E. M. Cioran confronts the place of today'sworld in the context of human history—focusing on such major issues of thetwentieth century as human progress, fanaticism, and science—in this nihilisticand witty collection of aphoristic essays concerning the nature of civilizationin mid-twentieth-century Europe. Touching upon Man's need to worship, the feebleness of God, the downfall of the Ancient Greeks and the melancholy baseness of all existence, Cioran's pieces are pessimistic in the extreme, but also display a beautiful certainty that renders them delicate, vivid, and memorable. Illuminating and brutally honest, <em>A Short History of Decay</em> dissects Man's decadence in a remarkable series of moving and beautiful pieces.