Product Description

From chauvinism to chiliasm, from epicureanism to existentialism, and from nationalism to nominalism, we live in a wilderness of dogmas and doctrines, creeds and credos. But what in heaven's name do all these -isms mean? Just what was it that made heresies such as Arianism and Pelagianism so heretical? What's the difference between an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist, a Platonist and a Neo-Platonist? And how modern can Modernism really be if all the famous modernists are dead? Some everyday -isms - the likes of materialism, naturism and surrealism - present few problems. Others are more troublesome. There are some concepts (irredentism? ontology?) whose meanings - even when checked in a dictionary - somehow fail to adhere. And it gets tougher. In the darkest depths of the forest of ideas lurk -isms which even the most cutting-edge of metropolitan intellectuals might struggle to define snappily. Muggletonianism, anyone? Henotheism - your starter for twenty, Hampstead! Help is now at hand in the small but perfectly formed shape of Isms and Ologies. To those who've been humiliated by a knowing reference to Wahhabism at an Islington dinner party, caught short by a casual allusion to Orphism at a Hoxton private view, or flummoxed by a smug mention of post-structuralism by a fellow member of a suburban book group, "Isms and Ologies" offers hope and enlightenment. Crackpot convictions, perplexing philosophies, tricky tenets, and wacky Weltanschauungs - "Isms and Ologies" lists them all, and explains their salient features clearly and accessibly. So, if you want to lend a veneer of intellectual rigour to your small talk, or if you are genuinely curious to know the defining features of fauvism and the crucial characteristics of phenomenology, "Isms and Ologies" could be just the book you are looking for.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296421 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From the Back Cover
From empiricism to existentialism, and from Whiggism to Wahhabism, we live in a rampant wilderness of dogmas and doctrines, creeds and credos. But what do all these isms mean? What is the difference between an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist, a structuralist and a post-structuralist?
Help is at hand in the small but perfectly formed shape of Isms and Ologies. Crackpot convictions, perplexing philosophies, tricky tenets, and wacky Weltanschauungs - Isms and Ologies lists them all, and explains their significance and salient features clearly and accessibly.

About the Author
Arthur Goldwag first studied at Kenyon College and then at Brown University. He went on to work in book publishing for more than 20 years: at Random House, the New York Review of Books, and the Book-of-the-Month Club, amongst others. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

453 delicious morsels of ismology
In Isms and Ologies, Arthur Goldwag takes a look at 453 doctrines, ranging from the everyday to the thoroughly obscure (Mugwumpism?) and offers some wonderfully clear and sometimes quite detailed explanations. This could easily have ended up as as one of those lightweight anthologies of trivia, but Goldwag has crafted something much more meaty than that - a genuinely informative reference guide that I would almost be comfortable calling an encyclopaedia.

That said, it's not all art movements and political ideologies, and while most doctrines stay true to the title, ending in ism or ology, they don't all keep to this format (Bauhaus, Game Theory and Occam's Razor are just some of the non-conforming square pegs in this respect). The book is conveniently organised: all entries are initially indexed in alphabetical order with page numbers, then the listings themselves are categorised into 7 sections (science, economics, religion, etc.)

Explanations range from a paragraph to several pages, and for the most part the author succeeds in remaining largely unbiased. Perhaps Wikipedia would offer much similar content and more, but would it collate everything together in this way and make it so utterly readable? That's the beauty of this compilation: that it's all in one book, and comes alive with the author's clarity and wit. Isms and Ologies is both a handy reference source and a good cover-to-cover read. Definitely recommended.

doctrines for the politician
Could be fascinating, but crystal english and the elimination of political doublespeak would remove the need for much of this