Collected Tales and Fantasies of Lord Berners: Including Percy Wallingford, the Camel, Mr. Pidger, Count Omega, the Romance of a Nose, Far from the Madding War

Book Description

Short Fiction. Little known in the United States, Lord Berners (1883-1950) was a composer, novelist, painter, and conspicuous aesthete. Known as "The English Satie," Berners as a composer collaborated with Sacheverell Sitwell, Gertrude Stein, and Serge Diaghilev. These short works are triumphs of dry irony and glorious absurdity: "In his practice he was very successful and had already made a name for himself. He had cured a well-known banker who suffered from persecution mania by inducing him to take up horticulture, and a neurotic member of the royal family by recommending a course of saxophone lessons" ("Count Omega"). The New York Times called his novel A DISTANT PROSPECT "funny, unsparing, sharp, yet fundamentally good spirited."

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During his life, Gerald Tyrwhitt, the 14th Baron Berners, made his reputation as a composer of ballet and opera scores, but he was also an entertaining memoirist and a crafter of sly and funny tales. In First Childhood and A Distant Prospect, he depicted the realities of growing up Victorian; in Collected Tales and Fantasies, he examines his privileged world through a medium that is no less true for being fiction. Berners relies on humor to make his points, but there's nothing remotely gentle in his mockery. Take, for example, "The Camel," an absurd tale of an ecclesiastical couple whose life is undone by a dromedary's mysterious appearance on their doorstep. Or "Percy Wallingford," in which the title character, a young man entirely without fault, begins to crumble when he discovers his wife has amazing night vision and can see him at his most defenseless: while he is asleep. In the world of Berners's making, even the most innocuous or ridiculous of events can lead to serious consequences indeed, and each of the six tales included in this volume has its dark side. Misdirected love letters, antique embroidery, little dogs that are loved and loathed in equal measure--from such off-kilter seeds, full-blown satire blooms, and readers who like their humor spiced with just a dash of arsenic will embrace this underappreciated writer. --Margaret Prior

Customer Reviews:

A marvelous collection of bizarre tales.......2001-02-09

Lord Berners' Collected Tales and Fantasies are six rather bizarre tales or short novellas, filled with dark and mysterious happenings. The characters who inhabit these stories are equally as bizarre and eccentric as the tales themselves, and, although they contain some hilarious satire in the style of Evelyn Waugh or "Saki," the narratives are laced with violence and tragedy. Lord Berners' characters include an assortment of eccentric artistocratic types that he knew between the years dividing the two World Wars. His characters include a mixture of neurotics, paranoids, megalomaniacs, pederasts, parasites, and what Monty Python would call "upper-class twits," all of whom partake in the most amazing adventures. In one of the best stories, "Far from the Madding War," the author himself makes a brief appearance as Lord FritzCricket. Berners admits that his own outlandish personality is that of "the Unstable Peer," an eccentric born into the aristocracy who can act in any way he pleases. Let us look briefly at a few of the stories. "Percy Wallingford," (written in 1914) tells the adventures of a self-assured and talented man who, on the eve of World War I, has his confidence destroyed by his wife, a fantastic woman who can see in the dark and who strips him of his self-assurance. "The Camel," (written in 1936) relates the mysterious appearance of a camel at a vicarage in the quiet British town of Slumbermere, which violently disrupts the easy life there and forces people to confront their own fears, anxieties, and jealousies. It is a deceptively dark and disturbing tale, perhaps influenced by the novels of Thomas Hardy and Anthony Trollope which also dealt with small-town British rustic life. "Mr. Pidger," (1939) takes place on the eve of World War II and is, in reality, a British country-house farce in the best tradition. Lord Berens takes the models of the genre - a dog-hating misanthrope, a missing will, an ill-tempered dog, an over bearing wife, and a reticent husband - and molds them into a bizarre burlesque with tragic overtones. "Count Omega" (1941) is a satire on reincarnation, Freudian sexual psychoanalysis, modern music, and practical jokes, which involves the ego-centered musician Emanuel Smith, maliciously modeled on the British composer Sir William Walton. "The Romance of a Nose" (1941) may be the weakest tale of the collection, a rather plodding story about a Queen with an enormous nose and the chicanery that takes place in international politics. Berners' final story in the collection, "Far From the Madding War" (1941) is in itself worth the price of the book. It is an outrageous reaction to World War II, peopled with whimsical neurotics and eccentrics in the university town of "All Saints." It is Lord Berners' satirical attack on Oxford and Cambridge Universities' reaction to the war, and an intimation of his own nervous breakdown during and after the war years when his private world was shattered. It is a hilarious yet disturbing story. I highly recommend these six stories to those Anglophile readers like myself who enjoy the works of such writers as Evelyn Waugh, "Saki," J.P. Donlevy, George MacDonald Fraser, or John Mortimer. Lord Berners is indeed a talented author who writes stylishly and with a sharp satiric thrust. I have enjoyed his music (now recorded on several CD's) and his excellent memoir, "The Château de Résenlieu," which was recently published. I hope that more of his fine literary work will be published.

