Description
By Oswald Spengler. According to Spengler, the meaningful units for history are not epochs but whole cultures which evolve as organisms. He recognizes eight high cultures: Babylonian, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian, Mexican (Mayan/Aztec), Classical (Greek/Roman), Arabian, Western or “European-American.” Cultures have a lifespan of about a thousand years. The final stage of each culture is, in his word use, a “civilization”.
Spengler also presents the idea of Muslims, Jews and Christians, as well as their Persian and Semitic forebears, being Magian; Mediterranean cultures of the antiquity such as Ancient Greece and Rome being Apollonian; and the modern Westerners being Faustian.
According to Spengler, the Western world is ending and we are witnessing the last season—”winter time”—of the Faustian Civilization.
This Spengler classic should be on everyone’s bookshelf. Spengler’s influence on 20th century thought and his explanation of the life and death of a culture are timeless.
As historian Charles Beard wrote in 1926: “Spengler should be read by all who are trying to grope their way in the dusk of evening or dawn.”
Abridged version, indexed.
Paperback, 420 pages
