I recently began a pilgrimage of reading my way through a series of books, called The Story of Civilization written by Will Durant, who later was joined by his wife Ariel. It will be a long slog because there are eleven volumes and they are very thick. I plan on using it as something to read in the late afternoons and early evenings, when my ability to create or concentrate gets a little bit weak. I am about 90 pages in. Durant writes well and communicates well. That being said, I am curious to know how reliable his history is going to be.
The reason for my skepticism is that in the first 90 pages I am seeing a lot of empty headed fantasy about where history comes from and how human beings developed. It is pure speculation, and at times he admits that, but it’s presented in a scholarly way, as if it really is documented and researched. At one point he quoted as a source Marco Polo. I don’t know how much you know about Marco Polo and his writings but they are full of all kinds of fancy ideas and fantasies about what his trip to China was like. There was some valuable information but also a lot of nonsense. To quote him as an authoritative source is very dubious.
He does have some catchy phrases and some interesting ways of saying things.
“To these simple people disease seem to be possession of the body by an alien power, or spirit - a conception not essentially different from the germ theory which pervades medicine today.”, p. 80By page 90 I have already picked up that he is not a big fan of the Christian religion and is pretty skeptical of anything religious.
His writing and his attitude towards primitive people reminds me of what I’ve heard about Margaret Mead. I have never read anything by Margaret Mead, but I have heard that her great theories about primitive society have had so many holes punched into them that you could drain your spaghetti with it. She was someone who had her own social hangups and personal twists, and she allowed them to totally modify what she wrote. That is pure theory based on not reading her, but just listening to others talk about her.
Durant seems to approach ancient culture is the same way that Margaret Mead does. Of course, we are still in that section of pre-history that has very little hard evidence to use. He’s also writing very early where there’s a lot of archaeological evidence still to be found. He begins writing around 1935. That might make him a predecessor of Margaret Mead. Maybe she was a fan of his. I don’t know.
My hope is I will finish the series. I’m also hoping that as I get into the more specific civilizations that I will find a bit more accuracy and information based on research. It will be a fun ride. I hope I find enough to write about.
Durant, Will. The Story of Civilization: Part 1, Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.