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The Decline of the West: Form and Actuality Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 275 ratings

The complete manuscript of this book — the outcome of three years' work was ready when the Great War broke out. By the spring of 1917 it had been worked over again and — in certain details — supplemented and cleared up, but its appearance in print was still delayed by the conditions then prevailing. Although a philosophy of history is its scope and subject, it possesses also a certain deeper significance as a commentary on the great epochal moment of which the portents were visible when the leading ideas were being formed. The title, which had been decided upon in 1911, expresses quite literally the intention of the book, which was to describe, in the light of the decline of the Classical age, one world-historical phase of several centuries upon which we ourselves are now entering. Events have justified much and refuted nothing. It became clear that these ideas must necessarily be brought forward at just this moment and in Germany, and, more, that the war itself was an element in the premises from which the new world-picture could be made precise. For I am convinced that it is not merely a question of writing one out of several possible and merely logically justifiable philosophies, but of writing the philosophy of our time, one that is to some extent a natural philosophy and is dimly presaged by all. This may be said without presumption; for an idea that is historically essential —that does not occur within an epoch but itself makes that epoch — is only in a limited sense the property of him to whose lot it falls to parent it. It belongs to our time as a whole and influences all thinkers, without their knowing it; it is but the accidental, private attitude towards it (without which no philosophy can exist) that — with its faults and its merits — is the destiny and the happiness of the individual.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Apocalyptic in tone, it is a massive, somber interpretation of the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations, much in the spirit and tradition of historical analysis displayed by another twentieth-century prophet, Arnold J. Toynbee....The contemporary reader will find much that is stimulating in Spengler's criticism of our age."―San Francisco Chronicle

"Often damned but still cited (the very title can turn a whole evening into a disputation), it is still a provocative and often dazzling book....An exciting excursion through history."―Time

"What [Spengler] wrote was an epic poem....The lesson to be learned from him is that writers too can be seismographs; the trembling of Spengler's themes signaled the coming of the Nazi earthquake."―New Statesman

About the Author

About the Author:
Oswald Spengler, one of the most controversial historians of this century, was born in Blankenburg, Germany in 1880 and died in Munich in 1936.
H. Stuart Hughes is Professor of History, Emeritus, at the University of California at San Diego. He is the author of many books, including Oswald Spengler: A Critical Estimate, Consciousness and Society and, most recently, Sophisticated Rebels.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00AHHVHK8
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 2, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1641 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 487 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 275 ratings

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Oswald Spengler
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Oswald Spengler (1880–1936) was a philosopher of history who is regarded as one of the principal figures of the Conservative Revolution in the Weimar Republic. His most important work was his two-volume 1918/23 book The Decline of the West, in which he theorised that all civilisations go through an inevitable cycle of rise and fall, with the West currently entering its declining period. The book went on to be immensely influential throughout the world. He saw a distinction between what he termed ‘Prussian socialism’ and Marxism. Although a nationalist, he was sceptical of the Nazis when they came to power, disagreeing particularly with their racial policies. In 1933, he was granted membership in the Senate of the German Academy. Arktos has issued reprints of his books Man and Technics, Prussianism and Socialism and The Hour of Decision in different languages.

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4 out of 5 stars
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Customers find the book's content erudite and an outstanding philosophical force. They describe it as an expertly designed electronic rendition of a classic at affordable prices. However, some customers report issues with translation quality, errata, and scan quality. Opinions vary on readability - some find it great and interesting, while others find the writing difficult.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

33 customers mention "Erudite content"28 positive5 negative

Customers appreciate the book's erudite content. They find it an outstanding philosophical work with a tangible academic perspective. Readers describe it as the greatest achievement of Western thought and the greatest non-fiction book. The basic premise seems sound, but the writing can be difficult to understand. Art, music, politics, and theology will help readers understand the content, form, and aim of the book.

