Paul Johnson, who was born in 1928, has written over forty books and is one of Britain's leading historians. A former editor of the New Statesman, he is a frequent contributor to newspapers throughout the world. His book Modern Times has been translated into thirty languages; Intellectuals has been translated into twenty languages. His History of Christianity and History of the Jews are standard works in five continents. His other books include The Offshore Islanders, The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830 and A History of the American People. He lives in London and Somerset.
Veteran political commentator, scholar and former editor of The New Statesman Paul Johnson has collected all the nasty, cruel and disgusting episodes in the lives of the mighty dead in order to question their "moral and judgmental credentials to give advice to humanity on how to conduct its affairs."
Intellectuals, according to Johnson, often possess a defining set of characteristic traits; they are lying, cheating, hypocritical, megalomaniacs who combine an abstract love of humanity with an exploitative, selfish and cruel treatment of those who were closest to them. Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Lillian Hellman, Norman Mailer and Kenneth Tynan are put under the spotlight and damned as moral exemplars and truth-tellers while Edmund Wilson, Evelyn Waugh and Orwell provide the necessary foil of intellectual integrity.
This is a voyeuristic, gossip-mongering, ruthless and completely compelling book that leaves a bad taste in the mouth if you consume it at one sitting. Fortunately--since it's a collection of short biographical essays or exposès one can dip in where one likes. Intellectuals is well researched and has the polished concision one might expect from a veteran journalist and scholar. It also has the advantage of dealing with subject matter that is fascinating in itself--the extravagant personalities and spectacular immoralities of some of our most revered figures. Intellectuals doesn't always work as dispassionate intellectual history--for instance the overview of intellectual trends since the 1960s in the final chapter "The Flight of Reason" seems forced--but as a set of exposès it is splendid. --Larry Brown
“你连自己的家人都不爱,又怎么可能爱其他人?” 我们常常听到这样义正辞严而又雄辩有里的句子,在网络上与人舌战,这是常用的伎俩。 其实,细细想来,这样的逻辑,经不起推敲。 这是一本颠覆性质的书,说好听一点是“解构”,说不好听就是“扒粪”。 我当然相信书中关于那些...
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...
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...
评分一 人性 约翰逊对这些臭名昭著的知识分子作了一份详细的考察,他们身上固然有知识分子一些特有的毛病:自大、虚荣、漠视他人、自我中心等等,但如果全部视为他们的问题,或者只有他们存在问题,是否有失偏颇? 约翰逊应该再写一本《大众》或《人性》,与之对照,看看这些臭名...
评分“你连自己的家人都不爱,又怎么可能爱其他人?” 我们常常听到这样义正辞严而又雄辩有里的句子,在网络上与人舌战,这是常用的伎俩。 其实,细细想来,这样的逻辑,经不起推敲。 这是一本颠覆性质的书,说好听一点是“解构”,说不好听就是“扒粪”。 我当然相信书中关于那些...
A good book! I like all those intellectuals better after knowing how normal they are.
评分Intellect is the hamartia of men.
评分一言以蔽之,文人=jerk。本书详细地扒了很多人的皮,其实在我看来没多少意思,因为我从来也不怎么买这些人的帐。
评分A good book! I like all those intellectuals better after knowing how normal they are.
评分A good book! I like all those intellectuals better after knowing how normal they are.
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