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1,245 of 1,318 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Some light reading for the new Dark Ages", September 25, 2006
This review is from: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (Hardcover)
At least, that's how he signed my copy. I'd call Mark Steyn's essay the single best distillation of the challenge posed to the West by radical Islam that I have ever read.
Regular readers of Mr. Steyn will not be unfamiliar with his central points:
1) In the ongoing conflict between the West and Islam, both the demographics and the will to power favor the Islamists. That a country like Spain, with a birth rate of 1.15 children per adult women, will extinguish itself in a few generations, while immigrants from countries such as Pakistan (birth rate 4.53) will move in to fill the vacuum.
2) That as an aggressive, unassimilated minority edges closer to a majority (as in France, with an estimated 30% Muslim population in the under 20 age group), the character of the democratic institutions will become more closely aligned with Islamic law and culture.
3) That the post-Christian welfare state is largely to blame for the pessimism and failures of will demonstrated by Europe.
4) That America represents the primary exception to this trend, if only by degree, and that only a concerted effort to save our society stands a chance of reversing these trends.
That's a reasonable précis of Steyn's book, and he is certainly not unique in either his diagnosis or his prescription for the West. What sets this apart is his writing. The argument is made in a way that is the most engrossing and entertaining presentation of these ideas I've ever read. Steyn, as part of his superhuman writing regimen, is the obituarist for The Atlantic Monthly, and he puts that talent on display. This is not just a description of a set of demographic realities, but a loving, if premature (he hopes), obituary to a dying great culture. It's Steyn's ability to blend humor with the terminal diagnosis that sets him apart.
Take the following, from letting the book fall open at random (pages 60-61), where Steyn weaves together these seemingly disparate ideas: a photo of Lincoln with his future assassin in near proximity, the globalization at the root of a bird flu scare ("Any minute now there would be toxic cockatoos over the white cliffs of Dover, and the East End would be reeling under a blitzkrieg of sneezing parakeets"), the Black Death in Europe in the 1340s, the exportation of radical Islam from the Bedouin to the West, and finally a quote for Dean Martin's old nightclub act. I can't even describe it adequately; Steyn actually pulls it off, brilliantly.
Finally, I'd like to try to approach the book from the opposite direction. Invariably, political book reviews become contentious. It may be apparent that I came to this book predisposed to agree with the thesis, and I would not argue. That said, I think this is one of the rare political books that could be read and enjoyed regardless of personal politics. Dare I say it, but Steyn might even change some minds. Between his inventive turns of phrase, his references to pop culture and classic Americana, and his interesting digressions on topics as diverse as the heyday of French television and European history in the Middle Ages, Steyn offers something for everyone. And that's appropriate. Unlike many political books, this does not seem written to say "I'm right and you're wrong", but rather "we're all in this together".
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121 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a hot topic for debate, June 19, 2008
Why has Mark Steyn's book "America Alone" been labeled "alarmist" by his opponents? Look at the title: America Alone. Its meaning is obvious, but concerning what? When the Soviet Union fell, America was left standing as the sole super power in the world. But that is not the meaning of America Alone. However, do you remember what Nikita Kruschchev said? America would fall from within, without one shot fired. America would destroy herself through societal softness and the Soviets would walk in and take over.
Steyn states that Muslims have adopted this concept of a country falling from within, beginning in Europe. Through immigration, Muslims are establishing themselves as a stronghold. Belgium, Sweden, England, Denmark, the Netherlands, and France are on their way to becoming majority Muslim and geo-political. In fact, he says, Eurotopia is fast becoming "Eurabia."
Three events are rapidly leading to Eurabia:
1. Demographic decline
2. The unsustainability of the advanced Western social-democratic state
3. Civilizational exhaustion
Do you remember years ago forecasters urged population control? Europe heeded this warning and now faces two factors that will change it drastically: its population is aging and couples are not reproducing themselves. According to Steyn, these are the statistics of the population under the age of 15: Spain and Germany--14%, United Kingdom--18%, the United States--21%. On the other hand Saudi Arabia's 15 and under is 39%, Pakistan--40%, and Yemen--47%.
Who is reproducing themselves: the US at 2.1 babies per couple, [...] at 7.46, Mali at 7.42, Somalia at 6.76, Afghanistan at 6.69, Ireland at 1.9, New Zealand at 2.11. There are Germany and Austria at 1.3, Russia and Italy at 1.2, and Spain at 1.1. Those with birthrates over 2 are Muslim; those under Caucasian Christian.
With an aging population and declining birthrate and a swelling benefits package supplied by the government, who will pay for this social welfare? Answer: incoming immigrants with high birthrates.
