Customer Reviews

Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith

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

 

 

Anyone who reads this and is still a bit unsure should read Yevgeny Zamyatin's book WE and Djilas' The New Class. If they are looking for the philosophical approach to the book, they should read Voegelin and any of his works that deal with the philosophical underpinning of what Billington is addressing in this fantastic work. Billington is a Rhodes Scholar. He is a visiting Professor to Harvard and Princeton. His works on Russia are definitive. This book being his best, is his dedication to Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and Demons. It is scary and brilliant. It answers the question of the two opposing "secret" warring groups one the proponents of freewill the others proponents of the collective and or the secular super powerful state. All this and according to Billington's work, the most startling aspect, is that journalists are the very agents of this revolutionary activity. Puts a very scientism spin on things like global warming and afro-centrism.

This is one of the great history books of our time.

Billington provides a comprehensive account of the revolutionary obsession from the 18th until the 20th century. He examines in particular national and socialist revolution and the cast of sometimes bizarre characters, cults and conspiracies that peppered these movements.

Beautifully written, it is a joy to read. Billington treats his subject matter with empathy but is by no means a revolutionist himself.

Gibbon's "Decline aand Fall of the Roman Empire" is still being read today more than three centuries after it was penned. Billington's book will be a must read centuries from now too.

This item shipped quickly. I was worried when I ordered it that I wouldn't receive it right away, but everything turned out great! Thanks a lot would definitely do business again!

If you want to understand what really happened in the past 200 or so years, this is the book for you to start that journey.

This is another MUST read for ALL AMERICANS or any serious minded student of history,professional or not.Mr.Billington,who I believe is still head of the Library of Congress(though he MAY have recently retired)was appointted,to that position by Reagan, explores the role secret societies have played in revolutionary movements since the time of the AMERICAN/FRENCH revolution to the RUSSIAN revolution.It MAY change your view on "How the World Really Works.I stole that lasy phrase from the late Mr.Wanniski-a conservative.

Mr. Billington omits all mention of the intellectual impact of Algernon Sydney on the Founders. Sydney, who was executed by King Charles II of England, in his debates with Robert Filmer, an advocate of the divine right of kings, transmitted to the Founding Fathers crucial theories of republican government originated by Catholic Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. Billington will have none of it.

Billington also obscures Thomas Jefferson's principled opposition to the Babylonian Talmud and Orthodox Judaism.

These are significant gaps which substantially undercut any claim to this book being a comprehensive intellectual history of the American Revolution.

Noone has mentioned the cousin to this book which is Carrol Quigly's "Tragedy and Hope". Dr Quigly went to Harvard and taught at Georgetown where he, according to Clinton in his inaugual address, became the mentor to future president Bill Clinton. Please read my review of Quigly's work where I reveal a third book that is just as essential as Billingtons and Quiglys...and that throws a curve even at the most well read and learned!