The Decline of the West

The Decline of the West (German: Der Untergang des Abendlandes) is a two-volume work by Oswald Spengler, the first volume of which was published in the summer of 1918. Spengler revised this volume in 1922 and published the second volume, subtitled Perspectives of World History, in 1923.

Background

Decline was conceived and begun before the outbreak of World War I, and deliberately looks beyond the fate of Germany to include the fate of the West as a whole. He spent over a decade writing the two volumes, and as a consequence Decline became somewhat disorganized, overlong in places, and polemical.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~