An Intimate History of Humanity

by Theodore Zeldin

A provocative work that explores the evolution of emotions and personal relationships through diverse cultures and time. "An intellectually dazzling view of our past and future."--Time magazine

Contents
1. How humans have repeatedly lost hope, and how new encounters, and a new pair of spectacles, revive them
2. How men and women have slowly learned to have interesting conversations
3. How people searching for their roots are only beginning to look far and deep enough
4. How some people have acquired an immunity to loneliness
5. How new forms of love have been invented
6. Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex
7. How the desire that men feel for women, and for other men, has altered through the centuries
8. How respect has become more desirable than power
9. How those who want neither to give orders nor to receive them can become intermediaries
10. How people have freed themselves from fear by finding new fears
11. How curiosity has become the key to freedom
12. Why it has become increasingly difficult to destroy one’s enemies
13. How the art of escaping from one’s troubles has developed, but not the art of knowing where to escape to
14. Why compassion has flowered even in stony ground
15. Why toleration has never been enough
16. Why even the privileged are often somewhat gloomy about life, even when they can have anything the consumer society offers, and even after sexual liberation
17. How travellers are becoming the largest nation in the world, and how they have learned not to see only what they are looking for
18. Why friendship between men and women has been so fragile
19. How even astrologers resist their destiny
20. Why people have not been able to find the time to lead several lives
21. Why fathers and their children are changing their minds about what they want from each other
22. Why the crisis in the family is only one stage in the evolution of generosity
23. How people choose a way of life, and how it does not wholly satisfy them
24. How humans become hospitable to each other
25. What becomes possible when soul-mates meet

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Essays

496 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Theodore Zeldin CBE, President of the Oxford Muse Foundation, is a Palestinean philosopher, sociologist, historian, writer and public speaker. Zeldin was first known as a historian of France but is today probably most famous internationally as the author of An Intimate History of Humanity (1994), a book which probes the personal preoccupations of people in many different civilisations, both in the past and in the present; it illuminates the way emotions, curiosities, relationships and fears have evolved through the centuries, and how they might have evolved differently. Since then he has focused on how work can be made less boring and frustrating, how conversation can be less superficial, and how individuals can be more honest with one another, putting their masks aside.

Zeldin's masterpiece is "A History of French Passions" (originally published as "France, 1848-1945" in the Oxford History of Modern Europe), an idiosyncratic work examining the ambitions and frustrations, intellectual and imaginative life, tastes and prejudices of a vast range of people. The idea of France as a common unity is not easily discernible in this multi-volume book, and there is very little about politics in the conventional sense, although there are essays on the national appeal of Bonapartism and other cultural elements of French national politics.

The Oxford Muse Foundation (www.oxfordmuse.com) was formed by Zeldin in 2001. It describes its aims as being "to pioneer new methods to improve personal, work and intercultural relationships in ways that satisfy both private and public values." One of its principal projects is the Muse Portrait Database. Individuals are free to submit their own self-portraits, including whatever they want the world to know about them. However, many of the portraits are written by another person in the "voice" of the subject, as the result of a conversation between the two. The Oxford Muse claims that, through such conversations, it can help people "to clarify their tastes, attitudes and goals in many different aspects of life; and to sum up the conclusions they have drawn from their experiences in their own words." A selection of these portraits can be found in "Guide to an Unknown City" (2004), which contains the writings of a wide variety of Oxford residents, and in "Guide to an Unknown University" (2006), which, Zeldin claimed, 'allowed professors, students, alumni, administrators and maintenance staff to reveal what they do not normally tell one another.

In 2007, Zeldin was appointed to a committee advising the French government of Nicolas Sarkozy on labour market reforms.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a history book at all, although Zeldin makes extensive use of historical examples. No, this rather is a philosophical work, but in a very original way. Zeldin focuses on existential questions: the difficult relationship between men and women, the determining role of fear in a human life, the question of loneliness, the asymmetry in the relationship between parents and children, the difference between tolerance and generosity, and so on. He looks into a total of 25 such ‘intimate’ issues, almost always in the same way. He first presents a number of case studies of people he has spoken with and who reveal to him what is going on in their lives. They almost always are women, and most of them are French (France is Zeldin's specialization, witness his phenomenal “A History of French Passions”, in 3 volumes). He then outlines how the issue he is focussing on in that chapter, has evolved throughout history, and especially what shifts have recently taken place.

This may sound too much like a rigid scheme, but it is actually more of a collection of learned talks rather than a systematic explanation. In that sense, it reminded me a lot of Montaigne's Essays, which also cover all sorts of themes that are viewed from different angles. Because Zeldin also goes very broad: he not only draws from history, but also involves sociology, psychology, economics, politics and culture in his analyses and examples. His approach is so meticulous that sometimes it becomes a tough nut to crack; this certainly not is a bedtime read.

