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Arthur Lindbergh

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Arthur Lindbergh is currently reading

Story of Civilization

by Will Durant

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Arthur Lindbergh said: " It was not without irresolution that I ventured to write this, for, seeing as I have but embarked upon the ambitious journey of reading this magisterial œuvre, I thought it could be construed not only as precipitate, but also possibly as dishonest. H It was not without irresolution that I ventured to write this, for, seeing as I have but embarked upon the ambitious journey of reading this magisterial œuvre, I thought it could be construed not only as precipitate, but also possibly as dishonest. However, I cannot desist from writing of this in glowing terms.

I have read a little upwards of two hundred pages of the first volume. Not only have I found it enlightening, I have also found it engaging. Will Durant is, to my mind, an insufficiently appreciated stylist of prose.

I must here clarify that Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794) is quite possibly unsurpassed in his mastery of prose, which reflects in his six-volume "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", and therefore superior to that of Will Durant — superior, some claim, even to Thomas Babington Macaulay — but Gibbon often employs a caustic tone that may offend the lay palate. Perhaps it was in keeping with the social mores of his era; one may with ease envision him as seated atop a hill of wisdom inaccessible to others, viewing the convulsions of Rome, variously with solemn approval and solemn disapproval.

Durant, on the other hand, writes with the disposition of an affable grandfather who is a masterful raconteur, and who is narrating to his curious grandchildren an epic spanning centuries, in which the story of each civilization unfolds with the grace of an artist’s strokes developing into a majestic art. To make a cynic see magic, a nihilist see meaning, a pessimist see promise, and a child ever see beauty, is the art of Will Durant.

I must not overlook Ariel Durant, the wife of Will Durant. The couple spent fifty pleasant years researching and writing the volumes of "The Story of Civilization". She was no less an author in this grand project, and indeed, her name came to be featured with that of her husband from the seventh volume onwards. But in her own words, she acknowledged Will as the guide, the mentor, and the preceptor. For she was thirteen years younger to him. After her unfulfilling early years, the god of meaning smiled upon her life, when Will Durant entered it, first as a teacher, then as a husband, and ever as a mentor. In many ways, he shaped her in his likeness, and as the project progressed, both became the parents of a sublime chronicle. ...more "

Jan 27, 2023 07:49AM · see review

Arthur Lindbergh is currently reading

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I

by Edward Gibbon

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Dec 07, 2021 08:22PM

Arthur’s Quotes

“Everybody has asked the question. . ."What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!”
― Fredrick Douglass

tags: freedom, liberty

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“The so-called trial held according to the definition of crime now given by the victors obliterates the centuries of civilization which stretch between us and the summary slaying of the defeated in a war. A trial with law thus prescribed will only be a sham employment of legal process for the satisfaction of a thirst for revenge. It does not correspond to any idea of justice. Such a trial may justly create the feeling that the setting up of a tribunal like the present is much more a political than a legal affair, an essentially political objective having thus been cloaked by a juridical appearance. Formalized vengeance can bring only an ephemeral satisfaction, with every probability of ultimate regret; but vindication of law through genuine legal process alone may contribute substantially to the re-establishment of order and decency in international relations.”
― Radhabinod Pal

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“It has been said that a victor can dispense to the vanquished everything from mercy to vindictiveness, but the one thing the victor cannot give to the vanquished is justice. At least, if a tribunal be rooted in politics as opposed to law, no matter what its form and pretences, the apprehension thus expressed would be real, unless justice is really nothing else than the interests of the stronger.”
― Radhabinod Pal

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“On the whole, it is difficult to believe that there was any power or important personality in those days who had really the good of the country at heart. Everyone wanted to advance his own interests and none looked beyond them to the larger interests of the country as a whole.”
― R.C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India. Vol. I

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“The country was cut up by Nature into small compartments in which the natives lived isolated self-contained lives, the world forgetting and by the world forgot. This was true in a special degree of the belt lying immediately east of the Ghats. The empires of the central and more level portion of the table-land, both in Hindu times and Muslim, had sent forth their conquering hosts westwards, but the flood of invasion had been broken down at the foot of the hills or their numerous spurs, or, where a thin stream of it had poured through the passes, it had retired after a short and unprofitable stay. In their rugged and inhospitable nooks the natives had found safety and peace, while the richer plains had been the scenes of revolution and rapine.”
― Jadunath Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times

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