Architects of the Culture of Death [Paperback]

Donald De Marco (Author), Benjamin Wiker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

The "Culture of Death" has become a popular phrase, and is much bandied about in academic circles. Yet, for most people, its meaning remains vague and remote. DeMarco and Wiker have given the Culture of Death high definition and frightening immediacy. They have exposed its roots by introducing its "architects." In a scholarly, yet reader-friendly delineation of the mindsets of twenty-three influential thinkers, such as Ayn Rand, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Jean-Paul Sartre, Alfred Kinsey, Margaret Sanger, Jack Kevorkian, and Peter Singer, they make clear the aberrant thought and malevolent intentions that have shaped the Culture of Death.

Still, this is not a book without hope. If the Culture of Death rests on a fragmented view of the person and an eclipse of God, hope for the "Culture of Life" rests on an understanding and restoration of the human being as a person, and the rediscovery of a benevolent God. The "Personalism" of John Paul II is an illuminating thread that runs through Architects, serving as a hopeful antidote.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Donald De Marco is the author of several books, including The Heart of Virtue. Benjamin Wiker is the author of Moral Darwinism.

Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586170163
• ISBN-13: 978-1586170165
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 113 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative with a disturbing & honest view of our world., July 12, 2004

By 

Brandon B. Justice ((Archdiocese of) Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Architects of the Culture of Death (Paperback)

The authors have done their research with this one! Each chapter highlights a modern thinker/philosopher who has been immortalized in our culture. Rare facts and shocking informative tidbits about pioneers like Darwin, Freud, Sanger & Kinsey challenge the reader to consider the darker side of these "architects" who have intentionally or inadvertently become apologists or defenders of eugenics, racial genetic engineering, sterilization, infanticide and sexual deviancy like bestiality and pedophelia. A plentitude of references from biographies, autobiographies and articles written by these "architects" reinforce the point and eliminate the "Catholic Bias" rebuttal. I promise any reader will come away challenging their own pre-conceived dispositions on a multitude of modern-day issues.

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Architects' is a thought-provoking page turner for our time, June 18, 2004

By 

Rebecca Oberzan (Hephzibah, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Architects of the Culture of Death (Paperback)

This book really surprised me. I had expected a strict review of my college philosophy course with a Catholic rebuttal. Instead I found an invititation to seriously consider how these individuals of the past two centuries have affected my life and the society that has molded me.

The vignettes consist of a description of each philosophy; but more importantly they focus on the individual that developed the philosophy. Being able to see what brought each one to their viewpoint and how the viewpoint developed was amazing. How seriously would we in the modern day accept some of these individuals if we had that information? Many would be dismissed like street corner prophets. Even more enlightening was learning the tangible results of their philosophies in their own lives. Definitely not a pretty picture for them then or us now.

The authors do not leave you alone without hope and reason. They point out the faultier thought processes and counteract them with Catholic teaching, mostly from the Holy Father, John Paul II.

My only regret is that they covered Freud and missed Jung.

It's a great weekend read. Would also be a wonderful gift/reference for Catholic family members to send off to school with thier new college student.

61 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, April 11, 2005

By 

Brad Shorr "Brad Shorr" - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Architects of the Culture of Death (Paperback)

This book is a collection of thumbnail sketches of major thinkers behind the culture of death. Some, like Freud, are famous; others, like Francis Galton, whose pernicious ideas about eugenics exert tremendous influence to this day, were unfamiliar to me. These sketches include a basic overview of their thought along with purely biographical information. In several cases, it becomes obvious that their personal torments formed or helped form their aberrant philosophies. This attempt to establish a causal connection between personality and philosophy is a major point the authors strive to make, thinking that in so doing they discredit the ideas themselves--an approach that may not be entirely valid philosophically but is highly interesting nonetheless. Since the sketches are roughly 20 pages long, we are only getting a superficial overview. However, the writing is crisp and provocative, definitely whetting the appetite for more. As the authors point out in their introduction, many of us blame our current problems of abortion, euthenasia, moral decay, etc. on "the Sixities" or Roe vs. Wade, not realizing that these phenomena themselves are rooted in ideas that go back two hundred years or more. To really understand how deep-rooted this culture of death is, we need to understand how we got here. This book provides excellent introduction to the whole line of thought that has wreaked such havoc on our culture.