The Morbid Age

Britain and the Crisis of Civilisation, 1919 - 1939

British intellectual life between the wars stood at the heart of modernity. The Morbid Age opens a window on to this creative but anxious era, the golden age of the public intellectual and scientist: Arnold Toynbee, Aldous and Julian Huxley, H. G. Wells, Marie Stopes and a host of others. Yet, as Richard Overy argues, a striking characteristic of so many of the ideas that emerged from this new age - from eugenics to Freud's unconscious, to modern ideas of pacifism and world government - was the fear that the West was facing a possibly terminal crisis of civilization. Ultimately, Overy shows, the coming of war was almost welcomed as a way to resolve the contradictions and anxieties of this period, a war in which it was believed civilization would be either saved or utterly destroyed.
Wonderfully compelling ... never less than a delight to read ... supremely well informed, thoughtful and enjoyable
Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard

About Richard Overy

Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators, winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age and The Bombing War, which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780141003252
  • Length: 544 pages
  • Dimensions: 198mm x 23mm x 130mm
  • Weight: 368g
  • Price: £16.99
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