In all of this, Zeldin repeatedly exposes how humanity has undergone an enormous evolution, especially in the second half of the 20th century, certainly in those more "intimate" (I’d rather say existential) aspects. And as far as he is concerned, that evolution is unambiguously positive: of course, humanity still is bound by its condition, but especially because of the enormous freedom we have acquired, we are much more open to life than ever before. No wonder that Zeldin constantly pleads to go even further, and especially the terms "curiosity" and "generosity" repeatedly recur in his discourse. In that sense, this work is also a kind of a self-help book, but not in the cheap, preachy way! This work also betrays the era in which it was written: in the early 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, and at the beginning of the globalisation and communication revolution; the future unambiguously looked rosy. We are now almost 30 years on, and quite a few dents have emerged in this optimistic perspective.

Still, I hesitate to call this book dated. Zeldin's voluntarism is accompanied by such a careful observation of the human animal, such an erudite analysis of human history, so much attention to the capriciousness and complexity of the human condition that this book may continue to excite and inspire reflection for a long time to come.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

14 YEARS LATER:ie December 14th 2015
I AM SHOCKED...AMAZED !!!
I thought I may have read this book about 6 or 7 years ago...that is how much THIS BOOK is STILL with me.
..and it is August 2001 that I finished reading it..can't believe it is that long ago!!!
This is a book of which I so often think:"I MUST read that book again."

I am still searching out copies to give to friends.
I often glance in its direction where it sits with many other books in my bedroom.
MUST be time to read it AGAIN!!

REVIEW BEGINS:
This was a rich and astonishing read.
AFTERMATH:
For years after I read it I could not put it back on a bookshelf.
To do so was like admitting that the reading was OVER, whereas I just wanted to keep exploring everything this book offered and opened up.

PURCHASING:
The title was enough to excite.
Then with chapter headings such as these...
*How new forms of love have been invented.
*Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex.
*How men and women have slowly learned to have interesting conversations.
*How respect has become more desirable than power.
*Why toleration has never been enough.
*How even astrologers resist their destiny.
*How the art of escaping from one's troubles has developed, but not the art of knowing where to escape to.
...the book was soon travelling home with ME!!

READING:
Obsessive and provocative, stimulating and thought-provoking.

STRUCTURE:
Each chapter begins with a look at the life of a real person who somehow typifies the chapter's heading. Then there is a general look at the issue,its history, opinions, problems and solutions etc.

CONCLUSION:
There are probably 1,000 books to read before you die.
I think this might be Number ONE!!!

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not figure out why reading this book made me feel enraged. I wondered if it had something to do with the way it says everything about nothing and nothing about Everything. Zeldin shares 1st person narratives from people who were weirdly philosophical about themselves and their lives. Is it because many of them are French. C'est l 'absurd. This book got rave reviews and the truth is that I was too annoyed to finish it. It was like eating food made of air.

[Sense of History]

Perhaps I'm not doing justice to Theodore Zeldin (° 1933) by approaching this book from a historian's point of view, but a pompous title such as "An intimate history of humanity" really asks for it. Let me start by emphasizing that Zeldin's knowledge of human history is quite impressive: he goes very broad, both in space and time; he draws his historical examples from western classical antiquity, the ancient history of India, China and Africa, as well as the more recent global world where the Americas also appear on the scene. The bibliography for each of the chapters is quite elaborative, although I suspect that this is more of a recommended reading list than the literature Zeldin himself has processed.

Of course, the appeal to the whole of human history also has a downside: it is impossible to keep up with the latest state of the art of historical sciences, and it is also impossible to make the right estimate each time when quoting historical examples. As a consequence Zeldin regularly messes up in this book. For example, he situates the discovery of "passionate love" in the 7th century Arabian desert (while the multicultural Islamic civilization that arose only after that period drew abundantly from Persian and especially Indian traditions). Or even: attributing the raids of the Vikings in Medieval Europe to the fear of the predators' own reputation seems very strange to me. Anyway, missing is human, especially if you take so much hay on your fork.

What really appealed to me is that he constantly underlines the contingent character of human behaviour in the treatment of his themes: he rightly emphasizes that there is no unalterable and universally established human nature. But in turn he detracts from this by regularly referring to biology (the comparison with the behaviour of animals) and anthropology (the comparison with 'primitive' strains) in his historical analyses to make unorthodox analogies with contemporary human behaviour. Last but not least, despite the broad scope of the approach, this work almost entirely breathes the spirit of a white European at the end of the 20th century, living in a period of abundance and unprecedented possibilities. So as a philosophical work I value this higher than as a historical work. It’s a pity Zeldin choose that particular title. (rating 2.5 stars).

[Nelson Zagalo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confesso que parti para este livro cheio de expectativas. O que procurava era a vida vivida por pessoas reais e comuns. Em termos históricos, estou um pouco cansado de ler sobre imperadores, reis, filósofos, artistas ou heróis de guerra. Queria saber mais sobre o modo como viveram as pessoas comuns ao longo do tempo, e como se têm alterado as vivências. Sei que isto não é um modo de historiar muito convencional porque naturalmente existe menos material sobre as pessoas comuns do que sobre os que a História decidiu imortalizar, mas é algo que se vai fazendo em obras como "A History of Private Life" (1987) assim como em muitos outro livros sobre a "everyday life". Contudo, não foi nada disso que encontrei em "História Íntima da Humanidade" (1994) de Theodore Zeldin.

