Morris Berman

Morris Berman (born August 3, 1944)^[1] is an American historian and social critic. He earned a BA in mathematics at Cornell University in 1966 and a PhD in the history of science at Johns Hopkins University in 1971.^[2] Berman is an academic humanist cultural critic who specializes in Western cultural and intellectual history.

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.^[3]

Although an academic, Berman has written several books for a general audience.^[4] 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.

He wrote a trilogy on consciousness and spirituality, published between 1981 and 2000, and another trilogy on the American decline, published between 2000 and 2011. Book reviewer George Scialabba commented:

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.^[5]

Recognition[]

In 1990, Berman received the Governor's Writers Award (Washington State) for his book Coming to Our Senses.^[6] 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^[7] and was named a "Notable Book" by The New York Times.^[8] In 2013 he received the "Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity" from the Media Ecology Association.^[9] Berman moved to Mexico in 2006 where he continues to reside as of 2021.^[3]

Selected works[]

• Social Change & Scientific Organization: The Royal Institution 1799–1844. 1978. – nonfiction
• The Reenchantment of The World. 1981. – nonfiction
• Coming to Our Senses: Body and Spirit in the Hidden History of the West. 1989. – nonfiction
• Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality. 2000. – nonfiction
• . 2000. – nonfiction
• Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire. 2006. – nonfiction
• A Question of Values. 2010. – essay collection – nonfiction
• Destiny. 2010. – fiction (a collection of three novellas)
• Counting Blessings. 2011. – poetry
• Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline. 2011. – nonfiction^[10]
• Spinning Straw Into Gold: Straight Talk for Troubled Times. 2013. – a philosophical memoir – nonfiction
• Neurotic Beauty: An Outsider Looks At Japan. 2015. – nonfiction ^[5]
• The Man Without Qualities. 2016. – fiction (a novel)^[11]
• Are We There Yet?: Essays & Reflections, 2010-2017. 2017. – essay collection – nonfiction
• Genio: The Story of Italian Genius. 2019. – nonfiction
• The Heart of the Matter. 2020. – fiction (short story collection)

References[]

External links[]

• Berman's weblog
• Berman's Curriculum Vitae (RTF)
• Why America Failed interview on Media Matters with Bob McChesney (4 Dec 2011)
• Dark Ages America interview on Media Matters with Bob McChesney (30 July 2006)
• Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire on C-SPAN Book TV (19 May 2006)
• Two short videos of an interview with Morris Berman On the Decline of Empire: 'Why America Failed', on Conversations with great minds
• Why The American Empire Was Destined To Collapse — Nomi Prins Interviews Morris Berman
• Waiting for the barbarians – essay first published in The Guardian, Friday 5 October 2001
• Morris Berman at CounterPunch magazine — Links to six Berman essays published by CounterPunch: "From Hustlers to Thugs," "The Moral Order,'" "A Show About Nothing," "Democracy in America, Revisited," "The Parable of the Frogs," "The Hula Hoop Theory of History."
• Appearances on C-SPAN