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INDEX TO POSTINGS IN MARCH 2012
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 13 March 1
Barbarism & Civilization: A History of Europe in Our Time
by Bernard Wasserstein March 2
Stone Mulching in the Garden by J.I. Rodale Part 3 March 3
The Whistle Blower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman
By Peter Rost MD Part 2 March 4
Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How
to Keep It From Happening to You by Sydney Finkelstein,
Jo Whitehead, Andrew Campbell March 5
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 14 March 6
Civilization: A New History of the Western World by Roger
Osborne Part 1 March 7
Stone Mulching in the Garden by J.I. Rodale Part 4 March 8
The Whistle Blower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman
By Peter Rost MD Part 3 March 9
Leading With Purpose: The New Corporate Realities by
Richard R. Ellsworth March 10
The Family Virtues Guide: Simple Ways to Bring Out the
Best in Our Children and Ourselves by Linda Kavelin Popov March 11
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 15 March 12
Civilization: A New History of the Western World by Roger
Osborne Part 2 March 13
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan Part 1 March 14
Leadership and the Quest for Integrity by Joseph L.
Badaracco, Jr. and Richard R. Ellsworth March 15
Responsible Restructuring: Creative and Profitable Alternatives
to Layoffs by Wayne F. Cascio March 16
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 16 March 17
Civilization: A New History of the Western World by Roger
Osborne Part 3 March 18
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan Part 2 March 19
Peace Research: Theory and Practice by Peter Wallensteen March 20
Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil by
Daniel Hillel Part 1 March 21
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 17 March 22
Civilization: A New History of the Western World by Roger
Osborne Part 4 March 23
The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World
by Michael Pollan Part 3 March 24
A Pace of Grace: The Virtues of a Sustainable Life
by Linda Kavelin Popov Part 1 March 25
Harvard Business Review on What Makes a Leader
by Harvard Business School Press March 26
Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil by
Daniel Hillel Part 2 March 27
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 18 March 28
Civilization: A New History of the Western World by Roger
Osborne Part 5 March 29
Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing
by Caroline Myss Part 1 March 30
A Pace of Grace: The Virtues of a Sustainable Life
by Linda Kavelin Popov Part 2 March 31
THE WHISTLEBLOWER
CONFESSIONS OF A HEALTHCARE HITMAN
PETER ROST MD
SOFT SKULL PRESS 2006
PART 3
Pharmacia’s CEO receives a warning
- One of the most famous professors in the endocrinology area told me that a group of renowned endocrinologists around the world had been very worried a couple of years earlier about the direction the Genotropin franchise was taking in the U.S. The fact that Pharmacia paid for and included many off-label patients in their data base was of particular concern to them.
They had been so worried, in fact, that they had written a letter directly to Fred Hassan – Pharmacia’s CEO. I asked if I could see the letter. Lo and behold, back on August 21, 2000, one year before I had started my new job at Pharmacia, he and many others had indeed spelled out their concerns to Fred.
KIGS and KIMS were two outcomes databases that tracked patients. GHD was an abbreviation for “growth hormone deficiency,” a condition for which the FDA had approved Genotropin. A competing drug was approved for short stature a year after this letter. So when this professor asked Fred not to include patients with other indications, he was referring to all the indications for which Genotropin was not approved. The professor also wrote in an e-mail to me, “I told them that it was first when you joined that my confidence in Pharmacia returned. I told them about your predecessor’s off-label marketing.”
What I didn’t discover until later when I started to connect many loose documents, was that on January 14, 2000, Fred had received a letter from a prominent anti-aging physician. The letter was written on the “The Renaissance Longevity Center” stationary and invited Hassan to a “strategic alliance” for the “most aggressive ethical campaign ever launched for the marketing of growth hormone injections.”
Fred sent the letter with an annotation in his own handwriting “Please follow-up/ack, etc., FH,” to his direct reports and it ended up on the desk of the person responsible for Genotropin at that time. On February 3, 2000, the same anti-aging physician wrote a two-page letter to the Vice President of Endocrine Care, summarizing a telephone conference they had on January 28, 2000. Among other things he wanted to discuss were the ability for the longevity centers to purchase growth hormone at quantity discount prices and other benefits that Pharmacia could provide them. On May 1, 2000, the US marketing director for Genotropin signed a “$50,000” consulting agreement with the anti-aging physician and the rest is history; sales of genotropin for anti-aging purposes took off.
