God's Fifth Column: A Biography Of The Age 1890–1940
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: good, worn/faded (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
In an era of unprecedented upheaval, William Gerhardie's God's Fifth Column: A Biography of the Age 1890–1940 presents a sweeping, sardonic panorama of the fifty years that shattered the old world order — from the gilded complacency of the late Victorian age through two catastrophic world wars. With razor-sharp wit and panoramic scope, Gerhardie chronicles the lives of the politicians, artists, aristocrats, and intellectuals who shaped — and were shaped by — one of history's most turbulent half-centuries, weaving biographical portraits of figures such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, H.G. Wells, and Lord Beaverbrook into a grand, caustic narrative of civilisational folly. Edited and introduced by Michael Holroyd and Robert Skidelsky, this posthumously published work showcases Gerhardie's singular voice — erudite, irreverent, and deeply humanist — which sets it apart from conventional historical writing. Long overshadowed during his lifetime, Gerhardie was championed by literary luminaries including Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, and this remarkable text stands as both a cultural history and an extended, darkly comic meditation on why humanity seems constitutionally incapable of avoiding its own destruction. For any reader who has wondered whether history repeats itself by accident or design, God's Fifth Column offers an answer as unsettling as it is brilliant.
Author: William Gerhardie
Format: Hardback
Genre: History
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Jacket: good, worn/faded (refer to image). Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
In an era of unprecedented upheaval, William Gerhardie's God's Fifth Column: A Biography of the Age 1890–1940 presents a sweeping, sardonic panorama of the fifty years that shattered the old world order — from the gilded complacency of the late Victorian age through two catastrophic world wars. With razor-sharp wit and panoramic scope, Gerhardie chronicles the lives of the politicians, artists, aristocrats, and intellectuals who shaped — and were shaped by — one of history's most turbulent half-centuries, weaving biographical portraits of figures such as Kaiser Wilhelm II, H.G. Wells, and Lord Beaverbrook into a grand, caustic narrative of civilisational folly. Edited and introduced by Michael Holroyd and Robert Skidelsky, this posthumously published work showcases Gerhardie's singular voice — erudite, irreverent, and deeply humanist — which sets it apart from conventional historical writing. Long overshadowed during his lifetime, Gerhardie was championed by literary luminaries including Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, and this remarkable text stands as both a cultural history and an extended, darkly comic meditation on why humanity seems constitutionally incapable of avoiding its own destruction. For any reader who has wondered whether history repeats itself by accident or design, God's Fifth Column offers an answer as unsettling as it is brilliant.