Fire In the Minds of Men
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:40 pm
I've been reading this book Fire In the Minds of Men, by James H. Billington. It's a very wonderful, well done work, thoroughly chronicling the history of various revolutions, and revolutionary thinkers and philosophers that have helped generate all the ideas that exist in modern political history. It certainly has documented a ton of good deep information which is largely obscure when looking into the Internet. For example, it mentions obscure figures Restif de la Bretonne, who had influenced many of the ideas of modern thought; such as the belief in a utopia of communitarian equality, and belief in technological progress of humanity.
Other key things include the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, the French Revolution and its activists that were influential on many more thinkers to come, and the occult connection (namely Freemasonic connection) to revolutionary societies involved in conspiracy to overthrow governments during the 19th century. There's also Saint-Simonianism, Hegelianism, Marxism, the split between National and Social revolutionaries (as well as the more moderate thinkers), Anarchism, Syndicalism, Fascism. I must say that if you really want to look at the history and background of the function of politics as a whole, this book is definitely one of them to buy.
Other key things include the Bavarian Order of the Illuminati, the French Revolution and its activists that were influential on many more thinkers to come, and the occult connection (namely Freemasonic connection) to revolutionary societies involved in conspiracy to overthrow governments during the 19th century. There's also Saint-Simonianism, Hegelianism, Marxism, the split between National and Social revolutionaries (as well as the more moderate thinkers), Anarchism, Syndicalism, Fascism. I must say that if you really want to look at the history and background of the function of politics as a whole, this book is definitely one of them to buy.