The Dramatis Personae of History
The Dramatis Personae of History

Summary/Abstract: Around the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it became obvious that West European society was undergoing radical, structural change. It was radical in that the fundamental principles of organization were changing, and in that the very spirit of men was being transformed. Such change is totally unlike mere rotation of personnel within a more or less stable structure, or changes in structure which merely amount to a bit more of this and a bit less of that. The transformation was far more fundamental. It was also of more than merely local and temporary significance. It revealed what man really was and could be. It seemed to be the highly conspicuous and illuminating culmination of a long and pointed story. The message had not been visible to earlier generations; now it acquired a high profile. [...]

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