Heritage of Our Times

"Although it has neither the prophetic energy of Spirit of Utopia nor the serene immensity of The Principle of Hope, Heritage of Our Times is in many ways Ernst Bloch's richest and most satisfying book, and an excellent place for the newcomer to begin. The implacable effort to understand history and the Nazi triumph gives weight and density to a characteristic mixture of experience, impression, aesthetic reflection, philosophical statement, and Utopian and political pronouncement. The crucial concept developed in this volume--'non-contemporaneity' or the so-called 'synchronicity of the non-synchronous'--has become an indispensable intellectual instrument of grasping modernity."--Fredric R. Jameson, Duke University "Brilliant in its insights, illuminating of complex cultural conflicts . . . Heritage of Our Times explores the question of how 'hope' for the future can be justified in the face of violent dislocations, social, cultural, and political to which modernizing societies are inevitably subjected."--Hayden White, University of California, Santa Cruz