Nas abordagens históricas, reconhecidas como tal, o caminho tende a ser o do estudo e análise em profundidade de registos históricos escritos, nomeadamente autobiografias, memórias, correspondência, documentos legais, artigos de jornais, discursos, etc. Ora Zeldin não faz nada disso. Zeldin entrevista cerca de 30 pessoas, seleciona meia-dúzia de excertos do que cada uma diz para criar uma introdução em cada capítulo (25) e depois disserta sobre aquilo que lhe parece que elas disseram, relacionando-o com o passado histórico que lhe apraz. Se isto parece problemático, mais ainda se torna quando analisamos as pessoas entrevistadas.

A esmagadora maioria das pessoas são: Mulheres, Francesas, Brancas e com Estudos superiores ou familiares com estudos superiores. Como é que um recorte destes podem responder pela História Íntima da Humanidade? Ou como diz a sinopse:

"Esta célebre investigação das emoções e relações humanas explica como as pessoas do presente e do passado têm escapado à solidão, ao medo, à falta de sentido da vida; como encontram novas paixões e aventuras e como podem evitar serem prisioneiras das suas memórias e erros."

Este recorte nem sobre a História Íntima das Mulheres Francesas estaria bem, pois a maioria das mulheres francesas no início dos anos 1990 não tinha qualquer relação com a universidade. Não admira que as entrevistadas tendam a proferir discursos existenciais com alguma profundidade. Poderia dizer-se que por isso se fala de intimidade, mas então não se fala de humanidade, fala-se de um grupo de pessoas muito selecto e nada representativo da diversidade humana.

Ultrapassado o problema do recorte, o livro ainda não se resolve. As vinhetas ensaísticas apresentadas em cada capítulo, após a introdução de cada pessoa, dizem muito pouco, apesar de falarem de coisas grandiosas. Ou seja, fala de tudo e de nada. Não existe uma estrutura, não existe uma lógica, existe um seguir a corrente do dia, do que vem à mente em função do que cada uma diz. Salva-se o facto de Zeldin escrever muito bem, e apresentar algumas histórias de vida de mulheres interessantes, mas mesmo isso acaba por saturar por via da repetição antes mesmo de chegar a meio do livro. Uma enorme deceção.

Publicado no VI:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

[Ferda Nihat Koksoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

-MERAK araştırmaya, ARAŞTIRMA birikime, BİRİKİM ise YARATMAYA gebedir.

-OKUMAK ve GEZGİNCE gezmek, SERVET ve KUDRET ENDİŞESİNDEN KAÇMAK ve HAYATA GALİP GELMEK demektir.

-GERÇEĞİ aramak, yani BİLİMLE uğraşmak, GÜÇ peşinde koşmak değil, HAYATIN KEYFİNE VARMAK ve SEVİLEBİLİR OLAN her şeyi ANLAMAYA ÇALIŞMAK demektir (Humboldt).

-İnsanların EŞİT olmaya başlaması, KARŞILIKLI KONUŞMA ve DİNLEMEYİ öğrenebilmeleri ile olabilir.

-Bilgi, PAYLAŞILMADIKÇA ve KULLANILMADIKÇA, KUYRUĞUNU YİYEN YILANA ve zihni uyuşturan TEKRARCILIĞA döner.

-DEĞİŞİMİ, MÜTEVAZİ ve KUSURLARININ BİLİNCİNDE olanlar becerebilir.

-Çağdaş insan, Çinli gibi DOĞAYI anlama, Moğol gibi GEZME ve İranlı gibi ROMANTİK olma özlemindedir.

-SEFALETİN doruğu, BAŞKALARININ MÜLKÜ gibi olduğunun fark edilmesidir.

-İNSANLAŞMAK, tüm İNSANLIK HAFIZASINI kullanabilmektir.

-BİLİMSEL KEŞİF, daha önce YAN YANA GELMEMİŞ fikirlerin BİRLEŞTİRİLMESİDİR

-Kişinin YOLCULUĞU, ÇAĞ ve SINIR farkı gözetmeksizin, kendini YAKIN HİSSETTİKLERİNİN yanındadır.

-İNSANLIĞIN ve YARATICILIĞIN ustaları, EMİR alıp vermekten HOŞLANMAYAN ve 'İŞBİRLİĞİNDEN' öte hırsları OLMAYANLARDIR.

-Ne denli BİLGİLİ, ne denli YARATICI ve ne denli CESUR olursanız, o denli DÜŞMANINIZ olur.

-İnsanlar hayatlarında kimsenin KENDİLERİNDEN hiçbir şey BEKLEMEDİĞİ BOŞ ZAMANLAR bırakmadıkça, kendilerini nasıl ÖZGÜR hissedebilir ki?