Chapter 5: You’re Fired!
Chapter 6: The Private Detective
Chapter 7: The Investigation
Chapter 8: Sexual Liaisons
Chapter 9: Suicide?
Chapter 10: Phone Surveillance
Chapter 11: Fake Numbers
Chapter 12: The Big Surprise
Chapter 13: The SEC Gets Involved
Chapter 14: You Will Never, Ever Work Again
Chapter 15: An Explosive Book Review
Chapter 16: Risking Everything
Chapter 17: Fanning the Flames on Capitol Hill
Chapter 18: A political Inquisition
Chapter 19: How Corrupt is the Drug Industry?
Chapter 20: FDA Secrets
Chapter 21: Going on the Offense
Chapter 22: The Dirty Little Secret
Chapter 23: What the Government Tried to Hide
Chapter 24: The “Disenabled” E-Mail Account
Chapter 25: Admissions by Pfizer’s CEO
Chapter 26: Fighting a War
After word
Pfizer fired me on December 1, 2005.
I was informed of my termination by journalists, not by Pfizer. I was in Costa Rica, lecturing on reimportation of drugs. This was a meeting well publicized in advance and I couldn’t help but feel faintly flattered that Pfizer had waited until I was out of the country to let the ax fall. When I returned home I discovered my termination letter taped to my front door. The person who brought the letter to my house had, apparently, had the foresight to also bring a tape roll.
For Pfizer my termination appeared to be a major event, celebrated by calling every major newspaper and offering interviews about this strategic corporate decision. They even called the producers at 60 Minutes, hoping, that perhaps this would merit yet another segment. In doing so, they may have miscalculated. Instead of doing a show about my humbling termination, 60 Minutes called me and asked me to participate in a new story about the anti-aging industry.
Pfizer didn’t simply terminate my employment – in a carefully orchestrated media strategy they also made the titillating public revelation that I’d file a qui tam lawsuit against the company. The False Claims Act allows private individuals to sue in the name of the U.S. government when the government has lost money based on sales, marketing, and other practices that violate federal laws. The person who files the suit can also collect a substantial share of any fines, which sometimes run into hundreds of millions.
My lawsuit, filed back in 2003, alleged that, from about 1997 until 2003, Pharmacia illegally promoted Genotropin for off-label uses for anti-aging in adults and short-stature in children unrelated to growth hormone deficiency. I had not been allowed to talk about the suit, much less write a word in this book, since it had been filed under seal. The Justice Department in November 2005 declined to intervene in this civil action, leading the court to unseal the suit. The bad part about this development is that my lawyers will now have to do all the legal work on their own. The good news is that my minimum share of any fine has almost doubled, from 15% to 25%.
- Pfizer, however, didn’t just reveal my qui tam action to the media; they also submitted a motion to have the case dismissed, which they released to the press.
- I learned that, after many of my coworkers and I had helped Pfizer address the problems in the Genotropin franchise, Pfizer had turned around and tried to paint us all as crooks.
- “Pfizer has replaced or is in the process of replacing senior sales and marketing personnel in the Genotropin product line and disciplining certain sales representatives. Indeed, due to the merger, Pfizer has placed entirely new senior management in charge of the Genotropin product line.”
- Not a word that I had been pushing them for months to take action and that in response to this they’d threatened to fire me.
- Pfizer’s attempt at character assassination didn’t stop there. The American Council on Science and Health on December 30, 2005, announced that they had nominated me to “Whiny Whistleblower of the year.”
- I felt honoured to be officially nominated ‘Whiny Whistleblower of the Year’ by a front organization paid by Pfizer and Big Pharma.
- My qui tam complaint hadn’t only resulted in a civil investigation; because of the law that makes it a criminal offense to knowingly distribute growth hormone for off-label usage, the Justice Department’s criminal division, in the summer of 2005, also started an investigation.
- I was surprised that Pfizer terminated my employment in the middle of this criminal investigation, by terminating a federal grand jury witness in an ongoing investigation.
- US Congressmen, on September 30, 2004, sent an open letter to Pfizer’s CEO and Board of Directors, stating, “We are writing to express our serious concerns at the intimidation being directed at Pfizer Vice President Peter Rost.”
- Pfizer has a history of firing Whistleblowers. The Wall Street Journal described how Dr. Juan Walterpiel was fired when he raised ethical issues.
- There is no question in my mind that Pfizer’s termination of whistleblowers sends chilling signals to honest employees within the company.
