A Thread of Years (Paperback)

John Lukacs

ISBN 10: 0300080751 / ISBN 13: 9780300080759

Published by Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999

About this Item

Paperback. The distinguished historian John Lukacs has been described as "one of the most powerful as well as one of the most learned minds [of the] century" by Conor Cruise O'Brien and as "one of the most original and profound of contemporary thinkers" by Paul Fussell. Here Lukacs presents a series of fictionalized vignettes of daily life as experienced by ordinary individuals in the United States (although Lukacs takes us to some European countries as well), each in a year from 1901 to 1969, and each followed by a short dialogue in which the author argues with an interlocutor (who may or may not be himself) over why he has chosen to develop a given scenario in that particular year and what its significance might be.The period represents the life of a single man, K., which Lukacs weaves in and out of the text and through which can be traced the leitmotif of the book: the decline of Anglo-American civilization and of the ideal of the gentleman. The book is primarily a work in the history of manners and mores, a delightful-and poignant-succession of sketches that brings the reader into the inner and often undeclared life of individuals and places them in the larger dramas of historical process in this century. Historian John Lukacs presents a series of fictionalised vignettes of daily life as experienced by ordinary individuals in the United States (although Lukacs takes us to some European countries as well). Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780300080759

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Thread of Years (Paperback)
• Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300080751
• ISBN 13: 9780300080759
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The distinguished historian John Lukacs has been described as one of the most powerful as well as one of the most learned minds of the] century by Conor Cruise O'Brien and as one of the most original and profound of contemporary thinkers by Paul Fussell. Here Lukacs presents a series of fictionalized vignettes of daily life as experienced by ordinary individuals in the United States (although Lukacs takes us to some European countries as well) each in a year from 1901 to 1969 and each followed by a short dialogue in which the author argues with an interlocutor (who may or may not be himself) over why he has chosen to develop a given scenario in that particular year and what its significance might be.

The period represents the life of a single man K. which Lukacs weaves in and out of the text and through which can be traced the leitmotif of the book: the decline of Anglo-American civilization and of the ideal of the gentleman. The book is primarily a work in the history of manners and mores a delightful-and poignant-succession of sketches that brings the reader into the inner and often undeclared life of individuals and places them in the larger dramas of historical process in this century.

About the Author

John Lukacs was professor of history at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, until his recent retirement and has been visiting professor at many universities. He is the author of twenty books, among them Confessions of an Original Sinner, The Duel, The End of the Twentieth Century and the End of the Modern Age, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and the most recent, The Hitler of History. He is the recipient of numerous academic honors and awards.