A Study of History, Vol 9 : Contacts between Civilizations in Time (Renaissances); Law and Freedom in History; The Prospects of the Western Civilization

This volume took ages to complete. Being the largest in the series, and handling a multitude of issues, this volume is a manifesto of the Western Society’s prospects at the time of taking stock at the culmination of the Second World War that pulverized the moral element in Europe’s psyche. We can also see the author revising some of his earlier theories in light of newer archeological findings and also because of the change in the author’s perception in the intervening two decades. The highlight of the volume is the contacts between civilizations in the time domain, also known as Renaissances. Toynbee dispels the myths about renaissance harboured by many readers. We have heard about the Renaissance that visited Italy in the 15th century, which also coincided with the worldwide expansion of the Western Culture. We take it for granted that it was a benevolent characteristic that freed Europe from the dark ages of ignorance. However, the author treats this in a different way. Revival of classical learning in Greek and Latin was said to be asphyxiating for the vernacular languages and the return of the vernaculars in full glory some two hundred years later at the expense of Greek and Latin paved the way for resuming progress. The treatise of Renaissance in this book is spread over only two-fifths of the text. The other two parts that are given extensive coverage are the cases of Law and Freedom in History and the Prospects of the Western Civilization. The first narrates about the plausibility of there occurring a law that governs human actions constituting history. But more noteworthy is the third part where the historical scholar writing with anguish at the close of two excruciating world wars ruminating pessimistically at the future prospects of the society to which he belongs. Many times we see dark anticipation of a third war, as the cold war began in right earnest in the 1950s while Toynbee was writing these lines.