The Influence of Race in History

by Gustave Le Bon, Philip Van Ness Myers (Contributor)

Among the factors which determine the birth and development of the basic elements of a civilization, one of the most important — perhaps the most important because it represents the synthesis of all the others — is race, that is to say, the ensemble of the physical, moral and intellectual qualities which characterize a people. At the moment when the races of mankind first appeared in history, they has in general already acquired fairly stable qualities which could only be transformed very slowly afterwards. The oldest Egyptian bas-reliefs, upon which are found reproduced the diverse peoples which the Pharaohs were in touch with, show us that our present-day large classifications of races may already be applicable to the dawn of history. Human races, or the diverse human species which live on the surface of the globe, took shape over the hundreds of thousands of years that have preceded historical times...

Genres: History

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

A social psychologist, sociologist, and amateur physicist. He was the author of several works in which he expounded theories of national traits, racial superiority, herd behavior and crowd psychology.
See also Гюстав Ле Бон

Reviews

[Rudyard L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good for being like 50 pages long. The author is incredibly wise, which you can see through his worldview, which seems like if Carlyle chilled out a little (which is necessary) and this author is part of the crypto-Hermetic school of 19th century philosophy which includes Spengler, Carlyle, Niestzche, Schilling and Hegel.

Important note: The meaning of the term race has changed dramatically since the 19th century. Back then race meant "people", so you would say British or Italic race to talk about their shared ethnic identity which comprised culture, history and worldview. The use of race to signify "Black, White, Asian" is a post World Wars thing which has stripped the original term of a lot of its depth and also makes 19th century thinkers look significantly more unreasonable than they actually were.

This is not a book on how the different races of White or Black affected human history, rather how the character or social structure of a people impact their history. For example how the character of the Italian people over their history manifests in multiple forms over different contexts.

[AttackGirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing work. He would be crucified for even stating the facts of history let alone his assessments of what he feels future science will reveal in the generations to come.

This work is perhaps the foundation pillars for Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve. and definitely support Gustave’s theories. I was going to pull up my online copy of The Bell Curve to see if LeBon is cited but for some reason my online copy is no longer accessible. I will tweet Charles a link to the work on Archive.com.

[Alexandru · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconclusive - the book does not answer the main question that can be found in the title. It is more of an essay and is more speaking about cultures that are a bit different from the concept of races. As well it lacks evidence in discussing its main premises.