Table of Contents
Preface, Acknowledgements, and Dedication 1
Overture: A Meditation Upon a Lake 4
§ 1 Why Should I Return to the City? 4
§ 2 How Deep do the Absurdities Go? 7
§ 3 What Questions to Ask? 19
First Movement: What is Civilization? 22
§ 4 Some Academic Views 22
§ 5 The Big Picture: Cities and Monuments 35
§ 6 The Small Picture: Etiquette, Manners, and Excellence 38
§ 7 The First House 43
§ 8 The Ancient Great Wall 49
§ 9 Thinking Shall Replace Killing 59
§ 10 Walls and Circles 69
§ 11 Plans for the Rational City 73
§ 12 Dreams of the Celestial City 79
§ 13 Tales of the State of Nature 86
§ 14 Civilization Without Cities 98
§ 15 Gathering the Fragments 106
§ 16 The Essence of Civilization 108
An Interlude 117
§ 17 Far From the City, and Far From Home 117
§ 18 Prague and Empire 121
§ 19 Three Temples, Three Shrines 125
Second Movement: What's Wrong With Civilization? 129
§ 20 Models of the Civilized Man 129
§ 21 A Thought Experiment 140
§ 22 Facing the People 144
§ 23 Facing the Earth and Sky 150
§ 24 Facing the Darkness 160
§ 25 Planting the Fields 167
§ 26 Crowning the King 176
§ 27 Building the Wall 181
§ 28 The Illusion that Exalts Us 183
§ 29 Two Views of the Noble Lie 191
§ 30 Rationality And Despair 199
§ 31 The Illusion of No Alternative 205
Another Interlude 216
§ 32 Pastoralia 216
§ 33 New Horizons 222
§ 34 This is What Love Looks Like 226
Third Movement: What Shall We Do About It? 234
§ 35 Dance Macabre 234
§ 36 Progressive Negations 240
§ 37 Pacing the Immensities 249
§ 38 Songs from the Wood 253
§ 39 Responding to the Immensities 265
§ 40 The Deliberate Civilization 273
End Notes 287
