Transformations of Man
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* Book: Transformations of Man. By Lewis Mumford.
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“Lewis Mumford’s Transformations of Man (Mumford 1956), which grew out of his work on the culture of cities and was conceived as a “pocket-sized alternative” to Toynbee (Miller 1989: 455), posits a more expansive period of “axial man” lasting for over 1,200 years, from 600 BCE to 650 CE. His discussion of this period has some similarities with Jaspers’ account of the axial age in that it, too, focuses on the rise of religions with a universal thrust and expanding communications across large territories. Despite these similarities, however, and partly due to the difference in periodization, Mumford rarely forms part of the axial age debate.”