That's from "The Education of Henry Adams". Have to read it for class, and that section really wowed me.
Adams was the great-grandson of John Adams, second US president, and grandson of John Quincey Adams, sixth US president. He taught medieval history at Harvard. Born 1838, died 1912. There are many who say that the 19th century ended in 1914, so he didn't quite get to see the 20th century if they are right, but he came close enough to seeing the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries that we may as well say he did.
His editor says that his wit was so dry that it abrades. Just so.
What I really liked about the section I quoted was how well he makes us see that the world remained relatively unchanged from 3000 B.C. to his present day. I think he knew that would not continue to be true for parts of the world. And so we see the fundamental schism between . . . . oh, between Afghanistan and "us." The world for them is the world that has existed almost unchanged for thousands of years. We are on the other side of a divide.
Yet, can we stay there? Instead of slaves, we are dependent on internal combustion engines. Without them, we, too, would fall into darkness. |