- So why did I start all of this? Why did I ever file the qui tam lawsuit against Pfizer that resulted in this ruckus? Let me give you some background on what I couldn’t write about until now, without violating the seal of complaint…….
An employee faced with illegal corporate behavior has three choices. He can quit, join the conspiracy, or act. My choice was to act. Unfortunately, the end result is that I’m unemployed for the first time in my life. And I’m not alone in that situation.
Today’s system is based on greed. Greed is defined as an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than someone needs or deserves. Greed is not a corporate executive who builds an organization such as Microsoft, creates a lot of jobs, and happens to get rich. Greed is to become CEO for a drug company such as Pfizer, be responsible for a stock price drop of close to 50% over a five-year tenure, twice as much as other companies in the industry, secure a $83 million retirement package while firing 16,385 Pharmacia and Pfizer employees, and get a 72% pay increase to $16.6 million as his reward in 2004.
- Our CEOs are in a position in which they can use public companies as personal piggy banks.
- The pharmaceutical industry spends over $100 million on lobbying activities to stop lower drug prices, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
- During the 2004 election cycle, the drug industry contributed $1 million to President Bush. For an industry that makes $500 billion on a global basis, spending $1 million on a president or $100 on lobbying is pocket change.
This money was well spent. It stopped legalized import of cheaper drugs and bought the U.S. a new Medicare drug program. This $720 billion law includes $139 billion in profits to drug manufacturers and $46 billion in subsidies to HMOs and private insurance plans. The program has been such a disaster for our poor; at least 24 states have been forced to enact emergency measures to ensure access to medications during the implementation of this law. That’s what a million dollars buys in Washington.
So how could this happen? The answer is simple. The American democracy has been stolen by our new class of robber barons – the CEOs of our largest corporations. A political system dependent on charity from rich men in hand-tailored suits with $100-million retirement packages is no democracy. It is kleptocracy. It is not what our founding fathers envisioned.
So, can we change this? Can we build a new future? I believe that we can. I believe this because we live in a country that could rid itself of slavery, a country that finally allowed women to vote; a country that has come a long way in the short time since the civil rights movement began. But early on, each of these incredible changes was fiercely opposed by those in power, and none took place without great sacrifice. To free our corporations from sticky-fingered CEOs, to free our elected representatives from “pay to play money,” and to free our people from these tyrants is going to take sacrifice and time. Perhaps another 100 years. In short, it will require a second American revolution. I believe that, one day, this will happen.
Peter Rost writes a daily bog on http://peterrost.blogspot.com/
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN FEBRUARY 2012
The Organic Gardener’s Complete Guide to Vegetables and
Fruits from the Editors of Rodale Press Part 2 February 1
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 6 February 2
The Post-Development Reader Edited by Majid Rahnema with
Victoria Bawtree Part 1 February 3/
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 16 February 4
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 8 February 5
Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and
Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness by
John-David Phyper and Paul MacLean Part 1 February 6
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 7 February 7
The Post-Development Reader Edited by Majid Rahnema with
Victoria Bawtree Part 2 February 8
Beyond the Familiar: Long-Term Growth through Customer
Focus and Innovation by Patrick Barwise and Seán Meehan
Part 1 February 9
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 9 February 10
Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and
Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness by
John-David Phyper and Paul MacLean Part 2 February 11
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 8 February 12
The Post-Development Reader Edited by Majid Rahnema with
Victoria Bawtree Part 3 February 13
Beyond the Familiar: Long-Term Growth through Customer
Focus and Innovation by Patrick Barwise and Seán Meehan
Part 2 February 14
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 10 February 15
Handbook for the Positive Revolution by Edward de Bono Part 1 February 16
The Mulch Book: A Complete Guide for Gardeners
by Stu Campbell February 17
The Leadership Genius of Alfred P. Sloan: Invaluable
Lessons on Business, Management, and Leadership for
Today’s Manager by Allyn Freeman February 18
Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter F. Drucker
Part 1 February 19
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 11 February 20
Handbook for the Positive Revolution by Edward de Bono Part 2 February 21
Stone Mulching in the Garden by J.I. Rodale Part 1 February 22
Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development
By Charles O. Holliday, Jr., Chairman & CEO, DuPont,
Stephen Schmidheiny, Chairman, Anova Holding AG,
Philip Watts, Chairman of the Committee of Managing
Directors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies Part 1 February 23
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and
Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 by Paul Kennedy Part 1 February 24
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 12 February 25
Handbook for the Positive Revolution by Edward de Bono Part 3 February 26
Stone Mulching in the Garden by J.I. Rodale Part 2 February 27
The Whistle Blower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman
By Peter Rost MD Part 1 February 28
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and
Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 by Paul Kennedy Part 2 February 29
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN JANUARY 2012
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 6 January 1
The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty
Through Profits by C. K. Prahalad Part 1 January 2
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 8 January 3