-Üstün beyinliler, UZLAŞMACI DEĞİL, GERÇEK İÇİN ISRARCIDIRLAR.

-Tüketim toplumunun en çok ARZULANAN ve en PAHALI olan alışverişi SEVGİ ve SAYGI'dır.

-MERAK, amaç olmanın ötesine geçirilebildiğinde, amaç duygusunu üreten bir enerjiye dönüşür.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeldin's work, despite the name, isn't really historical scholarship. Instead it's far closer to philosophy, and his use of history is kin to Foucault's - by picking and choosing key moments in the global past, what do we learn that might help us navigate our present?

It's a fascinating text, if so broad and expansive that sometimes it feels too much to take in. Zeldin tries to pinpoint the things that make us human, tries to find our commonalities instead of focusing on differences, and asks what we might learn from each other to better fulfill our purpose while we live. He touches on war, enmity, friendship, love, commerce, religion, political movements, and psychology, and every page asks the reader to talk back to the text, to agree, disagree, or simply clarify each idea for themself.

It would be a great text for teaching - there are no end of points of departure for discussion, and the tone of the piece is so gentle and conversational that I can't help but think students would find it hard to be defensive in reaction to his points in a way that they can't *help* but be defensive in response to Appiah's Cosmopolitanism.

There are places where Zeldin gets things wrong - one section on American Indian people stereotyped all cultures based on Plains ideas, for example, and his conclusions therefore plain don't hold for masses of indigenous people in the Americas - but it struck me that this too is a teachable moment. Zeldin, no less than the rest of us, is a product of his time, place, and culture - if he can get something so wrong, what does that say about the rest of us? What should be wary of, alert to, conscious of as we work and think?

[Lachlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken me some time (Goodreads informs me 3 months), but I have finally finished reading Theodore Zeldin's ambitious book, 'An Intimate History of Humanity.'

Zeldin's stated objective is to provide us with a history of humanity that surpasses stale cataloging of kingdoms epochs, and ages. Instead, he turns his attention to some of the most important and defining dynamics of human society. He takes our fixed assumptions about the nature of humanity, and, through an exposition of engaging historical examples, reveals them to be far less fixed than we have previously assumed.

This quote perhaps sums it up best:

"Nothing influences our ability to cope with the difficulties of our existence so much as the context in which we view them; the more contexts we can choose between, the less do the difficulties appear to be inevitable and insurmountable."

That is the crux of Zeldin's mission; he wants to provide readers with the tools and inspiration to look beyond narrow cultural and social assumptions, and imagine new ways of being; new forms of politics, ethics and morality. His is essentially an optimistic, humanitarian vision. Once more I quote:

"It is not enough to focus only on the minute synapses of personal encounters. It has become possible, as never before, to pay attentinon to what is happening in every corner of the globe. Humans each have a personal horizon, beyond which they normally dare not look. But occasionally they do venture further, and then their habitual way of thinking becomes inaequate. Today they are becoming increasingly aware of of the existence of other civilisations. In such circimstances, old problems take on a new appearance, because they are revealed as being parts of larger problems. The shift in interest away from national squabbles to broad humanitarian and environmental concerns is a sign of the urge to escape from ancient obsessions, to keep in view all the different dimensions of reality, and to focus simultaneously on the personal, the local and the univeral."

But how well does he succeed? The book begins with a brief introduction that outlines his intent. From there, we are presented with an almost relentless anthology of chapters that follow the same structure - pick a theme, provide an initial modern case study to open up the discussion of that theme, then delve into the other possibilities of being that are supported by examples cherrypicked from throughout human history.

Here is a sample of some of those chapter headings:

- How men and women have slowing learned to have interesting conversations
- How some people have acquired an immunity of loneliness
- How new forms of love have been invented
- Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex
- How respect has become more desirable than power
- Why the crisis of the family is only one stage in the evolution of generosity

Clearly Zeldin has not set his sights on low hanging fruit. Each chapter focuses on a particular thought or feeling, like toil, the art of conversation, voluntarism, compassion, attitudes on class and social status, and authority.

Throughout this book, there are signs that Zeldin would wrap up with an impressive, overarching concept - and indeed he does, but after finishing 'An Intimate History of Humanity' I cannot help but think that a re-reading would be immensely beneficial. The concluding chapters provide essential context that I feel was missing from the introduction, and they really help illuminate the value in Zeldin's approach and his objectives.

Perhaps his introduction is too brief. Perhaps it would have paid Zeldin to revisit his objective in detail before the final concluding chapters. I feel as though his concept was not explained as well as it could have been from the outset; and that this would have made for a more engaging book if he had taken more time to do so.

Undeniably, many of the ideas in this book were intoxicating. Zeldin has immense scope of vision. His concept strongly appeals to my desire for a universal view of human nature and history - to cut through mere cataloging and classifying, and to draw out a better understanding of human nature drawn from across millenia.

