The Pentecost of Calamity


Read by David Wales

(4.6 stars; 23 reviews)

Nonfiction. Appalled by the savagery of World War I, Owen Wister in 1915 published an attempt to move the United States out of neutrality into joining the Allies against Germany. His aim was the quicker defeat of that nation. (Wister: “the new Trinity of German worship – the Super-man, the Super-race, and the Super-state.”) He was but one of many literary personages who joined in this effort. A moving quote: “Perhaps nothing save calamity will teach us what Europe is thankful to have learned again – that some things are worse than war, and that you can pay too high a price for peace; but that you cannot pay too high for the finding and keeping of your own soul.” (Summary by David Wales) (1 hr 38 min)

Chapters

1 Part 1 Sections 1 - 4 34:40 Read by David Wales
2 Part 2 Sections 5 - 11 35:38 Read by David Wales
3 Part 3 Sections 12 - 15 28:22 Read by David Wales

Reviews

The Pentecost of Calamity, by Owen Wister


(5 stars)

What a book and what a mind, that of Owen Wister! Thank God for people what that kind of straightforward thinking. Averse to war and violence as I am, I still feel that his and other voices were as totally necessary at the time this book was written as they were years later when an even greater calamity was threatening the world. Calamity and horror that were inconceivable to anyone of a more or less clear mind, not to mention soul and heart. Thank you Mr. Wister for your rectitude of conscience, may you be at peace now. The book was read with the excellence that David Wales usually imparts, and which is the more impacting because his voice is so calm and quiet. Thank you for the books you so graciously read for us Mr. Wales, and to LibriVox for making their production possible.

MASTERPIECE


(5 stars)

I agree with the sentiments of the first two commentators. Tragically, only a very small percentage of Americans today would agree with it. Actually, few could truly understand it. As for his plaudits for our universities, they ring hollow because most of them would ban an intelligent patriot (such as Wister) from their campuses lest the students (so-called) hear truth. Wister would not believe how far we have fallen from his lofty descriptions of our corporate soul!


(5 stars)

what an eye opener! it's just too bad that the schools don't teach this type of History. :-)