How should we think about the "shape" of human history since the birth of cities, and where are we headed? Sociologist and historian John Torpey proposes that the "Axial Age" of the first millennium BCE, when some of the world's major religious and intellectual developments first emerged, was only one of three such decisive periods that can be used to directly affect present social problems, from economic inequality to ecological destruction.

Torpey's argument advances the idea that there are in fact three "Axial Ages," instead of one original Axial Age and several subsequent,...

How should we think about the "shape" of human history since the birth of cities, and where are we headed? Sociologist and historian John Torpey proposes that the "Axial Age" of the first millennium BCE, when some of the world's major religious and intellectual developments first emerged, was only one of three such decisive periods that can be used to directly affect present social problems, from economic inequality to ecological destruction.

Torpey's argument advances the idea that there are in fact three "Axial Ages," instead of one original Axial Age and several subsequent,...

Making Whole What Has Been Smashed explores the spread in recent years of political efforts to rectify injustices handed down from the past. Although it recognizes that campaigns for reparations may lead to an improvement in the well-being of victims of mistreatment by states and to reconciliation among former antagonists, this timely book, featuring a new and updated preface, examines the extent to which the concern with the past may represent a departure from the traditionally future-oriented stance of progressive politics.

Viewing the search for "coming to terms with...