PAUL JOHNSON: The All-Explainer

I FORGET the name of the sage who observed that some of the most pleasurable, the most productive, the most illuminating reading is rereading. Whoever it was, my recent experience re-reading Paul Johnson’s magisterial book Modern Times served to corroborate his wisdom. What a treat! What vistas of learning, of anecdote, of human folly, triumph, cruelty, and compassion.

I first read Modern Times shortly after it was published in 1983, and it is still both invigorating and horrifying. It is invigorating because Paul Johnson, a man incapable of writing a dull page, makes the political, cultural, and moral itinerary of the 20th century crackle with interest. It is horrifying because the century he surveys was the bloodiest in history.

About the Author

Roger Kimball

Mr. Kimball is publisher of Encounter Books, and co-editor and publisher of The New Criterion.

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I FORGET the name of the sage who observed that some of the most pleasurable, the most productive, the most illuminating reading is rereading. Whoever it was, my recent experience re-reading Paul Johnson’s magisterial book Modern Times served to corroborate his wisdom. What a treat! What vistas of learning, of anecdote, of human folly, triumph, cruelty, and compassion.

I first read Modern Times shortly after it was published in 1983, and it is still both invigorating and horrifying. It is invigorating because Paul Johnson, a man incapable of writing a dull page, makes the political, cultural, and moral itinerary of the 20th century crackle with interest. It is horrifying because the century he surveys was the bloodiest in history.