lives of spectacular individuals and episodes, with all too little data
on the life of the silent human majority.

At the end of this volume the reader will find a list, selected from the
many books that I have consulted in preparation for writing this study.
Most of these authorities are concerned with the facts of civilization,
with far less emphasis on their political, economic and sociological
aspects.

In this study I have tried to unite theory with practice. On the one
hand I have reviewed briefly and as accurately as possible some
outstanding experiments with civilization, including our own western
variant. (Part I. The Pageant of Experiments with Civilization.) In Part
II I have undertaken a social analysis of civilization as a past and
present life style. In Part III, Civilization Is Becoming Obsolete, I
have tried to check our thinking about civilization with the sweep of
present day historical trends. Part IV, Steps Beyond Civilization, is an
attempt to list some of the alternatives and opportunities presently
available to civilized man.

Any reader who has the interest and persistence to read through the
entire volume and to browse through some of its references will have had
the equivalent of a university extension course dealing with one of the
most critical issues confronting the present generation of humanity.




_Part I_