"The World of Yesterday"
by Joel Bowman
“We believed – and the whole world believed with us – that this had been the war to end all wars, that the beast which had been laying waste to our world was tamed or even slaughtered... We were foolish, I know. But we were not alone.”
~ Stefan Zweig, "The World of Yesterday" (1942)
Cairo International Airport, Egypt - "We’re on the road today, dear reader... or rather, in the skies. Soaring over the scorched Sahara Desert this morning, from the ancient city of Aswan en route to the capital, we were again taken aback by the sheer marvel of it all. No Egyptian Pharaoh, no matter how impressive his tomb... nor how many slaves perished during its construction... nor how lavishly decorated his death mask... ever experienced the gift of flight.
Never did a Ramesses or a Ptolemy soar above the clouds on wings of steel, view the land from such great heights... nor so much as suffer an in-flight meal. For century upon century, millennium upon dusty millennium, was man bound to terra firma, the stars above him wandering the heavens like gods, forever beyond his reach.
Meanwhile, outside the plane’s window, the Nile continues to flow... the earth continues to turn... and man continues his journey ever onward; to what end, is not given him to know. The papers are full of the latest “news.” But there’s nothing “new” about our story. Tariffs and trade wars... debts and deficits... war, hubris and political chicanery...
History gives some clues as to how these endeavors inevitably end, but seldom does man take his cues from such quaint notions as the experiences of those who went before him, preferring instead his own sense of certainty that “this time is different.” And so, as the past tumbles headlong into the future, we take a look back into The World of Yesterday, penned by one of modern history’s most astute biographers and novelists, Stefan Zweig, to see what may be learned about what comes next. We’ll return with your regular Notes, including our impressions of Egypt (as promised), later this week..."
Freely download "The World of Yesterday", by Stefan Zweig, here:
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