'Isms & 'Ologies: All the Movements, Ideologies and Doctrines That Have Shaped Our World

by Arthur Goldwag

Have you ever wondered about the difference between Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism and which influenced the other? Do you know where Post-modernism stops and Post-structuralism begins? Would you like to? From Platonism to New Historicism, humankind is constantly coming up with fresh schools of thought to help explain (or at least describe) the mysterious world around us. Here is the ultimate guide to over 450 of the most significant intellectual terms, movements, and religions that help shape the society we live in. Simply, concisely, and with personality, ‘Isms and ‘Ologies clarifies buzz terms like jihad, often defined as “holy war” but which literally means “striving” ;and illustrates the differences between Conservatism, Paleoconservatism, and Neoconservatism. It explains String Theory (which attempts to unify Quantum Mechanics and Einsteinian Relativity); describes Fauvism (an artistic movement that paved the way for Expressionism and Cubism); defines Locofocoism (an American political ideology named after a “self-lighting cigar)”; and identifies and explores so much more. Helpfully divided into categories–including politics, history, philosophy and the arts, economics, religion, science, and medicine–cross referenced, and thoroughly indexed, ‘Isms and ‘Ologies is a must have for the budding intellectual in everyone.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Philosophy, History, Politics, Science, Sociology

417 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Arthur Goldwag is the author of The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah (2005), Isms & Ologies (2007), Cults, Conspiracies & Secret Societies (2009), The New Hate (2012), and most recently, The Politics of Fear (2024).

After graduating from Kenyon College in 1979, he was briefly enrolled in a graduate program at Brown University. Between 1980 and 2003, he held a number of jobs in book publishing, including stints at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Random House, The New York Review of Books, and Book-of-the-Month Club. Since then, he has freelanced full time, as both a writer and editor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Rupert Dreyfus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up in a second-hand bookshop out of curiosity. In the Digital Age, it's become fairly redundant because the depth of each entry is like reading the summary at the top of a Wikipedia page. And just like the summary at the top of a Wikipedia page it feels unreliable. It either needed more depth of more esoteric 'isms and 'ologies.

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

"'Isms & 'Ologies is a nifty little book. The subtitle tells it all: "The 453 Basic tenets You've Only Pretended to Understand." Often in conversation someone will mention a certain field of learning or area of understanding and our response is to nod knowingly, but many times we don't really know. We may have an inkling. We may have heard the term and think we know, but we really don't.

Basically this is a reference book to be kept handy to use as one would use a dictionary to reinforce understanding while reading. I read it straight through and found a lot of "ah ha" moments as I realized how many of the terms I had a misunderstanding of.

Divided into categories including art, history, science, art, politics, and philosophy this handy book is written with clarity, wit and scholarship

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you know what a plushophile is sexually attracted to? Find out in this wonderful compendium of a book explaining all the many meanings of different themes, theories and doctrines throughout politics, religion, philosophy, economics etc Accessible and comprehensive, you will learn so much from this book!

[Emir Haziq · Rating 3 out of 5]

its simply a reference book. meh. but the facts its bring about ideology in islam is somewhat misleading. others are structurally simple explanation. but still kinda enough for understanding.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Isms and Ologies, Arthur Goldwag takes a look at 453 doctrines, ranging from the everyday to the thoroughly obscure (Mugwumpism?) and offers some wonderfully clear and sometimes quite detailed explanations. This could easily have ended up as as one of those lightweight anthologies of trivia, but Goldwag has crafted something more meaty than that - a genuinely informative reference guide that I would almost be comfortable calling an encyclopaedia.

That said, it's not all art movements and political ideologies, and while most doctrines stay true to the title, ending in ism or ology, they don't all keep to this format (Bauhaus, Game Theory and Occam's Razor are just some of the non-conforming square pegs in this respect). The book is conveniently organised: all entries are initially indexed in alphabetical order with page numbers, then the listings themselves are categorised into 7 sections (science, economics, religion, etc.)

Explanations range from a paragraph to several pages, and for the most part the author succeeds in remaining largely unbiased. Perhaps Wikipedia would offer much similar content and more, but would it collate everything together in this way and make it so readable? That's the beauty of compilations like this: that it's all in one book, and comes alive with the author's own particular wit.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading what is essentially a reference book. My only gripe is that the section on religion was excessively large with some terms that are, quite frankly, uninteresting and redundant. That isn't to say there wasn't a lot I liked in that section, it was just in-proportionately larger than it needed to be compared to the other subjects in the book, and a lot of it felt like filler anyway, which is a shame as the section on sexual perversion is minuscule and would have been of more interest. Oddly, there are many terms defined which don't end in either 'ism' or 'ology', but as they are interesting and infused with the author's wit they are quite welcome.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henotheism: the belief that while there is more than one god, only one of them is worth worshiping.

