Men Among the Ruins

First edition (publ. Edizioni Dell’Ascia)

Men Among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Traditionalist is a book by Julius Evola.

First published as Gli uomini e le rovine (Italian) in 1953, it is a statement of Evola's view of the political and social manifestations of our time (the Kali Yuga). It is considered the second in Evola's core trilogy (starting with Revolt Against the Modern World and ending with Ride the Tiger).

It was first published in an English translation by Inner Traditions International in 2002 (ISBN 0-89281-905-7). Translated from the revised Italian edition of 1972 by Guido Stucco with a foreword by Joscelyn Godwin, a preface and introduction by Dr. H.T. Hansen and edited by Michael Moynihan. Moynihan's Dominion Press printed a hardbound limited edition of 100 copies, which included a cover painting by Harold McNeill, and an additional essay by John Michell.

Summary

In this work Evola argues for a radical restructuring of society based on his view of Tradition. Evola takes as his jumping off point Italian Fascism and to a lesser degree German National Socialism and describes the ways that the two failed to achieve his ideal. As in Fascism and Nazism, Evola champions a powerful state unified under a rigid code and caste system.

Despite similarities, Evola's ideas differ dramatically from those of the fascists and, while preserving an appreciation of militarism, focus less on modernity than tradition, less on the technological than the spiritual, less on the masses than the person (which Evola distinguishes from the individual). In this work, Evola develops his radical reactionary philosophy. Reactionary is an important word for him, one that he seeks to own. In fact "reactionary" could be seen as an understatement in his case as he seeks to restore the order, not of 100 or 200 years ago, but of literally thousands of years ago.

This work constitutes Evola's only attempt at a book-length explicitly political work and, as such, he regarded it as a failure. Ultimately, Evola would become disenchanted about the prospects of achieving a radical reactionary restructuring of society and would advocate that an enlightened or "differentiated" man should Ride the Tiger – the title of his last work – of modern civilization.

Table of contents

• Introduction: "Julius Evola’s Political Endeavors" by Dr. H. T. Hansen
  1. Revolution -- Counter-revolution -- Tradition
  2. Sovereignty -- Authority -- Imperium
  3. Personality -- Freedom -- Hierarchy
  4. Organic State -- Totalitarianism
  5. Bonapartism -- Machiavellianism -- Elitism
  6. Work—The Demonic Nature of the Economy
  7. History—Historicism
  8. Choice of Traditions
  9. Military Style -- Militarism -- War
  10. Tradition -- Catholicism -- Ghibellinism
  11. Realism -- Communism—Anti-bourgeois
  12. Economy and Politics -- Corporations—Work Units
  13. Occult War—Weapons of the Occult War
  14. Latin Character—Roman World -- Mediterranean Soul
  15. The Problem of Births
  16. Form and Presuppositions of a United Europe
• Appendix: Evola’s Autodifesa (Self-Defense Statement)

External links

• Review of Men Among the Ruins by Martin Schwarz
• Men Among the Ruins eBook