"...arguments for and against Spengler’s unorthodox approach, his erudition in mathematics, the natural sciences, and classical literature is impressive...." Read more

"...or a bad philosophy, all that matters is that his theory of world history is correct...." Read more

"...the core foundations of conservative thought, in a very tangible academic viewpoint, essential but too often missed in understanding today's politics." Read more

"...Hands down one of the most voracious arguments in all of modern philosophy. Readers of Nietzsche, Goethe, and Heidegger will not be disappointed...." Read more

5 customers mention "Style"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's style. They find it an expertly designed electronic rendition of a classic that brings to light troubling issues. The book is described as beautiful and fantastic, with reproductions of original printed works at affordable prices.

"...Yet his style is dreamlike and poetic (in the epic sense). This book is not for everyone, but if it speaks to you it will light your fire." Read more

"...heritage of ages past into the 21st century through high-quality reproductions of original, classic printed works at affordable prices." &#..." Read more

"This expertly designed electronic rendition of a classic brings to light once more the deeply troubling conclusions of Oswald Spengler's first..." Read more

"Used book in very nice shape. Still very readable and sturdy. This book is 'The Decline of the West' by Oswald Spengler." Read more

4 customers mention "Value for money"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the affordable prices of classic printed works.

"...is much of the early 20th century that have survived and are of great value to us, even comparable to the great works of his reference...." Read more

"...high-quality reproductions of original, classic printed works at affordable prices." &#..." Read more

"The first chapter is worth the (already low) price of the book. Spengler was clearly ahead of his time...." Read more

"Most inexpensive & readable Kindle book for Vol II of Decline of the West by Spengler..." Read more

45 customers mention "Readability"26 positive19 negative

Customers have different views on the book's readability. Some find it interesting and an essential read, saying the first chapter is worth the price. Others find the writing difficult, with frequent typos and editing issues.

"...Great architecture, advanced mathematics, artistic innovations, technological ingenuity, statecraft, warfare, etc...." Read more

"...It is a dense, serious, and demanding book. It is not a fun read, but it is necessary...." Read more

"...Over all I believe it to be an essential read to understanding the core foundations of conservative thought, in a very tangible academic viewpoint,..." Read more

"...34;This book has been carefully crafted to utilize the original images of antique books rather than error prone OCR text..." &#..." Read more

13 customers mention "Translation quality"2 positive11 negative

Customers find the translation poor. They find errors, misspellings, and amateurish formatting. The text is unreadable, with large parts without any meaning. There are also missing words and gibberish. Overall, customers feel the book is impossible to read due to poor translation quality and formatting issues.

"...However, though the book is interesting, the Kindle format was nearly impossible. But that may just be a problem with ereaders...." Read more

"...translator is obviously not a native English speaker and has no ear for real English, spoken or written, yet his name is Charles Francis..." Read more

"...I can't get a flow going due to the problems in the formatting as well as the numerous incorrect breaks in lines and paragraphs...." Read more

"The number of typos and formatting errors is incredible. The Germanic sentence structure us can be forgiven as the book was written in Gerrnan...." Read more

7 customers mention "Errata"0 positive7 negative

Customers find the book has editing and typographical errors, incorrect line breaks, and factual inaccuracies. They also mention that the Kindle Edition is broken due to text scanning errors, and the back page was almost torn off.

"...It's not especially well-organized, it has factual errors and dares to offer a universal theory of the growth and decline of all civilizations...." Read more

"...to the problems in the formatting as well as the numerous incorrect breaks in lines and paragraphs...." Read more

"...Every single page has a slew of errors...." Read more

"The Kindle Edition is broken due to text scanning errors. Frequent typos (example: "connexion")..." Read more

4 customers mention "Scan quality"0 positive4 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the scan quality. They mention poor scanning, bad OCR, and errors in the text.

"...Find another one. Not only is the machine-scanned text full of bizarre and jarring errors that could be easily fixed by any human editor..." Read more

"This book is a bad OCR scan, and nobody has bothered to edit or correct the mistakes...." Read more

"The Kindle Edition is broken due to text scanning errors. Frequent typos (example: "connexion")..." Read more

