From Plato to NATO: the idea of the West and its opponents
(Book)
Author:
Published:
New York : Free Press, [1998].
Format:
Book
Physical Desc:
xiv, 610 pages ; 25 cm
Status:
CMC Steamboat Campus
CB425 .G745 1998
Description
An in-depth intellectual history of the Western idea and a passionate defense of its importance to America's future, From Plato to NATO is the first book to make sense of the legacy of the West at a time when it is facing its greatest challenges. Readers of Francis Fukuyama, John Gray, Samuel Huntington, and other analysts of the dilemmas of Western nations in the twenty-first century will find in David Gress's original account a fuller description of what the West really is and how, with the best of intentions, it has been misrepresented. Most important, they will encounter a new vision of Western identity and how it can be recovered. Early in the twentieth century, American educators put together a story of Western civilization, its origins, history, and promise that for the subsequent fifty years remained at the heart of American college education. The story they told was of a Western civilization that began with the Greeks and continued through 2,500 years of great books and great ideas, culminating in twentieth-century progressive liberal democracy, science, and capitalist prosperity. In the 1960s, this Grand Narrative of the West came under attack. Over the next thirty years, the critics turned this old story into its opposite: a series of anti-narratives about the evils, the failures, and the betrayals of justice that, so they said, constituted Western history. The victory of Western values at the end of the cold war, the spread of democracy and capitalism, and the worldwide impact of American popular culture have not revived the Grand Narrative in the European and American heartlands of the West. David Gress explains this paradox, arguing that the Grand Narrative of the West was flawed from the beginning: that the West did not begin in Greece and that, in morality and religion, the Greeks were an alien civilization whose contribution was mediated through Rome and Christianity. Furthermore, in assuming a continuity from the Greeks to modern liberalism, we have mistakenly downplayed or rejected everything in between, focusing on the great ideas and the great books rather than on real history with all its ambiguities, conflicts, and contradictions. The heart of Gress's case for the future of the West is that the New must remember its roots in the Old and seek a synthesis. For as the attacks have demonstrated, the New West cannot stand alone. Its very virtues — liberty, reason, progress — grew out of the Old West and cannot flourish when removed from that rich soil.
Copies
Location
Call Number
Status
Last Check-In
CMC Steamboat Campus
CB425 .G745 1998
On Shelf
Dec 11, 2009
Citations
APA Citation (style guide)
Gress, D. (1998). From Plato to NATO: the idea of the West and its opponents. New York, Free Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Gress, David, 1953-. 1998. From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents. New York, Free Press.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Gress, David, 1953-, From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents. New York, Free Press, 1998.
MLA Citation (style guide)Gress, David. From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents. New York, Free Press, 1998.
Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
More Copies In Prospector
Loading Prospector Copies...
More Details
Language:
English
ISBN:
0684827891
Notes
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 561-592) and index.
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
d0a2e212-3a3d-37f2-1c7d-3386ab04130e
Record Information
Last Sierra Extract Time | Mar 08, 2024 07:35:48 PM |
---|---|
Last File Modification Time | Mar 08, 2024 07:36:09 PM |
Last Grouped Work Modification Time | Mar 08, 2024 07:35:54 PM |
MARC Record
LEADER | 02134cam a2200469 a 4500 | ||
---|---|---|---|
003 | DLC | ||
005 | 19990315152420.7 | ||
008 | 980323t19981998nyu b 001 0 eng | ||
010 | |a 98018523 | ||
020 | |a 0684827891 | ||
035 | |z 98018523|b OCLC | ||
040 | |a DLC|b eng|c DLC|d DLC | ||
043 | |a e------ | ||
049 | |a DMP6 | ||
050 | 0 | 0 | |a CB425|b .G745 1998 |
082 | 0 | 0 | |a 909/.09812|2 21 |
090 | 0 | 0 | |a CB425|b .G745 1998 |
092 | |a 909.098|b GRE | ||
100 | 1 | |a Gress, David,|d 1953-|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79097166 | |
245 | 1 | 0 | |a From Plato to NATO :|b the idea of the West and its opponents /|c David Gress. |
264 | 1 | |a New York :|b Free Press,|c [1998] | |
264 | 4 | |c ©1998 | |
300 | |a xiv, 610 pages ;|c 25 cm | ||
336 | |a text|b txt|2 rdacontent | ||
337 | |a unmediated|b n|2 rdamedia | ||
338 | |a volume|b nc|2 rdacarrier | ||
504 | |a Includes bibliographical references (pages 561-592) and index. | ||
650 | 0 | |a Civilization, Western|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85026485|x Historiography.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh00006046 | |
650 | 0 | |a Civilization, Western|x Philosophy.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008101107 | |
650 | 0 | |a Liberalism|x Philosophy.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2009129634 | |
650 | 0 | |a Political science|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85104440|z Europe|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85045631-781|x Philosophy|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99005065|x History.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh99005024 | |
650 | 0 | |a Philosophy, Ancient|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85100861|x Influence.|0 https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002005444 | |
902 | |a 060713 | ||
907 | |a .b10953103 | ||
920 | |a 981019 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE Comp, in 2022.12 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE August, 2017 | ||
948 | |a MARCIVE extract Aug 5, 2017 | ||
989 | |1 .i19890886|b 1030002050944|d cms|g -|m |h 3|x 0|t 0|i 0|j 18|k 010701|n 12-11-2009 22:31|o -|a CB425 .G745 1998 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2022.12 | ||
995 | |a Loaded with m2btab.ltiac in 2017.09 | ||
998 | |e -|f eng|a cm|a cms |