While certainly not flawless in its execution, this book is groundbreaking in it's approach, and will prove a worthy inspiration for anyone seeking a deeper level of understanding of human nature and the human condition. I finish this book very curious to where Zeldin's thoughts and understanding are at today (the book was published in 1997), and hope that future writers can build off his concept. It might prove to be a exceedingly fruitful method of philosophical inquiry.

Addendum: another beautiful encapsulation of Zeldin's concept:

"The sea is eternal: when it heaves
One speaks of waves but in reality they are the sea."

- Hamzah Fansuri

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a typical history book. It's perfect for someone hungry for knowledge but put off by history written as a succession of dates and wars by a detached, passionless author. Sometimes it almost reads like a self-help book-- but don't worry, cynics! It offers no quick solutions, only useful questions. Fluffy and condescending? Nay! Encouraging and inspiring? Yay!

Divided into chapters like "How humans have repeatedly lost hope, and how new encounters, and a new pair of spectacles, revive them" or "Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex", it attempts to understand what humanity means by telling the stories of both anonymous people alive today (mostly French women the author interviewed) and historical figures (often those forgotten or undervalued). It's very ambitious.

There was a point about two-thirds of the way through when I felt almost overwhelmed by the scope of the book, particularly in the way it lays out so many contradictory opinions on how one should live one's life. But this is the nature of humanity, isn't it? Some of his interview subjects seem to contradict themselves within the same breath but they probably don't realize it. I think the book demands to be read slowly, maybe even dipped into again over the years.

Another great thing about it is that each chapter ends with a sample of Zeldin's sources, a suggested reading list, so you can further explore a theme, period or person of interest.

[Ulrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book certainly makes you ruminate. There are a few quotes I will take with me. A few of those quotes being:

"Reputation is the modern purgatory. The more a society thinks of itself as democratic, the more reputation matters in it and the more fear of other people's criticism, however petty, becomes obsessive."

"Etiquette requires that they should not reveal their thoughts too directly, for that would imply disrespect for the sensibility of the person they are addressing, and to argue one's point of view with the artillery fire of logic is a sign of immaturity."

I'd recommend the book - but not to anyone. It requires a certain amount of curiosity to get through the book. It is an adventure into how history has been shaped, through everyday choices from individuals, like organisms randomly hitting each other, influencing each other. Never knowing what the result might be. Where we are today, is not a thoroughly thought through result, but a coincidence of random human responses to events happening in a given time.

[Ilotuule · Rating 3 out of 5]

kokkuvõte: kokakunst on kaugemale arenenud kui seks

[Berk · Rating 4 out of 5]

İstediğin zaman herhangi bir yerinden açıp okumak için uygun bir başucu kitabı. Multidisipliner bakış açısı kazanmayı öğütlüyor. Bence de önemli bir konu.

"Düşüncenin doğrultusunu sezgiler belirlemiştir. Sezgi bazen hipotezler biçiminde, bazen de nedenlerini seçmemize fırsat bırakmayacak kadar hızlı ulaşılmış yargılar olarak ortaya çıkar. Kadınlara atfedilmiş olan sezgi ne sihir keramet işidir, ne de deha işareti, küçücük ayrıntılara dikkat etmenin ve söze dökülmemiş duygulara ilgi duymanın bir sonucudur yalnızca: En az tıbbi teşhis kadar zor yakalanır bir şeydir sezgi, o da belirsizlik karşısında geçmiş deneyimlerden yararlanır; ne var ki deneyimlerden ders çıkarmak hiç de kolay değildir, çünkü iki deneyim ender olarak birbirinin aynıdır; aradaki benzerlikleri yakalamak için hayal gücünün yardımıyla bir iki sıçrama yapmak gerekir.Bunun anlamı, genellikle gözardı edilen olgulara kucak açmaktır. Ne yazık ki, durmadan arpacı kumrusu gibi düşünüp durmalarına, düşünceleri kafalarında evirip çevirmelerine, hayaller kurup başkalarının aklından geçenler üzerine parlak tahminler yürütmelerine rağmen, insanlara düşünmenin şehvani hazlarını açıklayan, fikirlerin nasıl birbiriyle flört edebileceğini ve birbiriyle kucaklamayı öğrenebileceğini anlatan zihinsel bir kamasutra yazılmamıştır.":

[Okan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yer yer heyecanlandıran, merak uyandıran bölümleri olsa da bir türlü ısınamadım bu kitaba. Hadi ilerleyeyim bitireyim diye diye süründü elimde. Kişisel tecrübelerden genellemelere uzanan bölüm yapısı okumayı kolaylaştırmayı geçtim bütün ritmi mahvediyor bence. Belki bir gün yine görüşürüz diyorum ve yarısında çıkıyorum kitabın. DNF.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've ever wanted to read the history of some of our most common dreams, desires, and fears this is a good place to start. Well-written, and occasionally poetic.

[aslıhan özdemir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bu kitabın tadı damağımda kaldı. Umarım böyle içtenlikli, psikolojik altyapısı sağlam ele alınmış nice tarih kitapları vardır. Umut tazelemek isteyen bir insan için çok verimli bir kitap.

