Language English, Spanish Nationality USA | Period 1972 – present Name Morris Berman | |
![]() | ||
Occupation Educator, Scholar, Writer Citizenship USA (born), Mexico (currently lives) Alma mater Cornell University (B.A., Mathematics, 1966)Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D., History of Science, 1972) Books Dark ages America, Why America Failed: Th, The twilight of American, The reenchantment of the world, Neurotic Beauty: An Outsider Similar People Nomi Prins, Dmitry Orlov, James Howard Kunstler, Joe Bageant, John Michael Greer |
Morris berman reflections on the decline of american empire
Morris Berman (born 1944), is an American historian and social critic. He was born in Rochester, New York, going on to earn his BA in mathematics at Cornell University in 1966 and his PhD in the history of science at The Johns Hopkins University in 1972. As an academic humanist cultural critic, Berman specializes in Western cultural and intellectual history.
Contents
- Morris berman reflections on the decline of american empire
- Morris berman 9 17 2012 waning of the modern ages
- Life and work
- Recognition
- Selected works
- References
Morris berman 9 17 2012 waning of the modern ages
Life and work
Berman has served on the faculties of a number of universities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Berman emigrated from the U.S. to Mexico in 2006, where he was a visiting professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico City from 2008 to 2009. During this period he continued writing for various publications including Parteaguas, a quarterly magazine.
Although an academic, Berman has written several books for a general audience. They deal with the state of Western civilization and with an ethical, historically responsible, or enlightened approach to living within it. His work emphasizes the legacies of the European Enlightenment and the historical place of present-day American culture.
As book reviewer George Scialabba points out, Berman's work is generally discussed in terms of the two trilogies he produced over a thirty-year span (between 1981 and 2011):
"Most historians would be content to have written one deeply researched and interpretively wide-ranging trilogy on a large and important subject. Berman has written two: one on alternative forms of consciousness and spirituality (The Re-enchantment of the World, Coming to Our Senses, Wandering God) and one on the decline of American civilization (The Twilight of American Culture, Dark Ages America, Why America Failed). The second trilogy, a grimly fascinating inventory of the pathologies of contemporary America and an unsparing portrait of American history and national character, is a masterpiece."
Recognition
In 1990, Morris Berman received the Governor's Writers Award (Washington State) for his book Coming to Our Senses. In 1992, he was the recipient of the first annual Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies. In 2000, Berman's book The Twilight of American Culture was named one of the ten most recommended books of the year by the Christian Science Monitor and was named a "Notable Book" by The New York Times Book Review. In 2013 he received the "Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity" from the Media Ecology Association. As of 2014 Berman continues to live in Mexico.