Therein, Steyn says, lies the problem. While people of Europe have abandoned their churches and religious beliefs, Islam immigrants bring with them "a religion, and an explicitly political one." In fact, if a European wants to marry a Muslim, he must convert, or as they call it, revert. Muslims believe that everyone is born Muslim--he/she must find that calling. And no one may leave the religion.
How pervasive are Islam and Muslims in Europe? "Go to any children's store in Amsterdam or Marseilles or Vienna or Stockholm. Look at women in headscarves or full abaya. That's the future" (21).
Remember the Kruschkrev comment? This is what Col. Gaddafi once said: "There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe--without swords, without guns, without conquests. The fifty million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades" (36) Steyn gives example after example of how Islamists are taking over, first neighborhoods, then schools, then city governments, then the country.
For example, in 2003, Abdurahman Alamoudi, helped devise a three-week course taught in California's public schools in which students adopted Muslim names, wore Islamic garb, memorized suras from the Koran, recited prayers and so on. Another place Islamists are targeting is the prison population in America, Australia, and Western Europe, seeking reverts. Where there is a religious void as in prisons and Europe, Muslims seek to fill the void with a rigorous religion.
Steyn quotes Imam Zaid Shakit as wanting the United States to become Muslim; however, he sees it as a country with Muslim civil institutions, sharia, a complete way of life. As a country's population dies out and immigrants replace them, a nation's collective past also dies and is replaced with a new.
In France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, riots over equal rights have disturbed traditional peace. Women feel safer walking neighborhoods in Muslim garb in order to be left alone by Muslim men. When Muslims take over, they take the land and distribute it to Muslims, creating reverts out of the native people. Because the United States doesn't take land, Muslims consider the US weak and defeatable. As Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore said in 2004, " The central issue is America's credibility and wil to prevail" (176).
Steyn concludes in outlining America's exceptional nature and how it can prevent Muslim reversion of an entire country. It is not too late! Reading this book can provide invaluable information necessary for action.
In the process of reading this book, I met a military family just back from England. The wife verified everything Steyn says in this book. She says England is quickly becoming Muslim and that violence is becoming common. They were very glad to leave when they did.
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334 of 366 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Important and timely, October 17, 2006
This review is from: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (Hardcover)
Mark Steyn, like P.J. O'Rourke, is an extraordinarily insightful and witty communicator who is not only an artist in the tapestry he weaves with words, but who has keen and piercing discernment into one of the most pressing issues of our time: the shockingly rapid and rabid advance of virulent violence in the name of religion.
Thankfully, unlike many lily-livered and wrong-headed authors of today, Steyn does not grant moral equivalency between faiths that promote peace and love, with faiths that promote hatred and terror. Steyn tells it like it is, and focuses on the real, specific threat to us all: the spread of Islamist extremism (differentiated from peace-loving Muslims). This aggressive terror movement quite literally threatens the very existence of Western Civilization and the freedoms of every single person reading this review.
Having been to Europe on several occasions, including recently, I can say that Steyn's observations about the encroaching threat are right on. Recently, French law enforcement officials have gone so far as to call for help, noting that what Islamist extremists and hoodlums are waging against them in France is an actual intifada. The Netherlands, also overwhelmed with angry immigrants who refuse to assimilate, is likewise facing an epic clash of cultures. In the UK, key cities are on the brink of becoming majority Muslim--a frightening percentage of whom believe that terrorism is a viable, moral option.
Could this happen in America? In fact, the seeds have already been planted. If you have been unaware or dismissive of this fact, then you absolutely must get Steyn's book and read it immediately.
This is not a book about partisanship. Whether one is a "conservative" or a "liberal," if you love America; if you love your family; if you love freedom...you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to get informed and get involved.
This is not a book of racism or bigotry. Steyn does not attack an ethnic group or, specifically, those who practice the Muslim faith. In fact, he sheds light on why Islamist extremism is the greatest danger to Muslims in the world today. (It should be noted that more Muslims and Arabs have been killed and persecuted and enslaved by Islamofacism than any other force.)
Some commentators and comedians casually dismiss or minimize the threat that we all face. For those of us who are Baby Boomers and Xers, it is perhaps deeply ingrained into our nature to pooh-pooh any talk of menace or serious threats to our way of life; this faulty mindset is born out of decades of complacency and relative peace. What is looming on the horizon is simply inconceivable to many. But then again, so was Pearl Harbor. And so was 9/11.
For the sake of the world--including moderate Muslims--it is vital that America (and all of the virtues for which it stands) wins in this struggle. It's high time to refute all of the self-loathing America-hating, traitorous professors and pundits here in this country, and the Euro-weenie hand-wringers on foreign shores, who blame the USA for all of the ills on the planet. Say it loud and clear: the USA has been an overwhelmingly postive force for good in this world, and it's survival is crucial for the prosperity of many nations and peoples.
War has been declared and waged against us; we ignore it at our own peril.
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