"Poor scanning and presentation...." Read more

I wish I had noticed the other one star review.
1 out of 5 stars
I wish I had noticed the other one star review.
"Windham Press is committed to bringing the lost cultural heritage of ages past into the 21st century through high-quality reproductions of original, classic printed works at affordable prices.""This book has been carefully crafted to utilize the original images of antique books rather than error prone OCR text...""We think these benefits are worth the occasional imperfection resulting from the age of these books at the time of scanning, and their vintage feel provides a connection to the past that goes beyond the mere words of the text."My ass.It's just a photocopy of an older text put on printer paper. Truly, it's the same paper that you use in your printer at home.Sorry for the horrible picture quality, but you can see the lines along the edge of the pages from where the book was misaligned with the scanner. Disappointing. I guess I expected something a little more grand, this felt like the antithesis of grand. The least they could have done was touch it up a bit.This is a sort of bare bones product that could have been made start to finish by interns. Look elsewhere.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2016
    Oswald Spengler’s “The Decline of the West” was and still is a controversial book. Some have even regarded it as hopelessly flawed. Conceived just before 1911 and written during World War I, it was published a few months before Germany signed the Armistice (in 1918) that would lead to its eventual calamities within the Weimar Republic and set the stage for the rise of the Third Reich. Whatever else one may say about it, the book seems to have been eerily prophetic, especially for Germany.

    Spengler’s unconventional and creative technique of using imagination and intuition to divine the probable future by way of “physiognomic meaning” and “morphological” analysis rather than the more accepted “systematic” approach of compiling facts and dates was met with scathing criticism by much of the academic world. Nevertheless, Spengler’s difficult book became a sensation in Germany and quickly sold 90,000 copies, much to the chagrin of the experts. Throughout the book Spengler is attempting to write a “philosophy of history” as opposed to a mere recounting of the past devoid of intrinsic order or inner necessity. Instead, Spengler was seeing each fact in the historical picture according to its symbolic context. He wanted to set free their shapes, hidden deep beneath the surface of a true “history of human progress.” Yet there was no such thing as progress (in the evolutionary sense) according to Spengler. The entire book was a protest against Darwinism and its systematic science based upon causality. Instead, he regarded a “culture” as an organism and world history as its biography. The best metaphor for his “morphological” approach was the four seasons – spring, summer, autumn, winter. The instinctive genius of a youthful, even barbaric culture in the springtime of its development would enable it to flourish. As it matured it would exult in all the potentialities of its creativity, reaching heights never before attempted. Great architecture, advanced mathematics, artistic innovations, technological ingenuity, statecraft, warfare, etc. would reach full flower well into its summer. Then, as the inner form world and imagination of such a culture began to lose its force it would enter an urban and worldly “late” (autumnal) period of rationalism and free itself from subservience to religion and dare to make that religion the object of epistemological criticism, thus opening the door to nihilism. Finally, it would go into its winter season or “Civilization” phase and begin its slow and inevitable decline. The West was already entering its Civilization phase by 1918 according to Spengler. It would not be a sudden collapse, but a gradual setting of the sun, a time of lengthening shadows, i.e., a “Twilight of the Gods.”

    The most arresting thematic metaphors in Spengler’s imaginings were the three main cultures of Western Civilization, namely the Apollonian, Magian, and Faustian. Apollonian culture was classical civilization, i.e., the Greeks, the Romans, and the Hellenistic pagan culture of the ancients. Magian-Arabian culture encompassed Judaism, primitive Christianity, Mazdeism, Nestorians, Manicheans, Monophysites, and Islam. It was an eschatological and apocalyptic culture. It saw the world as Cavern, and our time on earth as limited. Submission to God was its primary ethos, but there was also the possibility of salvation, and of a coming Savior. By contrast, Apollonian culture did not see the past or even the present as being that different from the future. History as some linear narrative from which lessons could be learned was alien to the Apollonian mind. Instead, myth contained the essential, unchanging wisdom of existence. Character was fate. Pride came before the fall. The gods were capricious. But Faustian culture – which began around 1000 A.D. wished to extend its will into infinite space. It had built the Gothic cathedrals to realize this inward, willful striving for extension into the illimitable heavens, to flood the soul with light. Descartes, Leibnitz, Euler, Gauss, Newton, and Riemann, had pushed western mathematics to new heights. European artists had learned to use light and shadow, the color wheel, and the laws of perspective and vanishing points to create paintings that appeared three dimensional. The music of the Baroque and the art of the fugue had expressed the Faustian notion of limitless space. All this and much more are discussed in exhaustive detail throughout the book.