A writer, too?.......2000-03-06

I've loved Lord Berners' music for years. And I knew he was an eccentric. But these pieces knocked me out. Wry, ironic, hilarious, skewed, but also humane. He's someone I wish I'd had dinner with; I suspect it would have been a memorable encounter.

Book Description

With the knowing eye and fiery voice of an accomplished storyteller, Alice Borchardt takes us back to the amazing world of a re-envisioned Camelot in the continuing Tales of Guinevere. Remarkably strong, magically talented, a match for friend and foe alike, Guinevere has come into womanhood—and faces a new relationship with Lancelot that will lead to the sharp-edged triangle of legend. . . .

Born of the Highlands, along Pictish shores washed by the icy North Sea, Guinevere, Queen of the Dragon People, has become a woman. She has taken the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne. Now there is no turning back. In order to protect her beloved homeland from the obscene greed of the Saxon raiders, Guinevere knows she must launch an attack. The sub-chiefs refuse to fall in line with her plans (because what does this young thing, barely a woman, know of warfare?) and give her an army of the useless, the outcast, the weakest of their young boys and girls. But the war party must proceed. If it fails, the command of both land and sea will fall to the enemy.

Facing her first battle against the pirates on foreign shores, and backed only by a meager band of ill-equipped fighters, Guinevere calls upon the spirits of the dead to aid her in the attack. Diving into the dark, morbid depths, Guinevere suddenly understands more of hate, love, anger, and revenge than she has ever wanted to. But the power the dead provide comes at a severe price. If she makes it through the raid, she will be a changed woman, in more ways than she can possibly imagine.

Further south, Black Leg, her childhood companion, sets out on his own. It is a quest to become a man—a man, he hopes, who will be worthy of the newly crowned Guinevere. A shapeshifter and the son of Guinevere’s adoptive man-wolf father, Black Leg (soon to be Lancelot) feels he has much to learn—and even more to prove. He discovers both his inner strength and an unmitigated passion when he meets the Lady of the Lake. But the trials of his journey— both mental and physical—turn out to be more perilous with each step. And when Lancelot and Guinevere are finally reunited, the consequences of both their ordeals will unleash a torrent of anguish and desire.

With familiar names brilliantly repositioned for a new generation of Arthurian fans—evil Merlin, conniving Igrane, complex Lancelot, tainted Arthur, and of course, warrior Guinevere—Alice Borchardt’s creation stands as a testament to the power of imagination.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Born of the Highlands, along Pictish shores washed by the icy North Sea, Guinevere, Queen of the Dragon People, has become a woman. She has taken the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne. Now there is no turning back. In order to protect her beloved homeland from the obscene greed of the Saxon raiders, Guinevere knows she must launch an attack. The sub-chiefs refuse to fall in line with her plans (because what does this young thing, barely a woman, know of warfare?) and give her an army of the useless, the outcast, the weakest of their young boys and girls. But the war party must proceed. If it fails, the command of both land and sea will fall to the enemy.