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 10 January 4
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 2 January 5
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 7 January 6
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 1 January 7
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 9 January 8
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 11 January 9
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 3 January 10
The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty
Through Profits by C. K. Prahalad Part 2 January 11
Organic Orcharding: A Grove of Trees to Live In By Gene
Logsdon Part 1 January 12
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 2 January 13
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 10 January 14
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 12 January 15
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 4 January 16
Organic Orcharding: A Grove of Trees to Live In By Gene
Logsdon Part 2 January 17
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 3 January 18
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 11 January 19
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 13 January 20
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 5 January 21
Organic Orcharding: A Grove of Trees to Live In By Gene
Logsdon Part 3 January 22
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 4 January 23
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 12 January 24
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 14 January 25
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 6 January 26
The Organic Gardener’s Complete Guide to Vegetables and
Fruits from the Editors of Rodale Press Part 1 January 27
Developing a Plan for the Planet: A Business Plan for
Sustainable Living by Ian Chambers and John Humble Part 5 January 28
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 13 January 29
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 15 January 30
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 7 January 31
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN DECEMER 2011
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 2 December 1
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 4 December 2
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 6 December 3
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 1 December 4
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 5 December 5
Picking olives at Lakkia: Diseases of the 20th Century December 6
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 3 December 7
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 5 December 8
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 7 December 9
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 2 December 10
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 6 December 11
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 4 December 12
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 6 December 13
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 8 December 14
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 3 December 15
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 7 December 16
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 5 December 17
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 7 December 18
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 9 December 19
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 4 December 20
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 8 December 21
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 6 December 22
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 8 December 24
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 10 December 26
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith Part 5 December 27
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 9 December 28
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 7 December 29
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 9 December30
The Search For a Just Society by John Huddleston Part 1 December 31
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN NOVEMER 2011
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Part 7 November 1
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 15 November 2
Where I Lived, and What I lived For by Henry David Thoreau
Part 2 November 3
Seven Tomorrows: The Potential Crises That Face Mankind – and
the Role of Choice in Determining the Future by Paul Hawken,
James Ogilvy, Peter Schwartz Part 2 November 4
The Economics of Innocent Fraud by J.K.Galbraith Part 2 November 5
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 1 November 6
The Nature of Mass Poverty by John Kenneth Galbraith Part 1 November 7
Where I Lived, and What I lived For by Henry David Thoreau
Part 3 November 8
Seven Tomorrows: The Potential Crises That Face Mankind – and
the Role of Choice in Determining the Future by Paul Hawken,
James Ogilvy, Peter Schwartz Part 3 November 9
The Economics of Innocent Fraud by J.K.Galbraith Part 3 November 10
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 2 November 11
The Nature of Mass Poverty by John Kenneth Galbraith Part 2 November 12
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 1 November 13
Seven Tomorrows: The Potential Crises That Face Mankind – and
the Role of Choice in Determining the Future by Paul Hawken,
James Ogilvy, Peter Schwartz Part 4 November 14
Seneca: On the Shortness of Life Translated by C.D.N. Costa
Part 1 November 15
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 1 November 16
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 3 November 17
The Nature of Mass Poverty by John Kenneth Galbraith Part 3 November 18
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 2 November 19
Seven Tomorrows: The Potential Crises That Face Mankind – and
the Role of Choice in Determining the Future by Paul Hawken,
James Ogilvy, Peter Schwartz Part 5 November 20
Seneca: On the Shortness of Life Translated by C.D.N. Costa
Part 2 November 21
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 2 November 22
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 4 November 23
The Nature of Mass Poverty by John Kenneth Galbraith Part 4 November 24
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 3 November 25
Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé
and Joseph Collins Part 1 November 26
Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific
Reality Can Change Us and Our World by Ervin Laszlo Part 3 November 27
The Earth is But One Country by John Huddleston Part 5 November 28