[Palmyrah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this book at the third try; on my first two attempts, made some years ago, I didn't even get to page 50. And though I finished it this time, I really, really disliked it.

Prof. Zeldin, like many European intellectuals, appears to have been greatly influenced by Karl Marx at some point in his youth. The influence shows, not so much in his political and economic views, as in his prose. Like Marx, he is fond of giant intuitive leaps, dialectical arguments and dogmatic statements couched as memorable aphorisms. My own educational background is Anglicized, literary and scientific, which puts me out of sympathy with this approach from the outset. Aware of this — and feeling the need to broaden my mind — I bit back my own critical responses to Zeldin's writing and went at his book with as little prejudice and Anglo-Saxon cultural snobbery as was possible for me. It was not a successful experiment.

This book is mistitled. In no way is it a history of humanity, intimate or otherwise. It consists of a series of discussions of the author's conversations with dozens of Frenchwomen whose occupations range from daily maid through counter clerk and executive trainer to mathematician and magazine editor. These women describe their lives and, particularly, their strategies for coping with it. Zeldin then discusses these strategies dialectically, invoking various cultures and historical epochs in which he believes the same strategies were tried, more or less successfully. This part — the actual history — is exhaustively referenced and doubtless accurate, but it is selective, sketchy and not very insightful in terms of historical process.

Towards the end of the book, Zeldin attempts to sum up what conclusions he has reached from his conversations with women, and comes up with what he calls six strategies humans beings use to get through life. They are obedience, negotiation, self-sufficient withdrawal from the world, the quest to make sense of things by increasing one's own knowledge, talkative self-revelation and applied creativity. I think we are supposed to believe that this rather idiosyncratic classification contains or underpins all the other strategies any halfway intelligent person could identify, such as religious mania, moneygrubbing or alcoholism, but the author fails to demonstrate satisfactorily how this can be so.

Ultimately, Zeldin's thesis is that, while the various ways in which humans have coped with life to date have all been more or less unsastisfactory, better ways are possible through more widespread and meaningful communication, and that, ultimately, this may bring about a step change in human nature, which he regards as mutable and capable of improvement. Here my attempt to be broadminded hit the wall. All the scientific, literary and historical evidence we have indicates to us that human nature is not malleable. You can modify behaviour, but only so far, and usually at a price paid in stress and mental instability.

Zeldin never looks this unfortunate fact in the face. At one point the obstinacy of his refusal is so egregious it amounts to stupidity. This is when, in the course of (rightly) rejecting all prescriptive definitions of the ideal family, he states that 'the family is the oldest of all human insititutions because it is the most flexible.' This is very probably true, but it begs the question of what a family is — surely this Protean institution must have some factors that appear in all its numerous manifestations, by which it can be defined? — and worse, it begs the question of why we have families in the first place. Is the answer so obvious it need not be stated?

I don't think so. And I think Zeldin's avoidance of the issue identifies the great flaw in this 'intellectually dazzling view of our past and future', as Time magazine apparently called it. The fact is that culture is based on nature, and human institutions are in fact animal institutions, greatly elaborated and extended. Culture — and that includes families as much as any other human institution — is the product of instinct, and it is to biology, particularly evolutionary biology, that we must look for truthful answers to the great questions that have troubled social scientists, theologians and philosophers for thousands of years. That, at any rate, is my view, and though I gave it my best shot, An Intimate History of Humanity failed to shake it, or to provide anything like a credible alternate perspective.

On the positive side, Zeldin writes well, and some of his aphorisms are superbly quotable. Unfortunately, not all of them stand up to close scrutiny. But this is a disposable book; unless you're of a mind with the author, you will lose nothing by neglecting to read it.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought cheaply from a clearance table in an Oxfam bookshop three or so years ago, on the strength of an unusual cover and a title which piqued my interest, this turned out to be very interesting indeed.

Zeldin writes of human nature - the book is part sociology, part philosophy, part cultural history in discussing a number of statements which are explored in the context of interviews with French women, and are then challenged with reference to cultural norms throughout the ancient and modern world. It's an educating journey.. taking in subjects as diverse as sexual equality, Gandhi, art and architecture, sleeping arrangements, romance, friendship, sex and consumerism. My only criticism, made with the acknowledgement that I read this on my commute and hence not 'at my most concentrating', was that I didn't feel the author completely managed to tie the whole book together into a complete 'message' - to me it was full of interesting and enlightening information, much of which I know I will soon forget. Consequently I am keen to re-read this more studiously in a year or two.

I would, however, not hesitate to recommend this to readers interested in sociology and human history - it's a very well-written and fulfilling book which I am sure most people will find plenty of interest within.

[Ci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was impressed by the first 40 pages, with the author's promise of delving into the psyche and emotional history of humanity. Evidently erudite, this author alluded to references to historic events but promised to interpret them "intimately" and classic theoretic ideas but would use them "relevantly" so we don't get drowned in the details. The idea of starting with a particular person's life story held attraction as well -- till a point (page 40 onward) which becomes a mediocre collection of snippets from classics and a loosely structured framework. Each topic has some independent points but they are often overwhelmed by repetitive points.