Facing her first battle against the pirates on foreign shores, and backed only by a meager band of ill-equipped fighters, Guinevere calls upon the spirits of the dead to aid her in the attack. Diving into the dark, morbid depths, Guinevere suddenly understands more of hate, love, anger, and revenge than she has ever wanted to. But the power the dead provide comes at a severe price. If she makes it through the raid, she will be a changed woman, in more ways than she can possibly imagine.

Further south, Black Leg, her childhood companion, sets out on his own. It is a quest to become a man -- a man, he hopes, who will be worthy of the newly crowned Guinevere. A shapeshifter and the son of Guinevere's adoptive man-wolf father, Black Leg (soon to be Lancelot) feels he has much to learn -- and even more to prove. He discovers both his inner strength and an unmitigated passion when he meets the Lady of the Lake. But the trials of his journey -- both mental and physical -- turn out to be more perilous with each step. And when Lancelot and Guinevere are finally reunited, the consequences of both their ordeals will unleash a torrent of anguish and desire.

With familiar names brilliantly repositioned for a new generation of Arthurian fans -- evil Merlin, conniving Igrane, complex Lancelot, tainted Arthur, and of course, warrior Guinevere -- Alice Borchardt's creation stands as a testament to the power of imagination.

Customer Reviews:

Very Confusing!.......2006-08-11

I loved The Dragon Queen, but this book has really confused me, there are so many different people with all different adventures that it gets really muddled up. Sometimes, I don't even know how the character got to a certain place and I thought I had missed something, so I go back and check, but still if confuses me. Some of the things like the "War Song" I have no idea what it is.... maybe more decription in parts of the story and less in others? That may help!

The Raven Warrior.......2006-07-15

I found The Dragon Queen at my local library and enjoyed reading it very much. I then picked up The Raven Warrior and although I made it through the book, I was disappointed in the modern dialogue that permeated the book. I will probably read the third book when it comes out, but hope she focuses on the action rather than the attempts to be witty, which are totally inappropriate for this genre of book.

Is Lyrically written an acceptable praise?.......2006-06-06

I enjoyed the Dragon Queen, so when I ran out of Robert Jordan, I picked up the Raven Warrior to pass the time till the next book in "The Wheel of Time" was released. I truly do enjoy, at least what I consider, the Shakespearean Quality and lyricism of her writing. I find it refreshingly different, in a Fantasy world that is fast running out of original Character names and places. It was the writing quality, and the fact that every detail was not always spelled out for you, so you were left actually having to consider what it was you had just read, that kept me reading. Similar to Shakespeare, whose characters could ramble on for two pages or more and say nothing more than they were going out for a walk.
The thing that bothered me about this novel was the consitency of the format. Every chapter ended as a cliff hanger, to be miraculously solved a few chapters later when you returned to that character. Irritatingly consistent and not at all like The Dragon Queen. Still, I find myself searching out the next installment, in hopes that someone may have pointed this out to the author and she has mixed the style up a bit. A worthwhile read, if you ask me. I'm buying the Fourth book in the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin. Another series I had trouble with at first, but have come to enjoy immensely.

filler.......2006-05-04

Lurid, disjointed, unfulfilling...Her Wolf books are interesting and Dragon Queen was written well enough that I bought Raven in hardback, but this book is a bit offensive. She uses sex as filler and her use of modern language sets the wrong tone and jangles the nerves. Some sequences in the book are interesting, but most are too dreamlike to make sense or just plain stupid, ie the big cat talking and licking himself, etc...

