Morris Berman (born August 3, 1944) is an American historian and social critic. He earned a BA in mathematics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1966 and a PhD in the

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in 1971. Berman is an academic

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

cultural critic A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions of ...

who specializes in Western

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

and

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

Life and work

Berman has served on the faculties of a number of universities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Berman emigrated from the U.S. to Mexico in 2006, where he was a visiting professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico City from 2008 to 2009. During this period he continued writing for various publications including ''Parteaguas'', a quarterly magazine. Although an academic, Berman has written several books for a general audience. They deal with the state of

Western civilization Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

and with an

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

, historically responsible, or enlightened approach to living within it. His work emphasizes the legacies of the European Enlightenment and the historical place of present-day

American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...

. He wrote a trilogy on consciousness and spirituality, published between 1981 and 2000, and another trilogy on the

American decline American decline is the idea that the United States of America is diminishing in power geopolitically, militarily, financially, economically, demographically, socially, morally, spiritually, culturally, in matters of healthcare, and/or on envi ...

, published between 2000 and 2011. Book reviewer George Scialabba commented:

Recognition

In 1990, Berman received the Governor's Writers Award (Washington State) for his book ''Coming to Our Senses''. In 1992, he was the recipient of the first annual Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies. In 2000, Berman's book ''The Twilight of American Culture'' was named one of the ten most recommended books of the year by the ''

Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

'' and was named a "Notable Book" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In 2013 he received the "Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity" from the

Media Ecology Association Media ecology theory is the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments. The theoretical concepts were proposed by Marshall McLuhan in 1964, while the term ''media ecology'' was first formally introduced b ...

. Berman moved to Mexico in 2006 where he continues to reside .

Selected works

* – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – essay collection – nonfiction * – fiction (a collection of three novellas) * – poetry * – nonfiction * – a philosophical memoir – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – fiction (a novel) * – essay collection – nonfiction * – nonfiction * – fiction (short story collection) * – nonfiction

References

External links

Berman's weblog

Berman's Curriculum Vitae
(RTF)
''Why America Failed'' interview
on ''Media Matters'' with

Bob McChesney Bob McChesney is an LA based jazz and studio trombonist, famous for his use and mastery of the 'doodle - tongue,' a method of articulation on the trombone as well as his ultra fast and melodic solos. He currently teaches in the music department ...

(4 Dec 2011)
''Dark Ages America'' interview
on ''Media Matters'' with

(30 July 2006)
Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

Book TV ''Book TV'' is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2 airing from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Sunday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 24-hour block of programming is focused on non-fictio ...

(19 May 2006)
Two short videos of an interview with Morris Berman On the Decline of Empire: 'Why America Failed'
on Conversations with great minds
Why The American Empire Was Destined To Collapse
—

Nomi Prins Nomi Prins is an American economist, author, journalist, and public speaker who writes about Wall Street and the US economy. Before becoming a journalist and public speaker, Prins worked in the finance industry. She was a managing director at G ...

Interviews Morris Berman
Waiting for the barbarians
– essay first published in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

, Friday 5 October 2001 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Morris 1944 births Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education faculty American essayists American humanists Cornell University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people North American cultural studies Catholic University of America faculty Social critics