The Nature of Mass Poverty by John Kenneth Galbraith Part 5 November 29
Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Edited by Andrew Kimbrell Part 4 November 30
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN OCTOBER 2011
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 9 October 1
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,0/00 years of
Human History Part 13 by Cyril Aydon October 2
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 12 October 3
The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern
States, and the Quest for a Global Nation by Strobe Talbott
Part 2 October 4
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Part 2 October 5
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer Part 6 October 6
Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply by
Vandana Shiva Part 2 October 7
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 10 October 8
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 13 October 9
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Part 3 October 10
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer Part 7 October 11
Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply by
Vandana Shiva Part 3 October 12
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 11 October 13
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 14 October 14
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Part 4 October 15
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer Part 8 October 16
At the End of an Age by John Lukacs Part 1 October 17
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 12 October 18
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 15 October 19
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Part 5 October 20
The Real Environmental Crisis by Jack M. Hollander Part 1 October 21
At the End of an Age by John Lukacs Part 2 October 22
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 13 October 23
Competing for the Future by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad October 24
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Part 6 October 25
The Real Environmental Crisis by Jack M. Hollander Part 2 October 26
At the End of an Age by John Lukacs Part 3 October 27
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 14 October 28
Where I Lived, and What I lived For by Henry David Thoreau
Part 1 October 29
Seven Tomorrows: The Potential Crises That Face Mankind – and
the Role of Choice in Determining the Future by Paul Hawken,
James Ogilvy, Peter Schwartz Part 1 October 30
The Economics of Innocent Fraud by J.K.Galbraith Part 1 October 31
AT THE END OF AN AGE
JOHN LUKACS
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 2002
PART 1II
Chapter 1: At the End of an Age (Cont.)
The Age of Schooling
The age of institutional schooling was another feature of the Modern Age. There were universities in the Middle Ages but few (or no) schools of general learning. By the 17th century schooling became extended to younger and younger ages, eventually including children of the poor. By the 19th century the ideal of general and public education, increasingly involving the responsibility of governments, became sacrosanct. Still, much of the training and the proper education of children remained the responsibility of parents in the home. During the 20th century this changed. Like so many other things, the role of the schools became inflated and extended, diminishing the earlier responsibilities of parents. In the United States the principal and practical function of the schools became custodial (especially when both parents were working away from home), though this was seldom acknowledged. After 1960 at least one-fourth of the population of the United States spent more than one-fourth of their entire lifetime in schools, from ages two to twenty-two. As on so many other level and ways of mass democracy, inflation had set in, diminishing drastically the content and the quality of learning: more and more young people, after 20 years in schools, could not read or write without difficulty. Schools were overcrowded, including colleges and universities. In this increasingly bureaucratic world little more than the possession of various diplomas mattered.
- The word “meritocracy” was coined, meaning that the rise and positions to be acquired in society depended on the category of the degree and on the category of the college or university wherefrom one graduated.
- The number and the variation of degrees awarded by higher institutions grew to a fantastic, and nonsensical, extent. Besides being custodial, the purpose of institutional education was now the granting of degrees to provide instant employment.
The Age of the Book
The inflation of “education” had much to do with the decline of reading (and of its declining requirement in the curricula of the schools). This was another sign of the end of the Modern Age, which was also the Age of the Book. The invention of the printing of books coincided with the beginning of the Modern Age; it was both consequence and cause of many of its achievements.
- By the 19th century men and women who could not read became a small minority among the populations of the Western world.
- The inflation of printed matter unavoidably reduced its quality; and there were other influences at hand.
The reproduction of more and more pictures in newspapers, magazines, and books; the advent of moving pictures and, finally, of television led to a condition in which – again, not unlike the Middle Ages – the routine imagination of large masses of people became pictorial rather than verbal.
- The influence of books was receding – together, too, with the decline of people’s attention span, or with their capacity to concentrate, indeed, to listen.
The Age of Representation
I now come to the most difficult of these necessarily generalized and inaccurate summaries of devolution: that of art, which in the Modern Age was inseparable from the ideals not only of beauty but of representation. Much of the art of the Middle Ages was symbolic, and idealized. The Renaissance of course discovered humanism, the beauty of the human body, and the complexity of human nature; and it had begun with an emulation of Greek and Roman art which was marked by “mimesis,” or in another word: “re-presentation.” A deep shift in consciousness at the end of the 18th century than affected art, first of all poetry and painting. This was the conscious recognition of imagination, beyond the older idea of inspiration (an early recognition of the inseparability of the observer from what he observes).