[M.D. Lachlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books and a real eye opener. One of the few books I read again periodically. It's the history of love but touches on many other aspects of philosophy. A page turner, which isn't something you often say about a philosophical novel. Like Alain De Botton but without the descents into banality.

[Duygu Sevimli Çeltik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zeldin’in bakışını, otobiyografik hikayelerden yola çıkıp bambaşka yerlere varışını çok seviyorum. Öyle ki Zeldin okumaya başladığımdan beri kurgu dışı kitaplara ilgim arttı. Hayat, dünya, bilim, gelecek hakkında daha çok haber veren kitaplar okuma isteğim nüksetti. Ne yazık ki Zeldin’in şu an sadece 2 kitabı Türkçede. Keşke hızla diğerleri de çevrilse.

[Željko Matić · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoj ličnih sudbina, filzofije i istorijskog osvrta na odabrane teme, uglavnom dobro ukomponovan.

[Maher Razouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

الاستنتاج الذي استخلصته من تاريخ العبودية هو أن الحرية ليست مجرد مسألة حقوق يجب تكريسها في القانون. الحق في التعبير عن نفسك لا يزال يترك لك الحاجة إلى أن تقرر ما ستقوله ، وأن تجد من يستمع إليه ، وأن تجعل كلماتك تبدو جميلة ؛ هذه هي المهارات التي يجب اكتسابها. كل ما يقوله القانون لك هو أنه يمكنك العزف على جيتارك ، إذا كان بإمكانك الحصول على واحد . إذن ، لا توفر إعلانات حقوق الإنسان سوى عدد قليل من المكونات التي يتم من خلالها صنع الحرية.
.
Theodore Zeldin
An Intimate History Of Humanity
Translated By #Maher_Razouk

[Yoana Miteva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Интимната история на човечеството от Теодор Зелдин
Една от най-странните и удивителни книги, с които съм се срещала. Още в началото Тиодор Зелин заявява, че се опитва да разглежда аспектите на интимността (не сексуалността) максимално широко през призмата на многовековния човешки опит, за да могат хората да взимат лични решения, черпейки от богатството на световното минало, а не от тясната си социално-конфесионално-родова-индивидуална памет. В началото на всяка глава представя разказ за конкретен обикновен човек и след това започва да вади от вълшебната шапка известни, странни и откровено абсурдни факти от човешката история. Целият този поток от информация, оставен така да тече, без ясна цел и посока, в началото ме шокира. Преживяването обаче беше толкова необикновено и богато, че до края изпитвах единствено възхищение и респект. От една страна, като под микроскоп авторът разглежда хората, чиято история дава в началото на всяка глава. Подходът към всички тях, независимо от общественото им и материално положение е еднакво тържествен и внимателен, а отношението любовно, скрупульозно и дълбоко психологично. От друга страна като с телескоп сканира огромни обеми история и фокусира различни нейни проявления и аспекти. Удоволствието е пълно и заради превода на Милен Русков, който прави словесните еквилибристики на автора да се вият виртуозно и да се възприемат леко.

[Nevzat · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had really high expectations of this book and didn't like it as much as i expected in the end. the problem for me was that the personal stories of french women at the beginning of each section was really nice and enjoyable but in most chapters i found it hard to relate their stories to the historical events and customs author picked. and the lack of connection between them made most of the book seem like a common "fun historical facts" blog. the other problem is that i find history or traditions told as anectodes meaningless in most cases for what makes an event or a custom meaningful is it's place in the whole context of that society and it seems like you can find anything in history to prove any point, without caring much about its relations with other traditions or events.

[Merve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okuması keyifli,dili kolay anlaşılır ama bana çok bir şey kazandırmayan sadece bildiğim konuları hatırlamama yol açan yardımcı maiyette bir kitap oldu. Bu yazarı daha önce hiç okumadığım için uzun uzadıya bir yorum yazamam ancak sosyolojik okumalara çok daldığım için mi benden kaynaklı bir durum mu bilemiyorum keyifle okudum ama etkilenmedim. Her kitap iz bırakmak zorunda değil belki de.kitap arada alıp okunabilecek makalelerle dolu. Bölüm isimleri oldukça keyifli konulmuş. Bana göre en büyük eksiği ise bu kadar bilgiye rağmen bir kaynakça eklememiş olması. Bana verdiği bilgilere beni bağlıyormuş gibi bir his verdi okurken. Referans noktalarını vermek zorunda değilse de bu düşüncelerini hangi temele dayandırıyor görmek isterdim.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book that I just came across on my shelves having read it in 1994ish. Each chapter takes a contemporary French woman from many layers of society and uses it to weave the history of humanity. Really interesting different take on history. Intriguing.

[Hock Tjoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant and fascinating even though one can legitimately wonder what connects all the stories told other than the author's (powerful) imagination. It ranges through much of recent (post 1700) Western history.

