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I recently finished The History of Now: A New Kind of History by Objectivist historian Scott Powell and really enjoyed it. I had previously taken Scott’s history courses and this book is really the culmination of those courses.
Scott’s unique way of approaching history is present-centrism, attempting to study history for its value in the present. As such, he reduces the mountains of facts that traditional historians recount in favor of essentialized “anchor facts” that explain events with relevancy to today’s world. I find this approach very insightful and useful for thinking about world events. In the book, Scott identifies five major blocks that are important to today’s world: the US, the EU, Russia, the Middle East, and China. He has chapters devoted to each that provide overviews of how these countries/geographic areas got to the place they are. He also discusses the interactions of these blocks and makes predictions.
I found his analysis of the Middle East and its interactions with the US very intriguing. I also really think his identification of transitions in America (from an American culture, to an Americanistic one, to a post-Americanistic one) is very instructive.
The book is easy to read and very enjoyable. I strongly recommend it.
/sb
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Re: Amesh Adalja’s post 101475 of 1/2/20
As a high school student in an English history course, I had to read the history book from Hell. It was an 800? page chaos of tiny, out-of-context concretes, apparently of what kings and queens did from day to day. It was empiricism on steroids. Beyond that, I have absolutely no memory of its content. The teacher was also an empiricist, with not the slightest principle for understanding the importance of English history. I knew then that something was radically wrong but not what.
On the dubiously bright side, the teacher who taught the altruist, A Tale Of Two Cities, literally stood on his desk and screamed his lectures. I knew that he considered something important. Another English teacher was “hip.” He lent Jack Kerouac’s beat On The Road and Dharma Bums to me. I recall being amused but not impressed.
/sb
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Re: Amesh Adalja’s post 101475 of 1/2/20
I enjoyed Scott Powell’s book too. His blog is here: https://powellhistory.wordpress.com/
I especially enjoyed his series on Kant and Columbus: https://powellhistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/11/kant-vs-columbus-part-1/
And this one on foreign policy: https://powellhistory.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/taking-a-dim-view-of-the-world-and-why-everything-depends-on-it/
I’ve noticed that there are a few Objectivists like Scott Powell who are producing interesting work but who are not widely known amongst Objectivists. Maybe they need better marketing. Had I not come across Scott Powell’s work via Facebook, I probably wouldn’t have heard of it.
*sb
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Re: Isaac Lewis’ post 128189 of 1/4/20
I’ve noticed that there are a few Objectivists like Scott Powell who are producing interesting work but who are not widely known amongst Objectivists.
Please discuss them here.
*sb
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