Dissapointed.......2005-08-27

In short by the time I got to the end of the book I didn't feel I had been taken anywhere. The story switches back and forth between the characters several times through each chapter, keeping you up to date on what they are doing, but by the time you get to the end of the book nothing has actually happened. The reader is no closer to the next step of the story than before beginning the book. It was a very frustrating and unfulfilling book.

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Raven Warrior :Tales of Guinevere 2
Alice Borchardt
Manufacturer: RANDOM HOUSE @ TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UCXRZ8

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The Clone Crisis
Lee McKeone
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0446363219

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The Crisis of 2005 - The Role of U.S. Naval Forward Presence in the Evolution of Relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China

Manufacturer: Storming Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 1423549902

Product Description

Patterns in Conflict: An Historical Analysis of PRC Crisis/Conflict Management Based on Chinese Perceptions of Sovereignty and National Strategic Frontiers

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Patterns in Conflict: An Historical Analysis of PRC Crisis/Conflict Management Based on Chinese Perceptions of Sovereignty and National Strategic Frontiers

Manufacturer: Storming Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: 1423555279

Product Description

This is a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A841953. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: Primarily based on Chinese perceptions of sovereignty and their national strategic frontiers, this study attempts to discern patterns in PRC uses of force to attain foreign policy objectives. Both concepts are instrumental in understanding when and where the Chinese are willing to use force. For the PRC there exists a dual concept of sovereignty that extends from territorial to influential. Not only is Chinese control expected within its recognized borders, but also predominating Chinese influence is expected in areas outside the territorial borders of the PRC Exactly where this perceived sphere of influence has been at any given time is difficult to establish. Through a twelve case study pattern analysis, this thesis demonstrates that the PRC has repeatedly been willing to use force to ensure their primacy of influence. As the strength of the Chinese nation expands and contracts, so has the PRC definition and application of Chinese influence. This work also identifies past demarcations of the PRC's strategic frontier and how far Chinese strategic interests might extend in the future. Within the last twenty-five years there has been a shift in PRC focus from a continental to a maritime frontier As Chinese comprehensive national strength allows, the maritime claims of the PRC will be defended with force in the name of sovereignty as part of the historic territory of the Chinese people.

Book Description

This Second Edition represents Bellah's summation of his views on civil religion in America. In his 1967 classic essay "Civil Rights in America," Bellah argued that the religious dimensions of American society—as distinct from its churches—has its own integrity and required "the same care in understanding that any religion."

This edition includes his 1978 article "Religion and the Legitimation of the American Republic," and a new Preface.

Customer Reviews:

Thought-provoking questions but unconvincing solutions.......2007-04-03

Robert Bellah's work is intended, in his own words, as a type of puritan "Jeremiad" for twentieth century America. Three times America has faced trials, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and Vietnam, Watergate, and the student protests of the 1960's. Speaking from the 1970's, Bellah strives to demonstrate where America has gone wrong and find cohesiveness again by re-shaping the American mind. Bellah's main purpose is to show how America has slipped from a sense of high calling and broken the original covenant and its communal obligations through utilitarian morality of self-interest. Bellah seeks to show the way for a recovery of a revitalized covenant and a renewal of American society (xiii).

Bellah's book primarily examines what he famously termed, "American civil religion," the religious dimension of a people that interprets its historical experience in the light of transcendent reality (3). First, Bellah reexamines America's "myth of origin." Unlike other peoples, America as a nation began on a definite date (3). This gave the American myth a sense of "newness" that downplays tradition and allows Americans to choose its own symbols and government. Bellah next looks at both the positive and negative consequences of Americans as a chosen people. Bellah argues that from almost the beginning, while retaining the conception of chosenness, America slipped away from the obligations of the covenant and broke it through its treatment of the native Indians and institution of black slavery (37). Furthermore, in its quest for an industrial and efficient economy, America has thrown off the restraints of the puritan covenant and pursued unbounded self-interest (84).

