Customer Reviews

The End of Time

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Two elements are always found in any work by David Horowitz: marvelous writing and unshakeable passion. The End of Time does not disappoint as it is a unique and valuable addition to his oeuvre. As is to be expected, erudition is intrinsic to his efforts. He cannot compose without educating as, despite its brevity, within can be found brilliant quotations and granules of wisdom from the finest minds in the western world. Of these, one by Dr. Johnson is perhaps my favorite, "When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates the mind wonderfully."

Horowitz first got the idea for this reflective essay addressing life, death, and the totality of existence during air travel. He correctly points out that thoughts of death cross the mind of most every passenger as we ride and jerk above the clouds. A combination of 9/11 and being diagnosed with prostate cancer created a need for him to make sense of an indecipherable future. Impending death, if not due to cancer then to old age, conceptually has put him in the position we physically find him in upon the book's jacket cover. He wades alone at sea with no land or person to secure him. The figure we see is a shadowy composite who, like all the rest of us, ultimately stands alone.

The End of Time is not tightly structured which allows its narration to flow along many lines of inquiry. Horowitz discusses a variety of topics and subtopics. Religion, of course, is one of them. He is an agnostic who scrutinizes the Pensees of Pascal, but, ultimately, cannot agree with the philosopher's conclusions. Although it is to our benefit that he so fully elucidates the Frenchman's final observations.

His scholar's eye then fixes itself on cancer and the way in which it is treated today. Horowitz's experience with hospitalization and recovery illustrate just how non-exacting the science of medicine actually is. Different surgeons tell him different things, and before the prostrate operation commences there is cause to believe that his survival may come with the dear price of lost potency and continence. One is left, as far as health is concerned, with the same impression Somerset Maugham had about life, that the only thing with which to be certain is that there is precious little with which to be certain.

It's been said by several commentators that The End of Time is not a political work, but I disagree. It is not as overtly political as the rest of his publications, and certainly it is, for the most part, a book about human existence. However, even a reader who was not familiar with the author's opinions and positions, would have no question as to where his political allegiances lie. His arguments are unquestionably (and fortunately) conservative. Indeed, one could argue that a devoted attempt to ascertain what the future will bring is by definition a conservative trait; just as is the sentence, "Therefore recognition of consequences is the beginning of wisdom." Such a statement would be affirmed by nearly everyone on the right.

Horowitz equates Marxism with Islamofacism due to their both resulting from a distaste for life as it actually is. They are utopian fantasies which bear no relation to what is actually possible. Such an equivocation between Marx and our nation's most vile enemies is not something that the majority of leftists would readily accept. They often, even if they do not believe in communism, regard it as being a "lost cause" in pursuit of worthy and noble goals like "social justice," but millions met their deaths in a desire to contort humanity into a shape where theoretical doctrines could be met. The gulags created by communists were a logical outcome of ideas initially presented by Marx.

What is produced by radical belief is a permanent war of faith upon society and everybody else who might opposes their plans. There cannot be any middle ground. In the name of the dream, any slaughter or destruction can be justified. This is true regardless of from where the radicalism derives. As the author points out, the Marxism of his father and the fundamentalism of Mohammed Atta do not differ in their attitude toward non-believers.

His short character study of Atta is prescient and, after examining his history, we can better see how he could so easily have committed the evil acts he did. Atta's "morbid seriousness" is what qualified him to lead, and one cannot help but think of Maximilien Robespierre in such a context. Morbid seriousness is precisely what is characterologically essential to revolutionaries. Horowitz's observation that martyrs hate life more than they love death is quite astute.

Perhaps my favorite argument concerns the absurdity of utopian thinking as radicals believe that the world can be completely changed while most of us are not able to lose ten pounds. Such a comparison is admittedly mundane, but it is still an effective way to illustrate a profound truth as human beings are not infinitely malleable and never will be. Life is not an eternal May Day Parade. We spend our days severely challenged by the banal which, upon reflection, is not such a bad way to live.

David Horowitz, the notorious reformer and self-proclaimed agnostic, having survived a brush with death, struggles to make sense of life.

I don't often pick up books that threaten to contain a long lecture, but I tried this one and was gripped by the way Horowitz illuminates the outline of a greater truth as he makes poetic connections between history and philosophy and personal anecdotes. I'm recommending his book with my highest praise.

