Conservative historian Paul Johnson wears his ideology proudly on his sleeve in this often ruthless dissection of the thinkers and artists who (in his view) have shaped modern Western culture, having replaced some 200 years ago "the old clerisy as the guides and mentors of mankind." Taking on the likes of Karl Marx, Bertrand Russell, Lillian Hellman, and Noam Chomsky in turn, Johnson examines one idol after another and finds them all to have feet of clay. In his account, for instance, Ernest Hemingway emerges as an artistic hero who labored endlessly to forge a literary style unmistakably his own, but also as a deeply flawed man whose concern for the perfect phrase did not carry over to a concern for the women who loved him. Gossipy and sharply opinionated, Johnson's essay in cultural history spares no one.
Does it really matter that Henrik Ibsen was vain and arrogant, that Jean-Paul Sartre was incontinent? In Johnson's view, it does: these all-too-human foibles disqualify them, and other thinkers, from presuming to criticize the shortcomings of society. "Beware intellectuals," he concludes (though, given the subjects of his book, it seems he means intellectuals only of the left). "Not only should they be kept well away from the levers of power, they should also be objects of particular suspicion when they seek to offer collective advice." Whether one agrees or not, Johnson's profiles are frequently amusing and illuminating, as when he suggests that the only proletarian Karl Marx ever knew in person was the poor maid who worked for him for decades and was never paid, except in room and board, for her labors.
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但我还要再进一步说，在我们这个悲剧的世纪，千百万无辜的生命牺牲于改善全部人性的那些计划——最主要的教训之一是：提防知识份子。 不但要把他们同权利杠杆隔离开来，而且当他们试图集体提供劝告时，他们应当成为特别怀疑的对象。提放知识分子的委员会、讨论会和联盟，不要...
评分从十七世纪开始，知识分子逐渐脱离对权贵的依附，成为一个新兴的独立阶层。几百年来，对于知识分子的崇拜与质疑从未间断。知识分子一方面作为人类前进的导师，具有任何阶层都不具备的持久而深远的国家影响力乃至世界影响力。他们一面继承“帝王师”的角色，引领社会与历史发展...
评分但我还要再进一步说，在我们这个悲剧的世纪，千百万无辜的生命牺牲于改善全部人性的那些计划——最主要的教训之一是：提防知识份子。 不但要把他们同权利杠杆隔离开来，而且当他们试图集体提供劝告时，他们应当成为特别怀疑的对象。提放知识分子的委员会、讨论会和联盟，不要...
评分 评分蔡：這個社會對於知識份子有很多的期望，他們認為知識份子因為知道較多的事情、道理，受過比較多的教育，所以應該要活得比較像一個有尊嚴、有原則的人，實際上，台灣自己發生的事情，已經一再地證明了知識份子未必會做正確的抉擇，在很關鍵的時刻，他們比很多沒有受過知識教育...
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以记者的笔法写伟人八卦 有趣 有料 也有偏见
评分以记者的笔法写伟人八卦 有趣 有料 也有偏见
评分关于马克思那篇中文版删除。
评分痛骂左派，阶级立场鲜明。
评分以记者的笔法写伟人八卦 有趣 有料 也有偏见
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