There are many things that are remarkable about our civilisation. One of the more curious is that we have become the first civilisation in history that is taught to despise everything that is ours and venerate anything that is not. But there was a time, not very long ago, when a different approach was possible. Kenneth Clark’s magnificent 1969 series Civilisation is one example.
The subtitle of the series – note – was “a personal view”. And Clark, despite his extraordinary learning and erudition, was careful throughout to emphasise this point. It was not just a Western view or a European view, but his view. If that was meant to forestall the malevolent critics who have come along since, it has failed.
