On Looking Into the Abyss : Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society

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Summary: Brilliant, concise essays on culture and the arts
Review: Gertrude Himmerfarb has been writing sharp and insightful critiques of history and society for over 50 years, and her more recent books are as good or better than anything she has published in her long career.

In "On Looking Into the Abyss" Himmerfarb demolishes literary deconstruction and exposes its frauds as devistatingly as any critic. Her contrast of the Marxian and Hegelian views show us both the continuing attraction of Marxism as well as its fatal flaws, and make us understand why a 160 year old debate is still relevant.

In an age where discourse is often reduced to televised shouting matches, the half-baked opinions of celebrities and carefully crafted statements matched to opinion poles, read Himmelfarb to re-discover what intelligent argument and essays can and should be.

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Summary: Acadummies Explained
Review: Himmelfarb's observations on post-modern 'history' are right on target. The apologists for the Holocaust (revisionism is always apologetics) in academia are hideously indifferent to the greatest devastation and assault on humanity ever known. I had to laugh at the post-modern historian's lament about the 'fact fettish' of traditional historians. This book may be considered the starting point in the inquiry on why many students leave academia less able to think critically than when they enter. This is a tragedy, particularly because the 'new' history (or literature or psychology, etc.) is so boring and formula-driven that a daily newspaper is more informative, relevant, and interesting in comparison. This book is an eye-opener for those who wonder why so many college graduates are clueless about where they are in human history and how they got here. Those who have long suspected the intrusion of academic nincompoopery in our universities in recent decades will enjoy this book.

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Summary: Let's Hear It For Gertie! Five Cheers.
Review: The moral debility of our Western universities has no more incisive a critic than Gertrude Himmelfarb. A refreshing read for anyone sick of the doubletalk of the multiculturalists.