Will Durant (1885–1981)

Is This An Overview?
Human behavior is affected by many factors. The values of the factors change, but the methods in history repeat, just with different details. Not much has changed in the character of people, as the desires are the same but expressed differently. Same strategies used but with different associations. Humans are evolutionary trained to be competitive for resources, for even cooperation is a tool and form of competition. Climate, geography, and nature can limit human capacity, but the limits were overcome by human ingenuity. Knowledge can be used to improve society, or decimate it. Making those who resist change as important as those who inspire change. Religion and government have been used to enable cooperation between people. Religion provides a moral code that is above even the most powerful people. Government enforces laws that provide freedom by restricting absolute freedom’s destructive capacity. Civilization is dependent on education, for civilization is not inherited.

What Are Some More Lessons Of History?
All historians are partial, for even those who think they are not, choose material and subjects based on their partiality. What normally makes history are the exceptional events, rather than most of history which is more mundane.

Moral laxity is not a sign of moral decay, but of a transitioning moral code. Religions rise and fall, only to be resurrected. Moral life used to be aided by religion, but contemporary society does not use religion.

War is the norm, and it part of the competitive process. The individual is restrained by morals and laws, but the state does not have such restraints.

Inequality is cyclical. An inevitable concentration of wealth, which can become intolerable that inspires the redistribution of wealth using various means. Dictators rise when wealth distribution is inappropriate. It was because power has been abused that lead to revolution that gave rise to democracy, which has taken its turn in misgovernance.

Caveats?
The focus is on broad categories, and describing their trends over the course of history. There is a lack of information on any specific society or era. This book prompts the reader to search for that information, and provides a way to interpret the events.
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The near three-quarters of a century from the end of the Thirty Years War to the death of Louis XIV saw the promise of French greatness being achieved then squandered allowing Britain to rise. The Age of Louis XIV is the eighth volume of The Story of Civilization series written by Will & Ariel Durant looking into the reign of the Sun King and how the politics and intellectual though rotated around him and France.

The book centered around France with the Netherlands, England/Britain, and the intellectual revolution for most of the text as well as the interaction between all of them over the course of the decades the Durants wrote about. While the rest of Europe is discussed, especially the continual rise of Russia during the reign of Peter the Great, the Durants give a good but brief synopsis of each location when not connected with the main portions of the book. The political, religious, and cultural developments of France and England were gone over in detail not only for their own history but how it affected the rest of the world. Yet for the Durants, especially Will, the portion of the book that the reader can tell they enjoyed writing and having a hard time holding back is the intellectual revolution in science and philosophy in the latter half of the 17th century and early 18th century. Not only are there chapters dedicated to Newton, Spinoza, and Leibniz but all the English political philosophers that have had influenced thought were covered in detail as well. A thorough reader of this series can tell that there is excitement and dedication to the intellectual revolution like that of the second volume of the series, The Life of Greece.

The Age of Louis XIV sees Will and Ariel Durant detailed not only the man who dominated a Europe undergoing an intellectual revolution but how he led his nation to disaster to the benefit of Britain.… (mehr)

O Will e a Ariel possuem uma prosa e uma habilidade para escrever história que mesmo depois de duas mil páginas (Nossa Herança Oriental e Nossa Herança Clássica) eu ainda me sinto disposto de encarar mais outras mil. Olha que eu sou um leitor de pouco fôlego e que história seja talvez um interesse menor meu, em comparação com ficção e outras coisas.

É, sobretudo, a personalidade deles, o método e a maneira de avançar nos tópicos que faz um livro de história da primeira metade do século passado ter tanto frescor. O Will com certeza se inspira nos historiadores antigos — Heródoto e Tucídides —, e a ajuda da Ariel faz com que ele não caia em muito dos problemas de outros historiadores antigos no trato das raças, do gênero, da sexualidade e, principalmente, do papel feminino na história. Desde o primeiro livro isso fica claro.

Para fazer A História da Civilização, por exemplo, "o casal Durant empregou a maior parte de seu tempo de trabalho (oito a quatorze horas diárias) ao livro ", e a dedicação foi tanta que "Para se prepararem melhor para a obra, Will Durant e a mulher viajaram pela Europa em 1927, deram a volta ao mundo em 1930, para estudar o Egito, o Oriente Próximo, índia, China e Japão, e novamente circularam a Terra em 1932, para visitar o Japão, a Manchúria, Sibéria, Rússia Europeia e Polônia.

Outro ponto que talvez me faça lê-los com tanto vigor é o método e o objetivo que eles possuem. O primeiro: escrever a história como "o estudo das principais fases da vida, do trabalho, da cultura [e da arte] de um povo, entrosadamente." Isso pauta muito do conteúdo. A gente lê muito sobre todo tipo de arte, trechos de literatura, referências a estatuária e a pintura, entre outros. O segundo ponto: eles enxergam o estudo da história como uma iluminação dos dias de hoje "[Will] nos recorda que os ditadores sempre usaram o mesmo métodos" e que fenômenos e acontecimentos antigos são atuais, como "agências bancárias, de fundos destinados a melhoramentos com fins políticos, depressão econômica, projetos e regulamentações governamentais, socialismo do Estado, planos prioritários de tempo de guerra, corrupção eleitoral, grupos de pressão, associações de classe e outros (...) e existem há pelo menos dois mil anos.

Agora, nesta entrada da série: a história de Roma e Cristo. O drama do maior império da história, que nenhum poeta conseguiria replicar ou fabricar. De uma aldeia de encruzilhada à dominação do mundo; e, então, a queda.… (mehr)