This is the kind of wacky shit that's front to back in this killer reference book. Any strange belief system, from philosophy to the arts to religion to sexual perversions, is represented in this thing.

The one thing about it is, you want to learn more about these obscure -ologies and -isms. Speaks a little high-brow at times, so I give it 4 stars (plus, I'm not done reading it yet).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Remember the non-fiction book that came out a few years ago -- Eats, Shoots, and Leaves -- that everybody raved about? This could be this year's version.

Being a Monty Python fan, I've always wondered what an anarcho-syndicalist was.

This is a dictionary -- a dictionary!!!! -- of, well, isms and ologies. And put together in such a way that it's altogether readable. I highly recommend.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

***3.5 stars***

I recently heard Goldwag read. Smart dude. This turned out to be more of a reference book than a good read (and in that sense, should probably be about twice as long), but still, not a bad book to have on the shelf, especially if you want to know more about things like Postconstructionalism, Premillenial Dispensationalism, Punctuated Equilibrium, and the Peter Principle. (And that's just from the Ps.)

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed to find out that I really don't want to expand my mind all that much. My brain is like gum that has been chewed a little too long, it's just not that flexible.
A quarter of the book had information I knew, the rest contained stuff I cared very little about. I can't say this is a bad book, it's probably great for people that are interested in this sort of thing.

[Yasmeen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read all of it really, since it's a reference book. But I've read most of it, and I learned a LOT. I'd recommend it to anyone who stays up past midnight just reading random wikipedia articles. There are some things you could be not interested in, however, it's definitely useful knowing about them.

[tara bomp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun romp through a load of ideas. Has the problem that it covers so much that the information given is often not enough for your interest, although he does a decent job with the space he has. Also doesn't really bring much or any personality to it, leaving the question "why not just use Wikipedia?"

[Jesse Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must for students unfamiliar with the plethora of groups and different "group thinks" that have exerted some sort of social influence and shaped modern American discourse. Highly recommended for unwitting immigrants caught up in it all!

[Nicola Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to read this book and trace which philosophies have influenced my ideas and thinking. It’s clear to me that I don’t have a cohesive life philosophy at the moment, but that maybe that’s part of the fun of life. It was a long-ish read, but not dry. Recommend! 👍

[KT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick-and-dirty read that outlines the origin of many things that you might not have time to learn about individually: Feudalism, Buddism, Scientology, etc.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trivia junkie's dream. All sorts of interesting information arranged in a logical fashion.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

"453 difficult doctrines you've always pretended to understand." A very fun read. Written in light-hearted and very readable blurbs. There are a lot of interesting, and twisted, beliefs out there!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

great for social studies teacher! helps to better understand all the big movements

[Aloysius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much new information, but still a nice to burn through.

[Egelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful!

[David Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I consistently return to for frequent reference. Always informative, and very witty in places.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could be a longer book. The part about religions only scratches the surface. Although I didn't like the long section about arts and philosophies, a topic that doesn't interest me.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review title: -odds and -ends of ideas

This quirky little book is an encyclopedia of "movements, ideologies, and doctrines" as the subtitle states. Divided into topical sections--politics and history, religion, philosophy and art, science. economics--Goldwag provides a paragraph and sometimes a page or two, to define the term, its origin, and its usages. I am not at all familiar with Goldwag, although a quick search on his name turns up several other titles he has written on ideas and movements, so this volume is in the same vein. Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame provides a brief introduction.

The longest section of the book, perhaps to no one's surprise, is Religion (p. 197-313). The -isms and -ologies in this section are complex and contradictory. Take, for the primary example, "Christianity" (p.208-209):

In its broadest outlines, Christianity is the belief that Jesus of Nazareth, a radical Jewish rabbi who preached in Palestine some two thousand years ago, was the son of God, born of an unmarried mother (the Virgin Mary), and sent into the world by his father to redeem mankind from Adam's sin. He was crucified by the Romans in his thirty-third year and miraculously resurrected; those who believe in him today will be granted eternal life. Even as general an account of Christianity as this one is contentious—for every assertion one might make, there are sects, denominations, and movements that would argue with it. . . . I have tried, in dozens of separate entries on Christian heresies, denominations, and doctrines, to do justice to its complexity.

The book includes an alphabetical list of sections at the front and an index at the back. It doesn't include a bibliography, and Goldwag sometimes but not always includes sources in the text so this isn't ideal for research. But reading it straight through front to back like I did it is actually interesting enough to sustain, and with online search tools handy to drill down for further research this still makes a good reference and starting point for the fascinating and the unfamiliar.

[Catherine Callen · Rating 4 out of 5]

very informative<3

[Steve Mitchell]

If you do not know your Aristotelianism from your Ebionitism, then this is the book for you.