In response to this crisis, Bellah wants a return to a "new degree of moral freedom" disciplined through renewed discovery of cultural and social norms - a new, secularized covenant (86). Bellah also considers the place of different cultural groups in American society and argues that capitalism has encouraged individual self-interest to the exclusion of communal concerns. For Bellah, recognizing the broken covenant does not mean rejecting the past, but rather forming new invigorations and projections to build a society in the light of a transcendent ethical vision (141-142). American society could be renewed by a return to the language and myths of the biblical covenant and civic republicanism while rejecting libertarian self-interest - a re-establishment of American civil religion.

The Broken Covenant is not a historical monograph. Rather, Bellah uses history to understand the problems of late twentieth-century America and explain American society in modern terms. As such his methodology is based primarily on famous figures from American intellectual history such as Jefferson, Lincoln, and Winthrop. Usually his portrayal seems accurate, though he does not always establish the context of some quotations that fit well into his rhetorical organization, as with his use of Melville (38). Overall, Bellah makes a convincing case for the sources of the problems he sees in American society. His suggestions for alternatives, however, are deeply colored by his time and secular assumptions. Bellah's greatest contribution is to draw the attention of Americans to problems in society, show us how their history has shaped national consciousness, and encourage them to search for solutions with humility and vision.

Stirring critique, but flat resolution.......2007-04-02

Robert Bellah's book is a thoughtful and, in places, animated sociological critique of American culture in covenantal terms. Bellah views himself as a "Jeremiah" in an age of cultural crisis, calling for a fresh look at the realities beneath standard political terminology and a renewal of the religious imagination that breathes life into a people. As a sociologist, Bellah traces the influence of American "myths of origin" in order to determine their place in the ideological climate of the nation. Underlying all myths, he argues, is the peculiarly American concept of "covenant:" a binding social obligation that depends upon biblical imagery, classical virtue, and a sense of transcendent order and purpose. The covenant is made before both man and God (in an undefined sense), and finds its manifestation both in founding documents and in the political language of the nation. Because America will crumble without the covenant, Bellah contends that her citizens have the responsibility to uphold it in spite of severe cultural tensions.
The crux of Bellah's argument is not, however, that this covenant exists, but that it has been broken almost from the beginning. Although Americans have always viewed themselves as a "City on a Hill," and a supreme example of liberty to the nations, he argues that the existence of slavery and racism have undermined the covenant, rendering it an external form without internal force. Bellah correctly identifies key tensions within the American ethos: egalitarian standards vs. the reality of racism; Americanization vs. immigration; the Puritan work ethic and strong religious traditions of poverty and self-sacrifice vs. the Social Gospel and the ideal of wealth as the primary measure of success.
Bellah's awareness of the covenantal heart of American culture is insightful, and so, too, is his exposure of tensions at the core of the American identity. Where Bellah falters, perhaps, is in his hope for a solution. He encourages Americans to reaffirm the outward covenant (which includes a classical form of civil religion), while admitting that they have failed to uphold its spirit in the past. In an age which denies the value of tradition, he argues that men must turn to "what can be called transcendental or ecstatic reason," or a spiritually-oriented imagination that experiments with new forms of community and "symbolic expression" and renders possible a "new balance" of typically American conflicts of interest (153, 159). The nation, with some discretion, should not be afraid to look at previously forbidden cultural structures like socialism or eastern religion in order to strike this golden mean. The old forms of expression--Roman, Puritan, and staunchly capitalist--could not be lived out in reality. Let us return to the covenant "shell," Bellah urges, but let us find a different kind of energy to fill it.
Yet the "spiritual imagination" that Bellah exhorts America to fulfill is a tenuous ideal. He rightly recognizes that the covenant must be upheld by the inner life of religion, and he is wise to return to an understanding of reason as a kind of vision or insight which has very little to do with scientific knowledge. But he is not able to give the new driving force of reason a defined object. He utilizes the vocabulary and imagery of the civil religion which he affirms, but because the object of that imagery cannot provide concrete assurance of redemption, for individuals or for nation-states, he is unable to offer real hope. The overall force of Bellah's text, though written in stirring prose and often convincingly argued, falters somewhat in its end when he resorts to the weak ideal of "experimentation" as a means to bring about transcendent goals.

