End and Beginning: On the Generations of Cultures and the Origins of the West (European Perspectives: a Series in Social Thought and Cultural Ctiticism)

Pt. 1:culture Cycles And Culture Generations -- Thinking Beyond Spengler -- Toynbee And The Culture Cycle -- The Antinomy Of Death And The Culture Generations -- From Minoan To Greek Mythology -- The Philosophical Background: Beyond Space And Time -- Pt. 2: Contributions To The Origin Of The West: Linguistic Prelude -- The Rise Of The I-form Of Speech -- Germanic Mythology -a Mirror Of Cultural Change -- The Mythical Starting Point [fragment] -- Historic Layers In The Siegfried Saga -- The Archetypes In The Siegfried Myth -- The Gods Of The Ancient Germans -- The Emergence Of Western Christianity -- Pelagius, The Irish And The African Church -- The Beginnings Of Western Monasticism [fragment] -- Boniface And The Anglo-irish Impact On Frankish Churches -- Rome's Break With Byzantium As Shown In Christian Painting -- Confluence: End And Beginning -- Primal Crime And Social Paranoia In The Dark Ages -- Stages On The Road To Western Civilization -- Postscriptum: The Chanson De Roland -- Pt. 3: Reflections On Present And Future -- After The Atom: Life Out Of Death Or Life In Death? [1947] -- Will Technology Destroy Civilization? [1951] -- Toynbee And The Future Of The Jews [1955]. Franz Borkenau ; Edited With An Introduction By Richard Lowenthal. Books By Franz Borkenau: P. [475] Includes Bibliographies References And Index. Preface, vii Editor’s Introduction, 1 Part I. Culture Cycles and Culture Generations, 31 1. Thinking Beyond Spengler, 33 2. Toynbee and the Culture Cycle, 47 3. The Antinomy of Death and the Culture Generations, 64 4. From Minoan to Greek Mythology, 96 5. The Philosophical Background: Beyond Space and Time, 121 Part II. Contributions to the Origin of the West, 131 • Linguistic Prelude 1. The Rise of the I-Form of Speech, 133 • Germanic Mythology—a Mirror of Cultural Change 2. The Mythical Starting Point [fragment], 202 3. Historic Layers in the Siegfried Saga, 215 4. The Archetypes in the Siegfried Myth, 238 5. The Gods of the Ancient Germans, 255 • The Emergence of Western Christianity 6. Pelagius, the Irish and the African Church, 289 7. The Beginnings of Western Monasticism [fragment], 328 8. Boniface and the Anglo-Irish Impact on the Frankish Churches, 357 9. Rome’s Break with Byzantium as Shown in Christian Painting, 365 • Confluence: End and Beginning 10. Primal Crime and “Social Paranoia” in the Dark Ages, 381 11. Stages on the Road to Western Civilization, 392 12. Postscriptum: The Chanson de Roland, 417 Part III. Reflections on Present and Future, 435 1. After the Atom: Life out of Death or Life in Death? [1947], 437 2. Will Technology Destroy Civilization? [1951], 449 3. Toynbee and the Future of the Jews [1955], 460 Appendix I: The Sources and Their Handling, 471 Appendix II: Books by Franz Borkenau, 475 Index, 477 Another topic of interest for Borkenau was engaging in an intellectual critique of Toynbee and Oswald Spengler's work about when and why civilizations weaken and end. The latter critique was published posthumously by his friend, Richard Löwenthal. In his book, Borkenau drew a distinction between the "Latin" mentality of southern Europe (which also included France) and the "Germanic" mentality of northern Europe. Borkenau argued that German literature tended to celebrate individual "superman" heroes who achieved superhuman feats in battle while French literature did not. Borkenau used as an example the French epic poem Chanson de Roland, where the hero Roland, against the advice of his best friend Oliver, choses not ask for the readily available help of Charlemagne's army against a Muslim army invading from Spain. Borkenau noted that the result of Roland's vainglorious desire is his own death and the destruction of his own army, which was very different from how medieval German poets would had handled the story. (Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Borkenau#End_and_Beginning)) A history of Western civilization looks at each preceding era's influence on the next, and predicts future developments in our culture