Walter C Uhler » Entries tagged with "John Lukacs"
America’s Historical Illiteracy: A Review of The Future of History, by John Lukacs
“To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain a child always.” ~Cicero In 2008 Common Core published a study by Frederick M. Hess which examined the knowledge of history and literature possessed by 17 year-old high school students in the United States. The results were depressing. Less than half of the 1,200 students questioned were able to identify the Renaissance or even the infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy. Only 50% could explain why the Federalist Papers were written and fewer than half could correctly identify the half century in which the Civil War was fought. More than one fourth of these students believed that Christopher Columbus sailed for the New World sometime after 1750. As Mr. Hess notes, these questions … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, History
Last Rites for the United States, and Himself
A Review of Last Rites, by John Lukacs In 1990, at the age of sixty-five, John Lukacs wrote a well-received “auto-history” entitled Confessions of an Original Sinner. Now, almost twenty years later, Mr. Lukacs has given his readers part two: Last Rites. The book not only appears to constitute a valedictory for an erudite and influential 85 year old man — who admits that his curiosity, reading and appetite for life are weakening — but also the swan song for the five hundred years of European culture carried forward, until recently, by the United States. Which is to say that Mr. Lukacs sees signs of America’s decadence all around: academics who neither buy nor read books, the widespread decline of serious reading, “the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Book Reviews, Christianity
John Lukacs on George Kennan: The Conscience of America
Yale University Press has published a small gem of a book, John Lukacs’s George Kennan: A Study in Character. Reading it was both a delight and surprise. First, the book was delightful, because Mr. Kennan (whom I’ve long admired) represented the United States at its best. As Mr. Lukacs concludes: “He was an extraordinary man, who not only represented but incarnated some of the best and finest traits of American character.” [p. 1] Kennan was not only a justly famous diplomat, learned scholar, uniquely gifted writer and renowned Russia expert, who mastered German, Russian and French, he also was dutiful, patriotic, honest, self-effacing, decent, judicious, religious, practical and wise — a singularly polished diamond in the American rough. Second, the book was … Read entire article »
Filed under: American History, Book Reviews
The Nation: Editor's Picks
- Global War on Terror, R.I.P. May 24, 2013 Bob Dreyfuss
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- Was the Assassination of Four US Citizens Legal? May 23, 2013 Jeremy Scahill