Book Review Paul Hazard

Paul Hazard’s The Crisis of the European Mind.

Though published more than eighty years ago, this essay is still a best-seller, still relevant and still fascinating.

Paul Hazard describes himself as “a historian of mentalities”. To him, the last 20 years of the 17^th century and the first 20 years of the 18^th century are crucial in shaping the way we think, view the world, and gauge religions. That period in History is like the adolescence of the modern world.

Like all crucial periods of our past, it wasn’t born, armed to the teeth, from the thigh of Jupiter. Paul Hazard gives precursors their dues : Rabelais, Montaigne, Descartes and Bacon, to name but four. There are others.

Talking about adolescence, if you mention The Crisis around you, you’ll find that those who are enthusiastic about it, have generally read it (several times) during their teenage years. It has given them a good built-in bullshit detector, and that’s priceless. Never mind the date of publication : like diamonds, this book is forever.