A thought-provoking "jeremiad".......2007-03-30

Robert Bellah's book, The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial, calls on America to renew her founding myth of a national covenant. Bellah writes his book out of a conviction that America is undergoing a time of trial, torn apart by radical individualism and capitalist greed, and in need of a new, common set of moral, religious and social values. Bellah argues that these values are found in the renewal of the notion of covenant, the idea that we are held responsible as a collective body to treat one another with charity. Bellah supports his thesis by first identifying America's founding myths of liberty, covenant and inner conversion, reformation and constant renewal, as seen in the Founders' good synthesis of Biblical symbolism with classical republican ideals. Bellah also sees a utilitarian, individualistic strain in America's founding, and he argues that the covenant was immediately broken by the national sins of slavery and oppression of Native Americans. Bellah examines the ideas of chosenness and success, arguing that covenant must restrain these ideas and impulses. Bellah criticizes capitalism as putting unrestrained political power in the hands of corporations, calling on America to renew her founding myths in terms that speak to the crises of modern times. Bellah draws from primary sources like John Winthrop, Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln and Herman Melville, demonstrating that America has never been without leaders who call on her to renew the covenant and fulfill its conditions of charity and brotherly love.

Bellah's book is a sociological examination of America's civil religion, and he analyzes the past mainly as it relates to the present. He thoughtfully diagnoses America's sins, and his books' strengths are its compassion, its strong sense of social justice, and its ability to combine a respect for tradition with an acute understanding of America's past wrongs. Bellah understands that America has strengths and flaws, and that sometimes America's flaws are its strengths unrestrained by compassion and covenant. Bellah's weaknesses actually lie in his solution to the problem of America's sins. Bellah accurately assesses America's crisis of vision and need for a renewal of covenant, but his new socialist, intellectual and religious national movement will not provide that common set of moral and ethical values. Bellah strongly emphasizes newness, saying we need "a new vision of man, a new sense of human possibility, and a new conception of the ordering of liberty." America's sins are old, not new: selfishness, materialism, radical individualism and greed. The solution to these sins is not a new vision of man or a new way of ordering liberty, but a return to a past vision of man and past way of ordering liberty.

Bellah calls his book a "jeremiad intended to change America." Overall, Bellah succeeds in writing a jeremiad that, if it does not change America, at least makes America think about her origins, her sins and her need to renew a commitment to charity.

Thought provoking but offers an insufficient solution.......2007-03-14

Robert Bellah's The Broken Covenant is a scathing critique of modern American priorities. Bellah claims that our ideals, while good, have been misapplied: Diligence, initiative, and the desire to model virtue have yielded to material gain, individualism, and imperialism. In Bellah's mind, we have divorced our ideals from the bonds of social justice. Salvation requires not simply restoring the old covenant, but shaping a new one around a unifying civil religion.

Bellah, echoing his own disillusioned era, examines the flawed myths upon which Americans base our identity and actions. These include the myths of origin and chosenness, which generate arrogance; prosperity, which demands material success to prove "moral virtue and religious salvation" and produces "emotional and imaginative constriction...in a world of common sense and plain fact" (76); and pluralism, which--when coupled with chosenness--degenerates into a limited "welcome" on condition of conformity. With such skewed traditions, says Bellah, our failure is no surprise. Through racism, materialism, and other ethical crimes, the nation's original covenant, its promise of social justice, "was broken almost as soon as it was made" (139).

Bellah offers an honest look at many American flaws, and I found his critique of our nativism and disregard of community especially compelling. He takes care to show how Lockian and Calvinist ideals have come to contradict original Christian values such as humility and love of neighbor, an argument very interesting to a Christian like me. I don't think we need to reject those ideals altogether, but Bellah's argument was an effective call to consider how I apply them.

