An Intimate History of Humanity
An Intimate History of Humanity

An Intimate History of Humanity
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Perennial

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978006092691

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Rather than a history of battles and kings, this history focuses on the personal and emotional aspects of human existence. It was voted one of the Top Ten Books of the Year' by London's Sunday Times .
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An Intimate History of Humanity Specs:
Product NameAn Intimate History of Humanity
ManufacturerPerennial
Product Number MPN0060926910
Retail Price $16.95
UPC978006092691
Specifications 
TitleIntimate History of Humanity, An, An Intimate History of Humanity
ISBN0060926910
Author(s)Theodore Zeldin
Release Date1996-01-01, 1996-01-10
FormatPaperback
Num of Pages496
Num. of Items1
EAN9780060926915
Weight0.5 lbs.
Deal first added on:17-February-2004

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Latest 5 Reviews
Here is what people are saying about the An Intimate History of Humanity
5 Star Rating  "Interesting read"2009-10-26
- Reviewed By User: A3SIK88JG0ZI0C
This book is an excellently written book. It is an insightful look at people on the whole.
 
5 Star Rating  "Excellent book that inspires you to live more creatively!"2008-07-27
- Reviewed By User: AWJYDBTHSYOUV
A book written by someone who has been reading his whole life. As Zeldin gives the history of the different traits of humans, you question your own traits and it encourages you to think with more awareness of how you live. Moreover, Zeldin refreshingly avoids being too Anglo-centric, and gives sufficient space to the history of humanity in East Asia or the Middle East. Also incredible is the bibliography at the end of every chapter, very broad... Only thing that seemed oddly missing is the history of humour, though as it is, the book is long enough. All in all a great, refreshing and though-provoking book.
 
3 Star Rating  "interesting, but could have amounted to more"2008-01-20
- Reviewed By hkatz120
In 'An Intimate History of Humanity', Theodore Zeldin undertakes an ambitious project. He takes a broad look at a side of history often neglected in standard textbooks - the history of people's interior lives and interpersonal relationships. His hope is that people today can improve themselves and the world by gleaning lessons from history - lessons on meaningful communication, open-mindedness, creativity and curiosity.

The strengths of his book lie with his fundamental optimism in human nature. He doesn't believe that history has come to its end, and that there is no more room for true innovation of spirit and mind. His tone is kindly and curious; he does not write contemptuously of anyone. He believes that true change cannot be imposed by force from a government, that traits such as compassion, generosity and empathy cannot be legislated.

Perhaps the best part of his book are the beginnings of each chapter. He structures his chapters in the following way - first he creates a portrait of someone in the present day (almost 100% of the time, this present-day person is a Frenchwoman). Afterwards, he links the issues and dilemmas of this Frenchwoman to what he sees as similar issues in the past. For example, after spending a few pages discussing a particular Frenchwoman's thoughts about relationships with men, he will sketch out some history on the relationship between men and women and how it has evolved.

His portraits of the contemporary women are engrossing. Just as character studies they are interesting to read. The Frenchwomen he speaks to come from different walks of life, and he succeeds in rendering their complexity.

What weakens his book is the nature of his forays into history. Because he touches upon so many topics, and devotes only several pages to each, it's difficult for him to discuss and develop his points in-depth. The facts he does present are interesting - he writes about various historical figures, texts and old cultural practices, and I enjoyed reading about people as diverse as Galen and Lady Murasaki. But his discussion of historical trends can be simplistic. He'll present, for instance, some evolving attitudes of British or Japanese aristocracy on the topic of love as evidence of how people's ideas of love can change. However he doesn't convincingly argue that these changes can be recreated (or are relevant) across the world, or all classes; I'm not always convinced that he chooses the best examples. He doesn't go deep enough into the roots of those changes, the broader historical and psychological circumstances (I would've loved reading a close comparison of two cultures faced with similar historical dilemmas, and their similarities and differences in how they evolved in respects to something like marriage or romantic love). While I'm certain that there are struggles and questions that human beings share universally, Zeldin's possible solutions to these struggles sometimes seems relevant to only a certain socioeconomic class or culture. Other times he'll raise an interesting point - for example, that India's ancient civilizations were often open-minded about foreign ideas, but that the society closed off different castes from each other... and then he just leaves it at that. Why not discuss the possible reasons for this further? Wouldn't that enrich our understanding of human nature and history?

His definitions of various character traits and abstract ideas can suffer from fuzzy, superficial definitions. For instance, in his brief historical foray into 'compassion', he focuses a lot on medical care and then includes, disjointedly, some other arguments about the nature of present-day romantic relationships and interpersonal communication (he doesn't quite justify why he focuses on these facets of compassion in particular). At one point he writes about the length of time patients stay in hospitals and mentions that in Japan hospital stays are treated as "as a holiday from conformity and the rigours of ordinary life" - patients are seen as individuals, not as cases, they wear their own clothes, they have individually tailored treatments, and they love discussing all of their symptoms ("eighty-eight percent of the Japanese claim to be suffering from some kind of illness"). But there's a lot more going on here, psychologically and culturally, than evidence of compassion. He then talks about Sweden democratising compassion by providing everyone with care... while in another chapter he speaks of the limitations of care provided by the government, how it is often impersonal and mechanical rather than truly caring. This is just one example of the sorts of inconsistencies and superficialties that crop up in his book.

The different sections of each chapter seem disjointed as well. It can be awkward, how he links the issues of a contemporary Frenchwomen to various cultural upheavals in the past (and why only Frenchwomen? I guess he's trying to show that even in modern societies you still find ancient dilemmas; although it would've been interesting if he had also interviewed women from cultures where the struggle between modern trends and older practices and beliefs is much more obvious). His transition from one chapter to the next (particularly towards the end of the book) is pretty stilted and forced. When he reflects on traits such as generosity, his argument oftentimes boils down to very obvious ideas, such as how generosity benefits from empathy and putting yourself into another person's shoes (and he simply says this straightout without necessarily bringing in compelling examples from history). His 'solutions' for the world's ills are often a repetition of 'be open-minded, curious, creative...' and while those are very positive and helpful traits, and while he does discuss some obstacles to the development of such traits, his arguments tend to smack of superficiality. He throws a lot of facts at you, but they don't always amount to an actual argument.

Again, Zeldin's book is ambitious and it can be delightful. I like how he tries to search for the common dilemmas and hopes that humans share everywhere, and to be fair, there are times where he does make an interesting connection between modern and past problems. However, when he is not writing his absorbing portraits of modern women, his approach often lacks depth and merely seems to drift across various historical tidbits.
 
5 Star Rating  "My fave non-fiction book"2007-04-10
- Reviewed By manar-amazon
I've given out over a dozen copies of this book to random friends and the like and there's near universal approval. It's poetic so if you need tight clear directions with charts and lists then move along. But if you want to explore the issues that drive what makes us human, and fulfilled people, then read away!
 
5 Star Rating  "Best book I've read in years; many late nights spent on it"2005-04-07
- Reviewed By kitcatty
Just reading this book gave me a thrilled sort of enthusiasm and compassion towards humanity. I agree that it does not build up very well; it does not have a big powerful climax of revelation, but it is so packed full of interesting true stories, both historical and current, that what you learn is between the lines. He shows how history looked at from the perspective of individual lives is not so much an evolving entity but that different attitudes have been prevelent at different places and times, and what we hold to be proper now has been considered both true and false somewhere else before, or even in our own culture's history, and what really binds us is our always human outlook and response to it all.
 
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