(I'm being precise when I say Horowitz "illuminates the outline"; the greater truth is far too big for us to perceive it with clarity. The collective wisdom of our lives leads us to seek as David Horowitz has done, but we remain uncertain. Horowitz approaches the Great Questions most appropriately, understanding on one hand why human life is meaningless without answers, while at the same time remaining painfully aware that the answers, if they exist at all, are beyond our grasp. The great paradox is created because we must seek that which we will never truly find. To fail to seek is to be less than fully human; to declare that one has uncovered the complete and ultimate truth is the mark of a dangerous fanatic, and evil is sure to follow.)

The book drew me in and compelled me to continue. While my eyes moved across the pages, I felt I was in the presence of something overwhelming. It's as if Horowitz is my guide, urging me ever-closer to the curtain behind which God Himself must reside. But somehow there remains a boundary that we cannot cross in life, and so we have no choice but to return unfulfilled to our routines.

Read the book. It's a brief journey that leads to an essential vantage.

P.S. It has been noted that this is not a political book, and that's an accurate statement, insofar as its subject matter doesn't touch on any contemporary political battles. You won't find here the names of presidents or candidates or mainstream parties. But there is, among other topics, exploration of the human quest for utopia/Eden. Horowitz considers both the religious and secular extreme visions (as exemplified in our modern world by radical Islamists on one hand or Communists on the other), and contemplates how we come to perpetrate hell on earth when we were so intent on delivering heaven. As a one-time radical whose idealistic dreams were shattered when a close friend was murdered by erstwhile allies (which he has written about elsewhere), this contemplation is part of Horowitz's long journey. He is not writing about what's wrong with "the other guy"; his comments are addressed to every human heart, most of all his own.

I started David Horowitz's "The End of Time" on Sunday night. It is Tuesday morning, early, and I've nearly finished the book a second time.

As other reviewers have shared, this is not a political book. It is much more than that. It reminds me a bit of the wonderful "A Grief Observed," by C.S.Lewis, his posthumously-published complaints (and praises) about life and God following the death (to cancer) of his wife. It also reminds me of the breath-taking "A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken, which is perhaps the most romantic book ever written (and which also deals with dying). And it reminds me of the prophet Jeremiah.

For "The End of Time" is indeed plaintive, and yet full of glad resignation. It is indeed romantic, with death as the backdrop, as it unveils gems about Horowitz and his wife, April. And the work is prophetic, but not in the pop-culture idea of prophecy, fraught with dark augurings into the distant future. It is prophetic in connecting dots; in seeing outcomes that follow from faulty premises; from mistaken alliances with grand ideologies that intend to heal the world with revolutionary zeal, only to kill and maim like so much bad cancer surgery. For Horowitz, the problem with changing the world is not that the world doesn't need changing. The problem is that the human heart needs changing, and yet the heart is as unfathomable as any God. Broken people gathered together under a revolutionary banner do not make a whole humanity; they merely make a collection of broken people with a broken banner.

I am touched by Horowitz. There is a transparency that is touching; a candor that is refreshing. He is a man that is at ease with himself, and his inevitable fate. He looks at the abyss unflinchingly; he is not afraid. One can only appreciate his fortitude.

I, however, am afraid. So I share one small criticism of this otherwise lovely, beautifully written book. If a writer sets out to stare at death, examining the claims of after-life (albeit briefly), it behooves him or her to give some passing reference to the Christian claim of resurrection. I am sorry. But if Horowitz can allude to the Gospels (eg. "In my father's house there were no mansions"; a chapter titled "On Earth As It Is In Heaven"); then I expect some sort of interaction with the claims of Christ's resurrection. Nothing fancy, nothing too didactic mind you. Horowitz wrestles powerfully with other difficult ideas, concepts from other religions than his family's Judaism. Why not this one? Why so silent about the possibility that, if indeed there is a God who has overcome death, then death is not an end; that there IS something to greet you; that there IS some home to go to that is a real home; that dying is NOT something one does entirely alone? (I am not interested in Christianizing Mr. Horowitz, nor do I need the comforts of Christianity. But all one can say about a book of this high caliber, is that Mr. Horowitz's silence regarding Christianity is striking. Yes, he identifies with the Christian Pascal, but only in Pascal's more dire thoughts. There is hardly a mention - other than a description of Pascal's Wager - of WHY Pascal hoped in Christ.)

