Why This 1967 Interview of Prof. A.J. Toynbee is Still Thought-Provoking

by Nomad

The observations of an esteemed historian from 1967 still hold true in our time.

More than a Historian

To call Professor Arnold J. Toynbee a historian is to fall short of the mark. He was called a " philosopher of history." 

His most famous work "The Study of History" is a staggering 12 volumes and took three decades to write. On a human scale, that's a lot of history right there.
Today, Toynbee is known mostly in academic circles but in his time, he was a widely read and discussed scholar in the 1940s and 1950s.
Sadly, for the anybody without a masters' degree, the work is not what most people would consider and "easy" read.

But that's not to say it is inaccessible. A later condensed version allows us mere mortals an opportunity to understand Toynbee's brilliance. Even then, there are moments when you look up from the book and wonder, what the heck did I just read?
(The Wikipedia version is perhaps the ultimate abridgment.)

To put it simply, Professor Toynbee studied what caused primitive societies to transform themselves into civilizations and the reasons why civilizations collapsed.

Toynbee's goal was to trace the development and decay of 19 world civilizations in the historical record, applying his model to each of these civilizations, detailing the stages through which they all pass: genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration.

In a way, Toynbee turned a very wide angle lens on humanity. Toynbee, as dry as his works could often be, provided remarkable insight into where we are in the bigger picture. He also hinted at where we might be going.

White Man's Civilization and The Cherokee's Reply

 by Nomad

While researching the history of early Virginia in the New York Public Library, I found this passage from and thought you might find it interesting. 

The story relates an elderly Indian leader's eloquent reply to the cultural arrogance of the white people who were effectively destroying his way of life.

It comes from the long-forgotten book, "A History of the Valley of Virginia" written in 1833 by Samuel Kercheval.

In the winter of 1815-16, the author spent some weeks in the state of Georgia, where he fell in with Col. Barnett, on of the commissioner for running the boundary line of Indian lands which had shortly before been ceded to the United States. Some conversations took place on the subject of the Indians and Indian character, in which Col. B. remarked that in one of his excursions through Indian country, he met with a very aged Cherokee chief, who spoke and understood the English language pretty well.

The colonel had several conversations with this aged man, in one of which he congratulated him upon the prospect of his people having their condition greatly improved, there being every reason to believe in the course of a few years they would become acquainted with the arts of civil life- would be better clothed, better fed, and erect better and more comfortable habitations- and what was of still greater importance  they would become acquainted with the doctrines and principles of the Christian religion.