Bellah then seeks to redeem our myths, but "any reappropriation of tradition must be made in the full consciousness of [past failure]" (144). He wants a new covenant, for "unless the free act of liberation [such as 1960s rebellion] moves rapidly toward an act of institution...even the liberation itself turns into...new despotism" (34). According to Bellah, this new "act of institution" should incorporate classical and Biblical traditions but reject the selfish model of Locke, "the utilitarian morality of self-interest" (xx). And Bellah longs for an internalized covenant, which "can never be completely captured by institutions" (142). He desires personal conviction over external conformity, and such passionate conviction is better inculcated by community and churches than government.

To fulfill a covenant, however, one needs a religion. I know the objective of Bellah's covenant (social justice), but his book fails to delineate a sufficient set of "principles" for practitioners of the civil religion to follow. Bellah seems to reject established creeds and embrace a relativistic attitude, and his vague longings for "unity with nature" (155) and "immediacy of experience" (157) cannot recreate the solid "imaginative, religious, moral, and social context" of the spiritual forerunners he admires. I agree with many of Bellah's premises, but in the end, I think that he falls prey to his own fear: By shying away from absolute truth, he fails to crystallize his (very Christian) ideals within a covenant.

Broken Covenant Uninspiring.......2007-03-11

In response to the overwhelming academic reaction to his first essay "The American Civil Religion," Robert Bellah again addresses the creation, development, and subsequent destruction of "the covenant" manifested in the American Civil Religion in his book, The Broken Covenant. By enumerating and expounding upon the "myths" of the American Civil Religion, Bellah attempts to uncover the American self-understanding that has both created and corrupted the Covenant. The myth of origin reveals the basic self-conceptualization of America: a pristine wilderness, a place of new beginnings for "the chosen" who reform the old covenant. According to Bellah, from a biblical as well as classical republican perspective, America is a land of living myth with a covenant based on Calvinist teachings of common charity, love, individual dignity, and responsibility through which the internal spiritual covenant meshes with the external political covenant to create public virtue. He believes that the American "covenant" legitimizes and gives purpose to the American identity.
He compares his book to the lamentations of a prophet crying out in the wilderness, trying to alert the population to societal corruption and impending doom while maintaining a hope for the future upon repentance. He argues that utilitarianism, capitalism and science, along with the "sins" of slavery and the treatment of the Native Americans, have corrupted and destroyed this covenant, leaving America empty of purpose. In violation of the covenant, capitalistic self-interest motivated American society instead of republican virtue. His solution espouses the creation of a new covenant that humbly recognizes the past and present flaws of America, renews the traditions of the old covenant and provides moral and spiritual meaning for the technological and scientific dimensions of modern society.
Using mostly primary sources, armed with a sociologist's understanding of American history and fueled by personal experience, Bellah attempts to evaluate the American Civil Religion in the past, present, and future. Though he realizes the current problem regarding the corrupted ideals of republicanism, equality, spirituality and religion, his ideas for the resurgence of the American Civil Religion are vague and abstract. He proposes a state of constant revolution, a continuous renewal of covenant through religious and spiritual rebirth that will fill the external political covenant of America with meaning. Along with the restitution of the inward covenant, Robert Bellah kowtows to the popular theories of the early 1970s, such as communitarianism and socialist policies, which have failed thus far in America. Rather than a transcendent new order, he espouses the call for reform common to the generation disillusioned by the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal; his book appears to be the result of a personal attempt to find meaning in a changing modern society.

The broken covenant: American civil religion in a time of trial

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The broken covenant: American civil religion in a time of trial
Robert Neelly Bellah
Manufacturer: Seabury Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial

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The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial
Robert Bellah
Manufacturer: Seabury Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J13UHU

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