Stranger Than We Can Imagine
Making Sense of the Twentieth Century
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4.0 • 8 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“An illuminating work of massive insight” on the complex ideas and events that initiated the historical shift between the 19th and 20th centuries (Alan Moore, author of V for Vendetta and Watchmen).
“An always-provocative view of an era that many people would just as soon forget . . . an absorbing tour of the 20th century.” —Kirkus Reviews
In Stranger Than We Can Imagine, John Higgs argues that before 1900, history seemed to make sense. We can understand innovations like electricity, agriculture, and democracy. The twentieth century, in contrast, gave us relativity, cubism, quantum mechanics, the id, existentialism, Stalin, psychedelics, chaos mathematics, climate change and postmodernism.
In order to understand such a disorienting barrage of unfamiliar and knotty ideas, Higgs shows us, we need to shift the framework of our interpretation and view these concepts within the context of a new kind of historical narrative. Instead of looking at it as another step forward in a stable path, we need to look at the twentieth century as a chaotic seismic shift, upending all linear narratives.
Higgs invites us along as he journeys across a century “about which we know too much” in order to grant us a new perspective on it. He brings a refreshingly non-academic, eclectic and infectiously energetic approach to his subjects as well as a unique ability to explain how complex ideas connect and intersect—whether he’s discussing Einstein’s theories of relativity, the Beat poets' interest in Eastern thought or the bright spots and pitfalls of the American Dream.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Marshaling an impressive array of subjects into a brisk and surprisingly cohesive cultural history of the "dark woods" of the 20th century, Higgs (KLF: Chaos, Magic, and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds) explains what happened after the world lost its "omphalos" the ancient concept of the center of the universe. The 20th century's early milestones smashed many of the traditional frames of reference humans had: Einstein's theory of relativity demonstrated that time was not absolute, the decline of monarchies and the rise of democracy ended an age of absolute authority, and artistic Modernism embraced the limitations of relativist perspective and the freedom of nontraditional narrative. What arose, for better or worse, was a cult of the individual that began with occultist Aleister Crowley's imperative to "do what thou wilt," and eventually gave birth to totalitarianism and youth culture alike. Higgs affects a witty and casual tone, but his indictment of individualism, which he sees as a path to vapidness, nihilism, and commercialism, is rather severe. He does, however, find hope at the dawn of the 21st century, the age of the network, when multiple-model atheism and the Internet's quest for transparency can perhaps lead humanity out of the wreckage of the 20th century.