- After the early 19th century the artist was no longer seen as an artisan, meaning a craftsman, but rather as a person of unusual, indeed, superior sensitivity.
- By the early 20th century what was oddly, and belatedly, called “modern art” meant a drastic and brutal departure from the traditions and the achievements of the Modern Age.
The Age of Science and the age of an evolving historical consciousness
This Jeremiad has its conditions, and limitations. One of them involves the distinction between the passing of the Modern Age and the Decline of the West.
- Almost all of the symptoms of the ending of the Modern (or European; or Bourgeois) Age have been most evident within the so-called Western world.
- Because of the continued influence of Western habits and institutions and practices all over the globe, not a few differences between the customs of the Western and the non-Western world are now sometimes hardly more than differences in timing.
- In almost all of the abovementioned spheres of life the rapid dissolution and the malfunctioning of the institutions and ideals of the Modern Age gathered speed during the 20th century, and especially during its second half.
- The 20th century was a transitional century (as was a century at the end of the Middle Ages, from about 1450 to 1550).
- The 20th was also a short century, lasting from 1914 to 1989, 75 years.
- The mutation of characteristics and institutions and habits is especially (though not at all exclusively) evident in the United States and in the industrially or technically most “advanced” countries of the Western world.
- After 1989 an unprecedented situation arose: the United States was the only Superpower in the world.
- And then there is Christianity. Its churches have been emptying. Is Christianity disappearing? I do not think so.
And now: the Contra-Jeremiad. A list of the enduring achievements of the Modern Age. Enduring; and lasting; and matters still in progress.
- We are healthier than ever before.
- Infant mortality has become minimal.
- Our life span has become longer and longer.
- Large masses of people are now able to live in conditions of comfort available only to the richest or the most powerful of our great-grandparents.
- Large masses can afford to travel to faraway continents and places in a matter of hours, with enough money to spend.
- Institutional slavery has largely ceased to exist.
- Almost every state proclaims itself a democracy, attempting to provide a minimum of welfare to all of its inhabitants.
- Men and women have been propelled to the moon and back; they have landed there twice.
We cannot crank our lives backward. We must also know that there were (and are) no Golden Ages of history. The evidences of decay all round us do not mean that there was any ideal period at any time during the Modern Age.
- History and life consist of the coexistence of continuity and change. Nothing vanishes entirely.
- The institutions, the standards, the customs, the habits, the mental inclinations of the Modern Age still exist around us. So does the respect for many of its achievements – political, social, but, even more, artistic.
- The respect for older things has now acquired a tinge of nostalgia.
- During the last 40 years the meanings of the adjectives “old” and “old-fashioned” – especially in the United States – have changed from “antiquated” or “outdated” to suggest some things that are reliable, solid, enduring, desirable.
- The time will come (if it is not already at hand) when people will look back and respect and admire (perhaps with a sigh, but no matter) – indeed, that they will recognize – the past 500 years as one of the two greatest eras in the history of mankind, the other having been the “classical” one, Greece and Rome.
The need to rethink the current idea of “Progress”
Now, for the first time in the history of mankind, dangers and catastrophes of nature are potentially (indeed, here and there actually) threatening nature and humanity together. These dangers are man-made. They include not only horribly destructive atomic and biological weapons but many effects on the nature and on the atmosphere of the globe by the increasing presence and intrusion of the results of applied science. So at the end of the Modern Age the control and the limitation and even the prohibition of some of the applications of science – including genetic engineering – becomes a, sometimes global, necessity. At the same time there exists no international or supra-national (and in most cases not even a national) authority that would enforce such measures.
- At the end of the Modern Age, for the first time in 200 years, more and more people, in more and more fields of life, have begun to question the still present and now outdated idea of “Progress” – an idea which, in its present form, appeared at the beginning of the Modern Age: an ideal as well as an idea that has now begun to lose at least some of its appeal.
- Sometime during the past quarter of the 20th century the word “post-modern” appeared: another symptom of the uneasy sense (rather than a clear recognition) that we are living through (or, rather, facing) the end of an age.
We are at the end of an age: but how few people know this! The sense of this has begun to appear in the hearts of many; but it has not yet swum up to the surface of their consciousness.
