The End of the Modern World

Father Guardini has a matchless ability to "get under the skin" of a culture, to define its essence, to elaborate what makes it tick. He turns his penetrating gaze briefly on Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but spends most time analyzing the Modern Age. For him, the keys aspects of the Modern world were a rich and expressive humanity, exemplified by the genius; a warm relationship with nature in which man is embedded; and a seemingly inexhaustible culture which man created.He contends that the wellsprings of the Modern World have run dry. A new age is being born, the outlines of which are still very indistinct. The new age will foster a more frugal personality; it will view nature more from a distance and as something which man is called to master; the culture will be defined less by artistic expression than by the use of the enormous power over nature made possible by technology. For the Christian, this means that a different set of virtues come to the fore. Guardini identifies 3 key ones: earnestness, gravity and asceticism, all springing from a deep humility. They are vital because we must be able to discipline ourselves before we can profitably use the enormous power at our disposal.The book is vastly more penetrating, more challenging than my little overview can suggest. There is not a wasted word. On the contrary, ideas are almost underdeveloped. The book is meant to be read, and then read again. Each reading brings forth different aspects of this most profound book.

Written shortly after the end of World War II, The End of the Modern World is a bracing, sometimes bleak jeremiad against the dehumanizing dangers of what we now call postmodernism. Guardini is not a pessimist, but he is vitally concerned about the potential loss of human dignity and individual responsibility in a world culture dominated by technological utilitarianism. Occasionally Guardini is off target (e.g., about all future wars being world wars), but mostly he is penetrating and prophetic in his analysis of contemporary society. After a brief review of the major epochs in Western history, he focuses on power as the defining problem of our age, and proposes that virtues such as humility, self-control, and faith are more crucial than ever. After more than 50 years, this thought-provoking book still serves as one of the best introductions to the fundamental ethical and theological issues of our times.

Guardini has written, in a small space, what amounts to one of the most incisive, blistering critiques of the modern world that I've ever read. Beautifully abstract yet precise, this masterwork will leave you nearly breathless with its forceful prose and unwavering criticism. After reading this book, one may wonder how one has remained asleep for all this time. Wake up, world, Guardini is calling you! A fierce read that's about the most painfully honest thing a human being can read these days. Save your propaganda, your agenda, and your polemics for another time. Guardini will work on your last nerve until you are driven to action. Again, WAKE UP, WORLD!

The End of The Modern World will change the way you look at the world. Since first reading it twenty years ago, the daily events of the world constantly bring me back to Guardini's prophetic words. Beyond changing you view, it may also change your life.

The End of the Modern World, by Romano Guardini, is a short masterpiece on the problems of the age in which we now live - and which is now drawing to a close. Modern man is faced for the first time in his history with "mass" man. This "mass" affects everything - human dignity, right relationship with God, individuality, freedom, quality of life. The very nature of man can be called into question, with shattering consequences for our faith and our "home" in the universe. Guardini understood very well the "warehousing" concept of human life, where amongst crowds of men, the human person can lose significance, spiritual autonomy, and his bearings, feeling both crushed by these masses, and at the same time unable to escape them. He also understood the reality and trends toward totalitarianism, having resisted, been silenced by, and gone into hiding to escape the Nazis, himself. In my opinion, Guardini's writings (prophetic as they were) on the times in which we live are his most brilliant. He is a voice of God crying out in a world that is escalating ever more surely to annihilation of all that the human person has always considered fundamental to human life - dignity, right relationship with God, freedom. His other books which touch on this subject, The World and the Person, The Virtues, Power and Responsibility, and Letters from Lake Como, are also indispensable reading for facing and grappling with the problems of The End of the Modern World. I highly recommend Romano Guardini.