| Review | Journal of Social History, 40.4

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the Journal of Social History online. About 207 words from this article are provided below; about 688 words remain.

If you are an individual subscriber to the Journal of Social History, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Journal of Social History, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of Social History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to the journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Review | Journal of Social History, 40.4 | The History Cooperative

REVIEWS

Civilization and Its Contents. By Bruce Mazlish (Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 2004. xiv plus 188 pp. $45.00 cloth, $16.95 paper).
Professional historians know well that historical scholarship is full of problematic terms. Some of the more notorious of these terms travel in pairs, and working in tandem, they have the effect of reinforcing one another. Two prominent examples are state and nation. More insidious because of their stronger ideological valences are tradition and modernity—unfalsifiable categories that pretend to account for much while actually explaining little or nothing. Equally as bad, if not worse, are the reifications culture and civilization. Bruce Mazlish's new book focuses on this last pair, with particular attention to the concept of civilization.	1
Mazlish is a highly qualified candidate to explore the many facets of the term civilization and analyze the uses it has been put to since its first appearance in the eighteenth century. Over a lengthy and distinguished career, Mazlish has made significant contributions to intellectual history, psychoanalytical history, the history of science and technology, the history of the social sciences, and global history. All these interests play roles of some greater or lesser prominence in Mazlish's essay on the concept of civilization.	. . .

There are about 688 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.