This will happen, even though there exist many obstacles to it – among them, enormous but corroding institutions. As these lines are being written, something is happening in the United States that has no precedent. A great division among the American people has begun – gradually, slowly – to take shape: not between Republicans and Democrats, and not between “conservatives” and “liberals,” but between people who are still unthinking believers in technology and in economic determinism and people who are not.
- Non-believers are men and women who have begun not only to question but, here and there, to oppose publicly the increasing pouring of cement over the land, the increasing inflation of automobile traffic of every kind, the increasing acceptance of noisome machinery ruling their lives.
This book is not a political or social pamphlet. Its theme is simple. It has to do with conscious thinking. We have arrived at a stage of history when we must begin thinking about thinking itself. This is something as different from philosophy as it is from psycho-analysis. At the end of an age we must engage in a radical rethinking
Of “Progress,”
Of history,
Of “Science,”
Of the limitations of our knowledge,
Of our place in the universe.
These are the successive chapters of this book.
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN SEPTEMBER 2011
The Creation of World Poverty Part 7 by Teresa Hayter September 1
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 Years of
Human History Part 7 by Cyril Aydon September 2
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 6 September 3
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 6 September 4
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 4 September 5
The Creation of World Poverty Part 8 by Teresa Hayter September 6
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 Years of
Human History Part 8 by Cyril Aydon September 7
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 7 September 8
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 7 September 9
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 5 September 10
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 Years of
Human History Part 9 by Cyril Aydon September 11
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 8 September 12
Formula For Life by Eberhard Kronhausen, Ed.D. and Phyllis
Kronhausen, Ed.D. with Harry B. Demopoulos, M.D. Part 1 September 13
Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict
by Michael T. Klare Part 1 September 14
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 6 September 15
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 Years of
Human History Part 10 by Cyril Aydon September 16
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 9 September 17
Formula For Life by Eberhard Kronhausen, Ed.D. and Phyllis
Kronhausen, Ed.D. with Harry B. Demopoulos, M.D. Part 2 September 18
Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict
by Michael T. Klare Part 2 September 19
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 7 September 20
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 years of
Human History Part 11 by Cyril Aydon September 21
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 10 September 22
Formula For Life by Eberhard Kronhausen, Ed.D. and Phyllis
Kronhausen, Ed.D. with Harry B. Demopoulos, M.D. Part 3 September 23
Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict
by Michael T. Klare Part 3 September 24
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting Part 8 September 25
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 Years of
Human History Part 12 by Cyril Aydon September 26
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 11 September 27
The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern
States, and the Quest for a Global Nation
by Strobe Talbott Part 1 September 28
Ethics For the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai
Lama Part 1 September 29
Stolen Harvest: The Highjacking of the Global Food Supply by
Vandana Shiva Part 1 September 30
INDEX TO POSTINGS IN AUGUST 2011
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture edited by
Jules Pretty Part 11 August 1
The Creation of World Poverty Part 2 by Teresa Hayter August 2
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 years of
Human History Part 2 by Cyril Aydon August 3
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 1 August 4
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 1 August 5
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture edited by
Jules Pretty Part 12 August 6
The Creation of World Poverty Part 3 by Teresa Hayter August 7
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 years of
Human History Part 3 by Cyril Aydon August 8
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 2 August 9
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 2 August 10
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture edited by
Jules Pretty Part 13 August 11
The Creation of World Poverty Part 4 by Teresa Hayter August 12
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 years of
Human History Part 4 by Cyril Aydon August 13
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 3 August 14
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 3 August 15
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture edited by
Jules Pretty Part 14 August 16
The Creation of World Poverty Part 5 by Teresa Hayter August 17
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 years of
Human History Part 5 by Cyril Aydon August 18
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 4 August 19
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 4 August 20
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture edited by
Jules Pretty Part 15 August 21
The Creation of World Poverty Part 6 by Teresa Hayter August 22
The Story of Man: An Introduction to 150,000 years of
Human History Part 6 by Cyril Aydon August 23
Feeding the Ten Billion: Plants and Population Growth by
L.T. Evans Part 5 August 24
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and
What Can Be Done About It By Paul Collier Part 5 August 25
The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture edited by
Jules Pretty Part 16 August 26
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 1 August 27
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono Wood Engravings
by Michael McCurdy Part 1 August 28
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 2 August 29
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono Wood Engravings
by Michael McCurdy Part 2 August 30
A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the
Collapse of Great Civilizations by Clive Ponting part 3 August 31