But none of this discounts the book, really. This is a great reflection on anxiety, dying, hope, faith. It is a love story, simply told, ungratuitously. It is a powerful polemic against religious extremism (his chapter on revolutionary zeal and Islamic terrorism is incredibly potent). It is a worthy read. Very worthy.

I think Horowitz's political persona obscures important facts about him as a man and a writer: He is very obviously an honest and courageous guy, and he also pens beautiful prose. This book will, in no way, disappoint: surprisingly, I found it to be a quite pleasant, thought-provoking rumination on a difficult subject that I, like most others, would normally have steered clear of. Had I not already been a fan, it is certain that I would have missed an important opportunity at personal introspection. (Thanks, David.)

The Left commonly describe David Horowitz as a "Right-wing extremist". They thus put a pro-Israel agnostic Jew in the same company as antisemites -- once again illustrating the grossly simplistic black-and-white thinking that is characteristic of the Left.

I think David's latest book, however, clarifies exactly what he is. David has kindly just sent me an autographed copy of it. I get lots of books for one reason or another but rarely read much of them. I have read so many books in my 61 years on this earth (when I was aged 8 I was already reading three books a week) that I mostly just read articles now. So when I picked up David's book, I expected just do do a quick scan. Instead I sat down and read it right through. The book crams an immense amount of thought into 155 pages but it is all expressed with such simplicity and clarity that it is for all that not the slightest labour to read. I have always said that obscure writing betrays confused thinking and that clear thinking yields clear expression. David's book is an excellent example of the latter.

The book is basically a reflection on life in general and David's own life in particular. As such it is not a directly political book but, given David's life in politics, there are many penetrating reflections about politics in it. So I think I will here mainly share a few quotes that I particularly liked as accurate summaries of the world:

"If you look long and hard enough, you will find that a lie is at the root of most human wrong"

"The desire for more than is possible is the cause of greater human misery than any other"

"How can utopians dream of changing the world when it is so difficult to lose an inch off one's waistline?"

"My father's prophet was Karl Marx, who was himself descended from a long line of Rabbis"

"What Mohammed Atta and my father wanted was an escape from this life"

"My father was a decent man who was not prepared to harm others ... But along with millions of decent progressive souls, my father abetted those who did just that. Progressives looked the other way and then endorsed murder of untold innocents for the same reason that Mohammed Atta and the Islamic martyrs did: to make the new world possible"

"This very envy and the cruel desire for revenge that accompanied it were Joseph Stalin's most human traits"

"To the devoted [Leftist] the source of human misery cannot be located in a deficiency of self [i.e. a deficiency in himself], let alone the wish to escape it [i.e. escape his own deficiencies]"

"Self-loathing is the secret revolutionary passion"

"Social redeemers ... cannot live with themselves or the fault in creation, and therefore are at war with both. Because they are miserable themselves, they cannot abide the happiness of others"

"The Devil they [Leftists] hate is in themselves"

"The personal dream of every revolutionary is to be at the center of creation and the renewal of the world"

"Here is why you cannot change the world: Because we -- all 6 billion of us -- create it"

"The lack of respect for immovable differences is the cause of endless human grief, and is why my father's dreams have failed"

Because the book is largely autobiographical, we read a lot about the type of person David is and the type of person his father was. And the thing that stands out starkly is what an unhappy soul David's Marxist father was and what a gluecklich (lucky, happy) person David comes across as being. This of course fits in perfectly with what heaps of survey evidence shows -- that conservatives are happier people than Leftists. And how happy you are is a fairly stable part of what you are -- almost regardless of your objective circumstances -- as the research with handicapped people shows. Where David ended up ideologically, then, was predictable from his personality. And ditto for his father. Nature certainly triumphed over nurture in David's case.

It is always impressive how much personality -- what you basically are -- is central in the end. David and I have very similar views politically but we could not have had more different life-histories. I am a lifelong conservative from parents whose main attitude to politics was skepticism, for instance. But I too see myself as having had a full and blessed life and that obviously underlies my views. Happy people have no axe to grind and they have no need to deny reality.

