knowledge to be worthy of our being" (Thompson, p. 163). An unexpected bonus to aficionados of Pythagoreanism is his model of self and civilization in NOTES.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking.