The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
Why should soft documents? As this The Shape Of The New: Four Big Ideas And How They Made The Modern World, By Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot, many individuals likewise will have to buy the book sooner. Yet, in some cases it's so far means to get guide The Shape Of The New: Four Big Ideas And How They Made The Modern World, By Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot, also in other nation or city. So, to ease you in locating the books The Shape Of The New: Four Big Ideas And How They Made The Modern World, By Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot that will sustain you, we assist you by supplying the listings. It's not only the list. We will provide the advised book The Shape Of The New: Four Big Ideas And How They Made The Modern World, By Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot web link that can be downloaded straight. So, it will certainly not need even more times or even days to present it and also various other books.
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
Read and Download The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
This panoramic book tells the story of how revolutionary ideas from the Enlightenment about freedom, equality, evolution, and democracy have reverberated through modern history and shaped the world as we know it today.
A testament to the enduring power of ideas, The Shape of the New offers unforgettable portraits of Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx--heirs of the Enlightenment who embodied its highest ideals about progress--and shows how their thoughts, over time and in the hands of their followers and opponents, transformed the very nature of our beliefs, institutions, economies, and politics. Yet these ideas also hold contradictions. They have been used in the service of brutal systems such as slavery and colonialism, been appropriated and twisted by monsters like Stalin and Hitler, and provoked reactions against the Enlightenment's legacy by Islamic Salafists and the Christian Religious Right.
The Shape of the New argues that it is impossible to understand the ideological and political conflicts of our own time without familiarizing ourselves with the history and internal tensions of these world-changing ideas. With passion and conviction, it exhorts us to recognize the central importance of these ideas as historical forces and pillars of the Western humanistic tradition. It makes the case that to read the works of the great thinkers is to gain invaluable insights into the ideas that have shaped how we think and what we believe.
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot - Amazon Sales Rank: #158405 in Books
- Brand: Montgomery, Scott L./ Chirot, Daniel
- Published on: 2015-05-26
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.40" h x 1.70" w x 6.10" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 512 pages
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot Review "[Among other things,] The authors offer a clear exposition of the Islamic fundamentalist thinker Sayyid Qutb, which is particularly helpful in understanding the intellectual roots of al-Qaeda and ISIS...[This is] a solid, idea-rich examination of how formative 18th- and 19th-century ideas germinated into the belief systems that have governed the 20th and 21st centuries." Publisher's Weekly"The prose is accessible...and the narrative is well-written, made more interesting by the authors' willingness to tangle with tough constituencies and mount tough arguments... A pleasure for students of modern history, especially useful for those seeking an introduction to the broad field of intellectual history. Barzun, Berlin, and Needham would likely argue at points, but this fits squarely in their tradition." Kirkus Reviews"This is a gem of a book in that it has the audacity to paint in big strokes to portray a great intellectual history that puts our often competing, current belief systems into their 18th and 19th century contexts. In light of the increasingly perplexing news headlines, this type of bold context setting is a real gift." Diana Farrell, Bloomberg Best Books of 2015One of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015One of Bloomberg Businessweek's Best Books of 2015, chosen by Diana Farrell"I was struck again and again by the extraordinary breadth, erudition and lucidity of this book."--Fareed Zakaria, New York Times Book Review"This is a gem of a book in that it has the audacity to paint in big strokes to portray a great intellectual history that puts our often competing, current belief systems into their 18th and 19th century contexts. In light of the increasingly perplexing news headlines, this type of bold context setting is a real gift."--Diana Farrell, President and chief executive officer, JPMorgan Chase Institute in Bloomberg Best Books of 2015"Montgomery and Chirot offer a sweeping defense of intellectual liberalism and an examination of its indelible influence on the modern world. . . . Thoughtful, highly readable, and provocative."--Choice
From the Back Cover
"This is a wonderful book. Montgomery and Chirot combine double-barreled scholarship, lucid prose, and considerable wisdom to offer us a fascinating excursion into the history of ideas. For anyone who wants to understand today's emerging conflicts--and what it will take for Enlightenment liberalism again to prevail--The Shape of the New is essential reading."--Jeffrey Gedmin, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"The Shape of the New is an ambitious book and a joy to read. The scholarship is brilliant. In contextualizing the great ideas of modern history, Montgomery and Chirot provide a holistic framework with which to understand the processes of social change and ideological conflict."--Paul Froese, coauthor of America's Four Gods: What We Say about God--and What That Says about Us
"This fantastic book offers an impressively learned and evenhanded treatment of the Enlightenment's key ideas and the reactions to them over the past two centuries. I guarantee that anyone who reads it will be a lot smarter, more cultured, and a far more intellectually interesting dinner companion."--Zoltan Barany, author of The Soldier and the Changing State: Building Democratic Armies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas
"This important book demonstrates the power of Enlightenment ideas, how they have shaped the world we live in, and how they have created systems of both action and reaction through time. It should be widely read by students, educators, and others who think that there is no need to teach classical thinkers or that their era is over."--Karen Barkey, author of Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective
About the Author Scott L. Montgomery is an affiliate faculty member in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. Daniel Chirot is professor of Russian and Eurasian studies at the University of Washington.
Where to Download The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
Most helpful customer reviews
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful. Lucid, non-technical and very relevant By S. Babu 7/31/15: I am only half way through this book and am hastening to write a tentative review because of the fact that there are no reviews on it yet.I am giving it a tentative five stars and shall update my review after completing my reading.This is a wonderful book. Written in lucid, easily-readable and cliche-free prose it has the ease of reading a novel and yet handles very important material. I am not technically adept to understand economics, biology and politics at the high end (although educated in science) and consider myself fairly well read, overall. The book handles somewhat disparate topics although in the end everything is related, as the authors tend to show. The real challenge for the authors was to present highly technical material for the general public in mostly non technical language, and yet not lose authority, congruence and relevance; they have done it with great success. At no time did I feel bored and am reading the book as I would a suspense novel.To me the subject(s) dealt with is like a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. I have put most of it together (in my mind, unconsciously) but am missing some crucial pieces, mostly the ones that give the image its real meaning and connectedness. If the ideas of Smith, Marx and Darwin are important (obviously so) and one understands the general teachings of these remarkable men, what may be missing is their historical evolution and relevance for the modern era. The authors provide this in a very easily understandable fashion.8/10/15: Now that I am finished reading, my rating and appreciation for the book remains unchanged. The second half of the book explains the origins of Islamic fundamentalism and the widespread popularization of Wahhabism by the corrupt but rich state of Saudi Arabia. It explains what it means to be "radicalized", a word often dropped without explanation.The roles of the failed "secular" post world war regimes (Nasser, Saddam Hussain, Qudhafi, Assad) and the "solution" offered by Syed Qutb are explained.There is never any doubt about the authors' political leanings ("Enlightenment Liberalism" as advocated by America and the West) and they have succeeded in not turning the argument into a simple polemic. They have touched upon the increasing socio-economic inequality as an outcome of laissez faire capitalism and have left the door open for further development of Marxism (post USSR devolution) and even the Iranian theocracy (although they don't favour them). Human desire to find "meaning" in life and the role religion plays in this is touched upon, but not elaborated in detail. Darwinism's myriad extrapolations (some good, some bad) are explored. Fascism is explained as well. The roots of historic and present-day anti Semitism are explained here than I have seen anywhere else.The authors admit that there are other "ideas" besides the four they chose that were at play and I agree. The ideas of Sigmund Freud, although not fully accepted in its original form today, led to a better understanding of the human mind and opened the doors to better treatment of mental disorders ("One Flew Over the Cuccoo's Nest") and the understanding of criminality; a process, like the others mentioned, that continues to evolve.All in all this is a good book for those who wish to understand and "connect the dots" (that's a cliche, but in the whole book I only found one cliche - "spot-on") and that was a great relief!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. From darkness to light By Hande Z This is a vibrant book about the lives and ideas of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. I omit the comma after Hamilton because the fourth big idea, ‘Democracy’ is attributed by the authors to both Hamilton and Jefferson.Adam Smith whose book, ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ continues to be studied to this day and ensured Smith’s well-earned epithet, ‘The Founder of Modern Economics’. The authors point to Smith's lesser known book, ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments’ as an equally important work and that both books must be read together to properly appreciate what Smith was trying to do.Marx’s grand theory of history inspired a massive hope to mankind that has not materialised, and yet refuses to die. How did Marxism go wrong? That is an issue the authors examine in some detail, exploring how Stalin combined Marxist idealism with Lenin's practicality to create the brutal Soviet socialist regime.Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life’ altered our understanding of nature and human. The authors describe Darwin’s ideas as dealing a ‘final, magisterial blow’ to the advocates of Divine planning, they write, ‘Nature, in all its glory, lost the quality of a sacred edifice and became instead an unending battle for survival and reproduction. Life was now a material process without any clear and final purpose, a “design without a designer”’. The long but wonderful chapter on Darwin includes the public attitude at the time and how Darwin struggled to get his theory out in print.The fourth and final big idea belonged to the differing views of Hamilton and Jefferson on the nature of government for America. ‘Hamilton saw a strong central authority, a large military, a federally driven industrial economy, and an active foreign policy. Jefferson wanted a weak center, local militias, a nation of yeoman farmers, and “entangling alliances with none”’. The compromise reached became the foundation upon which America built its democracy that, in recent times, it is hoping to export to the rest of the universe.The last part of the book is a fascinating study of the counter-enlightenment that is insidiously creeping back into the world, threatening to send us all back to the dark ages – the growth of fundamentalism in both Christianity and Islam, the new anti-Semitism, and the rejection of liberalism.
19 of 25 people found the following review helpful. Not Much New Here ... By GDP Fairness would seem to demand that a book be evaluated according to its authors' intentions, and to do so for this book one must look no further than their brief preface (pp. ix-x). The authors profess that the book "is about key ideas that have built the modern world" and that the "principle effort … has been to illustrate and clarify this theme by looking at particular thinkers and their system of thought." Importantly, they admit that the book is almost entirely based on secondary sources and that they "cannot claim that we have found new facts or even that we have as yet undiscovered insights about the individuals we have examined." It is, in short, an introductory text. That is well and good, but the low bar that they establish is not fairly described in the book's marketing blurb. Many readers with a basic understanding of the last three centuries (and the principle thinkers thereof) will find little new here and be disappointed.There is no disagreement with the historical figures they have selected for their study. Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, and the "Odd Couple" of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, would be on most thoughtful peoples' short list of most impactful persons of the modern age (suggesting other names for study would be to quibble). Of course, most persons interested in such eminent thinkers will have already read a good deal about them, and this book will cover little new ground.A central theme of this book is that it suggests a world of little subtlety, where big ideas (perhaps once couched in some degree of nuance) are unleashed and seem to rattle about, playing out in extreme forms. Capitalism and free-markets, when unfettered, can be inhumane … check. Communism, well-intentioned, has proven "nightmarish" (p. 147) for mankind … check. Evolution has undermined the basis of scriptural creation stories … check. Democracies are in a constant tension as to individual freedom and centralized power … check.As for "counter-Enlightenment" forces such as nationalism, fascism, and religious fundamentalism (both Christian and Islamic), these are sketched out and critiqued. Of course, any devotees of these "counter-Enlightenment" philosophies are quite unlikely to read this book and accept its bromide: study the humanities so as to reconsider mindsets and to "critically read and understand foundational texts, to analyze belief systems, and to discover the complex arguments that have produced different movements, wars, institutions, national identities, and the like" (p. 435-36) in order to confront the challenges of the future.The premise that big ideas are an historical force and, in a significant way, influence our lives is credible. The idea that most people govern their lives by imbibing "foundational texts" and then rationally choose a path of conduct is naive, if not nonsensical. History is complex because lives are lived in response to circumstances and, largely, emotion and instinct. There are reasons that both capitalism and communism have produced ill-consequences … human nature resists "Reason" and seeks self-interest, individuals desire status and/or power, and emotional appeals to group bonds are seductive even when illusory. That is, it is not the ideas as much as the imperfect human agents who act upon them that determine outcomes (a reality the authors make several oblique references to, e.g., pp. 191 and 265).What seems to be missing in this book is the vast grey area most of us reside in, i.e., thankful for the many benefits that the rational and scientific aspects of the Enlightenment have brought, yet reserving for ourselves an acknowledgement and desire for the spiritual or transcendent. Maintaining some sense of balance between the two may define what it is to be "human."In a world with so many outstanding books to choose from, there is little to recommend this book beyond its stated intentions of being an introductory text on select thinkers with a cursory look at their impact. If that is what you desire, this book will likely satisfy you.
See all 27 customer reviews...
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot PDF
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot iBooks
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot ePub
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot rtf
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot AZW
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot Kindle
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How They Made the Modern World, by Scott L. Montgomery, Daniel Chirot
