Terrible Beauty: A Cultural History of the Twentieth Century: The People and Ideas that Shaped the Modern Mind: A History - Softcover

Watson, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842124447 ISBN 13: 9781842124444

Publisher: W&N, 2001

Synopsis

A history of the twentieth century which covers all the ideas, people, great events, literary and artistic movements, scientific discoveries which have shaped the twentieth century.

Terrible Beauty presents a unique narrative of the twentieth century. Unlike more conventional histories, where the focus is on political events and personalities, on wars, treaties and elections, this book concentrates on the ideas that made the century so rich, rewarding and provocative. Beginning with four seminal ideas which were introduced in 1900 - the unconscious, the gene, the quantum and Picasso's first paintings in Paris - the book brings together the main areas of thought and juxtaposes the most original and influential ideas of our time in an immensely readable narrative.

From the creation of plastic to Norman Mailer, from the discovery of the 'Big Bang' to the Counterculture, from Relativity to Susan Sontag, from Proust to Salman Rushdie, and Henri Bergson to Saul Bellow, the book's range is encyclopedic. We meet in these pages the other twentieth century, the writers, the artists, the scientists and philosophers who were not cowed by the political and military disasters raging around them, and produced some of the most amazing and rewarding ideas by which we live. Terrible Beauty, endlessly stimulating and provocative, affirms that there was much more to the twentieth century than war and genocide.

About this title

Product Description:

Terrible Beauty presents a unique narrative of the twentieth century. Unlike more conventional histories, where the focus is on political events and personalities, on wars, treaties and elections, this book concentrates on the ideas that made the century so rich, rewarding and provocative. Beginning with four seminal ideas which were introduced in 1900 - the unconscious, the gene, the quantum and Picasso's first paintings in Paris - the book brings together the main areas of thought and juxtaposes the most original and influential ideas of our time in an immensely readable narrative. From the creation of plastic to Norman Mailer, from the discovery of the 'Big Bang' to the Counterculture, from Relativity to Susan Sontag, from Proust to Salman Rushdie, and Henri Bergson to Saul Bellow, the book's range is encyclopedic. We meet in these pages the other twentieth century, the writers, the artists, the scientists and philosophers who were not cowed by the political and military disasters raging around them, and produced some of the most amazing and rewarding ideas by which we live. Terrible Beauty, endlessly stimulating and provocative, affirms that there was much more to the twentieth century than war and genocide.

Review:

In this extremely ambitious book, Peter Watson has achieved a noteworthy success. Weaving together so many ideas and so many people responsible for them, this story of the 20th century is both informative and stimulating. It unfolds in a way that captures the reader's attention and never relinquishes its grasp. The range of topics, from the arts and sciences through philosophy and ideas, renders this work a colossal and intricate chain of events. The links are cleverly interwoven between the century's unimaginable horrors and extraordinary developments. From the characters and events which shaped Vienna for the arrival of art student Adolf Hitler in 1907, to the ongoing conflicts of the computer age, Terrible Beauty, as its title implies, demonstrates the Jekyll and Hyde nature of modern civilisation. An excellent work of reference and an exciting read.

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1842124447
• ISBN 13: 9781842124444
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 864