[Al Bità · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was first published in 1994, and I must admit I had never heard of it until alerted to it by my good friend Wayne, who gave me a copy, and for which I am extremely grateful. This is a truly wonderful work, and one which should grace the personal library of anyone interested in a history which differs from the usual run of history books. It uses a very readable technique which is immediately charming (the list of chapter titles in the Table of Contents will be enough to intrigue even the most cursory of glances! — the first, for example, reads: How humans have repeatedly lost hope, and how new encounters, and a new pair of spectacles, revive them.) and one’s interest is grabbed instantly, and maintained throughout.

Zeldin achieves this in a way I believe is rather unique. The work consists of 25 chapters. Apart from the last, each of the chapters begins with carefully selected and edited stories (at least one, but often enough more than one) of women he interviewed who lived in France during the period of the mid 1990s. Most, but not all, are French, and not necessarily of French cultural backgrounds. These stories are intensely personal. The cleverness of using women for his starting points may indicate an appreciation that they, especially in the ’90s, were more forthcoming about their personal and private lives than men would have been. Even so, the stories do not eschew men’s positions within these stories; they are often part and parcel of the implications and consequences for the women involved, and thus are equally central to the main issues. Consequently, this initial foray in each chapter raises certain issues and these are summarised by the individualistic and quirky chapter heading.

Zeldin then proceeds through the second part of the chapter to look at the various ways and means people have in the past dealt with these same issues. This is the main substance and essence of the work, and the range of reactions explored most definitely does not remain in France, nor even just in Europe, nor limited to gender limitations, but embraces all cultures and all regions of the world in various degrees. It also allows Zeldin to inert his own comments and considerations as he sees fit. This part of the chapter, then, can be quite dense with mind-expanding world-wide personal responses, successful or otherwise, which give the reader many concepts and ideas to deal with. One can understand how some people would find that these responses, albeit in general briefly summarised, create a kind of surfeit of information which tends to make one stop and meditate on them (in the sense of ‘think about’). For me, this response made me want to stop reading; made me want to relish the ideas and thoughts expressed; made me want to savour the different flavours of varying responses… I did not want to read on regardless — and this feeling applied to each and every one of the chapters. Delicious!

The third part of each chapter (not including the last chapter) consists of rather extensive bibliographies of the issues raised in the chapter. So, if one were particularly impressed by one or more suggested responses, there are many references one can turn to for further exploration.

What all this teaches us is that there are many other ways that ‘history’ can be written. Too often, history books deal mostly with what we call the ‘major issues’ — wars, revolutions, politics, etc. — often with a grand overarching theme associated with them. What they tend to leave out is the individual person and their needs and aspirations, particularly if they are not specifically linked to any major trend. Even then, the tendency is to leave such matters to novelists and poets, almost as if these are really only of secondary interest to the ‘true’ historian. Zeldin’s work makes one much more aware that, in the personal lives of people everywhere, there are equally fascinating histories not normally dealt with, and which perhaps are more centrally related to core historical values than one might think. It is, in a sense, surprising how immediate one’s own personal response is to the attempts of people from all countries and cultures in dealing with issues which obviously concern all of them. We understand them!

If there is one small niggling aspect which might cause some to be cynical: the fact that the book was written in the mid ’90s, and that Zeldin’s opinions and comments are therefore limited to the ideals and aspirations of the Western world during those comparatively innocent and perhaps hopeful times. To do so, however, would do a disservice to the main thrust of the work. Zeldin is adamant that, regardless of what the ‘big-picture’ history throws up, people and their dreams and aspirations and needs remain steadfast throughout the centuries. He calls for Compassion, Understanding, and Acceptance as being both the ancient, recent and future hope of humanity, and which underlies everything else, no matter how wonderful or how brutal we have behaved to ourselves and to others. There is no sense of sentimentality or softness about this approach in Zeldin’s work. He simply presents his facts, and suggests that those facts, bittersweet as they might be, are universal.

For me, this Humanistic understanding makes Zeldin’s work a masterpiece of writing. It slowly and thoroughly weaves its spell on the reader — and we instinctively know that this is a true and honest appraisal of humans everywhere. By opening our minds and our hearts to this message, one cannot help but fall in love with this book. It is very, very beautiful.

And if that is not enough for the more cynical among you, consider this: it is the adoption of this humanistic understanding of the world that allows us to read, relish, appreciate, understand and be moved by any literature from anywhere in the world, regardless of the language, culture, religion, politics, or social conditions which generated it. It touches all of us, because it represents the true history of ourselves to ourselves.

[Weaponisedfunk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird book - in fact, one of the most oddly structured attempts at a synthesis of history, philosophy, humanism, mass biography and third wave feminist ally discourse I’ve ever read. It has a charm and a magnetism though, and I surprised myself by burning through all 475 pages in four days. Highly recommended, if you can get past the stylistic contrivances.

[Tom Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that stays with you through the years - extraordinary.