    This abridged version will give the reader a healthy overview of Spengler’s book. But I recommend the full, unabridged version for anyone who has the time and inclination to read it at length. Even though there are numerous arguments for and against Spengler’s unorthodox approach, his erudition in mathematics, the natural sciences, and classical literature is impressive. Yet his style is dreamlike and poetic (in the epic sense). This book is not for everyone, but if it speaks to you it will light your fire.
    42 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2003
    Much has been written about whether Spengler was a good man or a bad man, whether his is a good philosophy or a bad philosophy, all that matters is that his theory of world history is correct. Spengler does not identify a problem and then set forth what people must do to avoid the problem. In fact, the whole point of his theory is that Cultures are born, flourish and die in a predictable pattern. There is no more anything we can do to avoid the 'problem' than there is to increase a man's lifespan to 200 years.
    One example, which I think has clearly been borne out by current events: in the aftermath of WWI, where armies with troops numbering in the millions were often too small, Spengler predicted that armies of our time would number in the hundreds of thousands, and that these small, war-keen armies were meant to be used. Everything that is happening in the world today, from American response to 9/11, to pornography, to the professionalization of sports, to families not eating dinner together, is elucidated by Spengler's theory.
    If you want to understand the present, more importantly, if you want to understand the terrible internal problems the US will encounter in the next ten years, then you must understand the Decline of the West. It is a dense, serious, and demanding book. It is not a fun read, but it is necessary.
    The best analogy is a scene from The Matrix: Morpheus offers Neo two pills. The red pill will reveal the world as it truly is, which very few people actually see. The blue pill will take Neo back where he was, still fooled by the Matrix, oblivious to reality. The Decline of the West is the red pill.
    119 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2020
    Decline of the west is a beautifully written book that takes a comparative analysis of systems of culture across the world, and then a larger analysis of the "Western" culture and how its story fits the greater system of humanity. It's grand prediction is that eventually the 'faustian man' of the west will soon begin to question all of the foundations which creates and maintains western civilization, causing a caesarian moment, a great decline, and a resurgence of new warring cultures.

    He takes a large analysis over the "Seasons" of different cultures, expanding from the essential parts of its mathematical roots, expanding on the Nietzschean worldview to the anthropological field and further into geopolitics.

    However true or factual his statements may be, he sort of takes a lackluster "Facts over truth" that he believes elevates what he says over all other intellects. As if his worldview and viewpoints are somewhat more real than others because he can self-assess it, although he fails to realize that his systems are just as rooted as any other.

    His predictions and assessments of his contemporary are also shaky, where he is comparing the 'soulful' timeless creations, which survived history, with the 'soulless' everything of his modernity, not seeing that what makes something of great value is time itself. So naturally, at every given time, we can make the mistake of believing that nothing of which our modern times create has value. Yet we see that there is much of the early 20th century that have survived and are of great value to us, even comparable to the great works of his reference.

    Over all I believe it to be an essential read to understanding the core foundations of conservative thought, in a very tangible academic viewpoint, essential but too often missed in understanding today's politics.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Rodolfo Lessa
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest books of the XX century
    Reviewed in Brazil on March 22, 2022
    Great product, seems like a fair translation.

    This book should be mandatory for everyone interested in comparative philosophy, civilizations development and Nazi Germany.
  • Sky phone
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on July 11, 2018
    Great book.
  • Nic
    1.0 out of 5 stars Not great on Kindle
    Reviewed in Australia on April 26, 2021
    As an older book, this is just a picture of each page so it doesn't display well if trying to read on the kindle app, particularly on your phone. Can't size it without the page being cut off so it becomes effectively illegible.
  • Psychopomp
    5.0 out of 5 stars A classic from Oswald Spengler
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2016
    Spengler's writing was the underpinning of James Blish's okie/cities books. I read this book because of my enjoyment of Blish's books and recommend it if you want to help understand his underpinning inspiration. When published in 1918, The Decline .... was a worldwide success and resulted in much comment from intellectuals of the time and later. A more than worthwhile read in its own right.
  • Placeholder
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in India on September 14, 2015
    Excellent book

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