Decline & Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide [Hardcover]

Bruce S. Thornton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 13, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1594032068 | ISBN-13: 978-1594032066

Once a colossus dominating the globe, Europe today is a doddering convalescent. Sluggish economic growth, high unemployment, an addiction to expensive social welfare entitlements, a dwindling birth-rate among native Europeans, and most important, an increasing Islamic immigrant population chronically underemployed yet demographically prolific--all point to a future in which Europe will be transformed beyond recognition, a shrinking museum culture riddled with ever-expanding Islamist enclaves. Decline and Fall tells the story of this decline by focusing on the larger cultural dysfunctions behind the statistics. The abandonment of the Christian tradition that created the West's most cherished ideals--a radical secularism evident in Europe's indifference to God and church--created a vacuum of belief into which many pseudo-religions have poured. Scientism, fascism, communism, environmentalism, multiculturalism, sheer hedonism-- all have attempted and failed, sometimes bloodily, to provide Europeans with an alternative to Christianity that can show them what is worth living and dying for. Meanwhile a resurgent Islam, feeding off the economic and cultural marginalization of European Muslims, knows all too well not just what is worth dying for, but what is worth killing for. Crippled by fashionable self-loathing and fantasies of multicultural inclusiveness, Europeans have met this threat with capitulation instead of strength, appeasement and apologies instead of the demand that immigrants assimilate. As Decline and Fall shows, Europe's solution to these ills--a larger and more powerful European Union--simply exacerbates the problems, for the EU cannot address the absence of a unifying belief that can spur Europe even to defend itself, let alone to recover its lost grandeur. As these problems worsen, Europe will face an unappetizing choice between two somber destinies: a violent nationalistic or nativist reaction, or, more likely, a long descent into cultural senescence and slow-motion suicide.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Bruce Thornton's wisdom, nourished by deep reading in the classics, is on ample display in this trenchant analysis of contemporary Europe. From sclerotic economies unable to assimilate burgeoning Islamic populations to a strange fecklessness when it comes to providing for a common defense, Europe seems caught in a historic downward spiral. Thornton shows us why this is happening--and what it means for the United States and the world. -- Brian C. Anderson

In a number of important books and articles, Bruce Thornton has written passionately about Western culture, contemporary society and the current war against radical Islam. Now in Decline and Fall, he combines those literary and historical skills to analyze why Europe has turned its back on a once illustrious Western tradition. The result is not merely a postmortem on the failed European utopian experiment, but also a brilliant mediation itself on the human condition and our dangerous pursuit of heaven on earth. -- Victor Davis Hanson

About the Author

Bruce S. Thornton is the author of Plagues of the Mind: The New Epidemic of False Knowledge; Greek Ways: How the Greeks Invented Western Civilization, and other books. He teaches Classics and humanities at California State University in Fresno.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Encounter Books (November 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594032068
• ISBN-13: 978-1594032066
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #823,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting observations, December 24, 2007

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Decline & Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide (Hardcover)

I think that Bruce Thornton has made some good points in this book about modern Europe. Early in the book, he uses H. G. Wells' book, "The Time Machine" as an intriguing analogy. Are Europeans becoming more like Wells' "Eloi," and commtting a sort of "slow-motion suicide?"

Politically, Europe is indeed annoying some of us in the United States. As Thornton explains, many Western Europeans were strongly opposed to any action against the Iraq regime of Saddam Hussein. On the other hand, ten Eastern European nations and eight other European nations wrote a letter of solidarity with the United States' intention to remove Hussein from power.

Still, a more genuine concern is not about day-to-day European politics but about Europe's ability to support a healthy and productive society. One fundamental issue is the ability to enforce basic laws and provide for the common defence. And Europe had great difficulty doing that in Bosnia. The EU was helpless here, and so was the UN. Only American troops were any good at stopping the mass murders. Thornton explains that the "Europeans do not have the military capacity to project force in order to stop the threat of brutality and slaughter, which means that they have no threat of force to give teeth to their non-lethal means of resolving conflict."

There is a chapter on the abandonment of the monotheist deity, and I'm not too impressed by that. I am a Polytheist and I think we humans are natural Pagans, given how varied and fickle we are. I'm not too worried about European Christians becoming more tolerant. But I am concerned that, as Thornton describes, we're seeing more intolerance from Europe's Muslims, much of which is accepted by the rest of the community.

Is there a demographic threat to Europe? Muslims could become as much as 30% of the European population in a few decades. Well, I think that depends on whether the Muslim community decides to focus on productive endeavors or on destruction and violence. If the latter occurs, yes, there will be problems, including the risk of more big European wars. I think a war against the Muslims is possible and a war in alliance with Muslims is possible as well. Hopefully, neither of these will occur. One metric that some people use has been antisemitism. It served as a warning that Europe was in trouble back in the 1930s, and it could serve as a similar warning today.

Thornton tries to put anti-Israeli ideologies into some perspective. As he explains, since World War Two about 25 million people have died in internal conflicts, while only 8000 of them have died in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yet Israel has been condemned by the United Nations more than all other nations combined. Of course, I think it is good that there have not been even more casualties in the war against Israel. But I agree that the obsessive attacks on Israel, including the applause for such attacks from the European community, are not a good sign for Europe or for the rest of society.

I recommend this book.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is Europe Kaput?, May 25, 2008

By 

Bernard Chapin "Ora Et Labora!" (CHICAGO! USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Decline & Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide (Hardcover)

Length:: 7:41 Mins

Hi Bernard Chapin saying hi and here's a review of Bruce Thornton's new book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, packed with info and quotes. Highly recommended!, July 5, 2008

By 

Winston "Iran Blogger/Activist" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Decline & Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide (Hardcover)

This awesome book is very informative, packed with quotes, details and info you can't find any where else. But the grim future of EUtopia (It's also where Liberals in Canada and US would like us to follow) is making me scared. According to stats, by 2025 France will be a majority Islamic country. Russian army will be a majority Muslim army by 2020. These are scary, not because radical Muslims are scary, but because this change is being forced upon the rotten continent of Europe so fast that it can not keep pace. And as it is clear, the Eurabians have two option: 1- Submit to the will of Allah and become Muslims at once, 2- Start a civil war again and run concentration camps (That's where Eurabians are best at). These two options scare the hell out of me and makes me very sad. At any rate, this book is an eye opener for the naive Westerners in Canada, UK, US and western EU countries. Europe is a mess and hopefully it won't need America to save it again. As for this book I highly recommend this book.