As a long time fan of David Horowitz, I'm impressed that he was able to depart from his normal polemical style and author a book that deals with the more mundane issues of life, which includes the not-so-enticing subject of death. Horowitz has not only learned much from his political and personal journey from a child of the left to a statesman of the right, but he possesses the gift of reflective insight that allows him to share the nuances of his development and maturation in a very readable and believable writing style. I've always found it intriuging that Horowitz, and others of his ilk, are classified as "right wing extremists" while their very leftist counterparts rarely, if ever, earn the moniker of "extremist" from THAT end of the political spectrum.

I suppose that is the main reason I enjoy all of his books and respect him immensely -mainly because Horowitz has stuck his neck out and stated his case for conservative ideas in strong, eloquent terms despite the tidal waves of condemnation he has received as a traitor to the left. The man has guts to say what he thinks, and he clearly thinks a lot about what he has said. And unlike other moronic leftist reviewers like "okiguesso" and "Silverman" (both of whom are perfect examples of lefties deserving of the "extremist" title, but will likely never be afforded that honor), Horowitz is far more tolerant of opposing viewpoints than any of his critics.

On a lighter note, I found it mildly amusing that the two prior reviews of this book criticized it for similar reasons. If they are not the same person, they certainly deserve each other. Only a sick leftist moron could declare Horowitz a racist simply because he opposes affirmative action (So does Thomas Sowell- a black intellectual; is HE a racist?). Another reviewer recommends Howard Zinn or Chomsky over Horowitz. If I were followers of those two clowns, I'd never even bother reading Horowitz unless I had a lot of free time on my hands. Then again, both of them are stereotypical leftists in that regard- all they can do is fling insult after insult against Horowitz without offering a single constructive or factual criticism of his work.

So, to those curious and courageous enough to explore the ideas of conservative political thought, read any of David Horowitz' books, and learn some lessons about the meaning of life from this one. And for some laughs, read the reviews of those liberal facists who criticize Horowitz for having a level of courage and committment they could only dream of.

Our conversations are getting cut off. There is no formula and there is no immediate answer. We need to comfort and inspire each other to reach up higher. This book is a spiritual journey. It asks questions such as where did we come from, why are we here and what happens at death? The author has had a battle with prostate cancer and this has aroused his interest in all of these spiritual questions. Certainly the world needs changing, but it starts with the human heart and the ways in which the human being positions himself in the bigger world around him.

Although David Horowitz is a political genius, and one of my heroes, his spiritual journey through The End of Time is a beautifully non-partisan exploration of life and death. There are no rantings on the "war on terrorism," academic freedom, or any of the political firecrackers that Horowitz covers so brilliantly in his other books. The End of Time is pure love from start to finish. Once again, Horowitz has planted extraordinary seeds for thought, only this time in a simple memoir of faith. I can't wait to see what he does next!

`The End of Time' by David Horowitz

I didn't think I could ever read anything more gripping from Messir Horowitz than `Radical Son' - `The End of Time' proved me wrong in that assumption. In this tract, his soul is laid bare for the reader. Each page is more intense than the last. You will find not a wasted paragraph, nor sentence, nor word. Feel Horowitz's pain, explore his literary mind, rejoice in his new beginning and ponder the paradox of life.

This is a non-political book, making it one of a kind for David Horowitz. In my mind, it's the best work he has ever penned and will move you from the first sentence to last. You'll truly be better for having taken the time to read it.

David Horowitz, agnostic, reformed radical son and full-time bęte noire of the progressive movement, has written a book, which isn't just an example of his protean powers as a thinker and writer but it's a beautiful exposition of his spiritual insights into some of the most profound yet ultimately unanswerable questions about human existence.

And this work indeed feels more like an exposition than an orderly narrative. Much like the great mathematician Blaise Pascal's Pensées, a collection of his thoughts about God and existence that were literally sewn together, Horowitz examines Pascal's reflections and adopts the same patchwork style, which works well.

When it comes to trying to comprehend the meaning of life and death within the context of an infinitesimal reality, Horowitz's brilliance, personal experiences and humility provides a wealth of valuable lessons that teaches us that the weight of consciousness doesn't need to be a burden, but it's an opportunity to discover meaning in a life that can only be meaningful when truncated by death.

This is certainly a book worth reading by both believers and unbelievers in a higher power and the afterlife.