I would add ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad, and ‘the Star Rover’ by Jack London in there; but if you’re only sticking to mainly philosophy and historical analysis as most of those works are then definitely Otto Weininger’s ‘Sex & Character’ should be added 1903 i think.
Well, I am not sure I would want to endorse Weininger’s works, but I admit I have not read it. He seems like a rather odd character. His book is about the natural of men and woman and the nature of genius. He think he took a somewhat Schopenhauerian view of women.
Their top 10(of 50) worst list is a pretty good list. But I would have moved some of books position. I think I would have likely given “The Authoritarian Personality” the number 1 spot on the list.
1. Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa (1928)
2. Beatrice & Sidney Webb, Soviet Communism: A New Civilization? (1935)
3. Alfred Kinsey, et.al., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948)
4. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (1964)
5. John Dewey, Democracy and Education (1916)
6. Theodor W. Adorno, et.al., The Authoritarian Personality (1950)
7. Charles Beard, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (1935)
8. Martin Bernal, Black Athena (1987)
9. Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, Our Bodies, Our Selves (1976)
10. Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman, After the Cataclysm (1979)1
And the best list, top 10(of 50)
1. Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1907)
2. C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (1947)
3. Whittaker Chambers, Witness (1952)
4. T.S. Eliot, Selected Essays, 1917-1932 (1932, 1950)
5. Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History (1934-1961)
6. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951)
7. Jacques Barzun, Teacher in America (1945)
8. Walter Jackson Bate, Samuel Johnson (1975)
9. Cleanth Brooks & Robert Penn Warren, Understanding Poetry (1938)
10. Herbert Butterfield, The Whig Interpretation of History (1931)1
A few books, not on the list, that might have a claim to be on the best list…
Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West (1918)
Julius Evola, Revolt Against the Modern World (1934)
René Guénon, The Crisis of the Modern World (1927)
Jose Ortega y Gasset, Revolt of the Masses (1929)
A few books, not on the list, that might have a claim to be on the best list…
Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the West (1918)
Julius Evola, Revolt Against the Modern World (1934)
René Guénon, The Crisis of the Modern World (1927)
Jose Ortega y Gasset, Revolt of the Masses (1929)
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Weininger is a Jew (his father looks somewhat nordic, but that’s not relevant b/c he was a Jew and died they say of suicide at age 23…wrote at age 21 ‘Sex & Character’ and it’s a monumental work and feminists hate it. It’s pretty enlightening is all I have to say. His thesis on the suffrage - feminist movement of his day is that women may be given power, however, they are still women and it can only lead to a lack of (proper) guidance and protection in Western society if this is to occur.
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His also covers the aspect of the Jews pretty objectively from his stance.
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He also supposedly converted to Protestantism shortly before he wrote the book - anyhow he was from Austria and I find it odd that he converted to protestantism and all these things very odd. I’ve heard that Hitler spoke in reference to Weininger when he said, “There was only one decent Jew, and he killed himself.”
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Let me also add that I do caution people on ‘traditionalism’ as it stands b/c Evola has some very interesting commentary and Guenon also on the West but these men are not of Northern European stock and one might consider this - that Guenon advocates a re-emergence of Roman Catholic domination which as far as I’m concerned is insane. He also was a high ranking free-mason and promoter of Islam as well.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditionalist_School
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The Traditionalist School of thought, also known as Integral Traditionalism (in the sense of Integralism) or Perennialism (in the sense of perennial philosophy, or Sophia Perennis) is an esoteric movement inspired by the interwar period writings of French metaphysician René Guénon and developed by authors such as German-Swiss philosopher Frithjof Schuon, the Ceylonese-British scholar Ananda Coomaraswamy, Italian occultist Julius Evola,[1] Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Huston Smith, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
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I find Evola acceptable in some aspects but he is not friendly to America on any level and I find his critique of Romanism and Protestantism particularly mediterranean
- Julius Evola on Catholicism
- Julius Evola on Protestantism, the Reformation, and Luther
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He seems to say Catholicism is bad blahblah but its traditionalist and provides order etc so its acceptable whereas protestantism provides a legacy of denying tradition and is of even less usage…well maybe to Sicilians but to Northern Europeans I hold a complete opposite view altogether.
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You can go to that first link on the traditionalist school and read about the individuals here - all the Europeans are basically Muslim converts or people with a Rome-fetish or both…or they’re from India or Arabia. I’ve read some good stuff and its fine learning about Islam but don’t accept the ‘Traditionalist’ thing without question.
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Some books I recommend by Evola are:
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“Meditation on the Peaks”, and “The Metaphysics of War” 2nd Ed sold only here I think:
- http://www.integraltradition.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=6&products_id=170&osCsid=24cacdf45907967f855bcc1ddaeff60a
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Here’s another book by another guy who is interesting considering our faith:
- http://www.integraltradition.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=225&osCsid=24cacdf45907967f855bcc1ddaeff60a
Well, yes Evola and Guénon are problematic in some ways, but still worth considering. Spengler should be on any list of greatest books of the XXth Century, he has been proven right in so many ways. In Ortega’s often over looked work we see a (classical) liberal attack on democracy and the rise of “mass man” in the XXth Century.
