Customer Reviews

How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions

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Casting an erudite eye over a variety of sources Mr Wheen (born 1957) has written an informative and entertaining book which sets out to examine the evidence of the statement by British Philosopher Roger Scruton that reason is now on the retreat both as an ideal and as a reality (P.7) In my own experience in my own country (Australia) I note that the third most popular course (after mandatory English, and Maths) for the High School Certificate in NSW is Business Studies. I note also that Australian Universities seem to have an orientation towards vocational or "practical courses" and that subjects such as philosophy and other "soft" subjects appear to have a shrinking student base. Philosophy, among other things, is concerned with thinking about thinking, validity, the role of a premise, evidence, logic and so on, but as H.L. Mencken noted "every man prefers what he can understand to what puzzles and dismays him" (p.111) and the acquisition of knowledge is a hard incremental slog compared to switching on the tv. Hence, it is argued, the rise of evangelical fundamentalism. In America religious superstition is about the same per capita as Bangladesh, which is surprising for an advanced industrialized country. Mr Wheen argues that it is far better for the powerless to seek solace in crystals, ley-lines, and the myth of Abraham than in actually challenging the rulers, or the social and economic systemn over which they preside (p. 193). What is revealing and alarming is the seepage that occurs between business, religion, cultish mumbo jumbo, government and educational institutions. The Clintons, the Blairs, The Reagans have all been involved in mumbo jumbo including consulting astrologers. Nor do the left escape Mr Wheen's analysis and research and are revealed as being ideological blind to Stalin, Pol Pot and as demonising the USA . The Muslim world also gets a serve or two as Mr Wheen points out to them that it was not Mohammed but the jurists of the 8/9th centuries who divided the world into the abode of Islam and the abode of war (p. 291) He also reminds them it was the Arab world which began modernization so willingly embraced by the West through Astronomy and Mathematics.
Mr Wheen's book is a refreshing and compelling read.

I found this book to be a fairly enjoyable read, which showed quite well how so many people jump on the latest mind-set bandwagon without really stopping to develop their own critical opinions. Social opinion can often be like science without peer review, and a critical (perhaps even cynical) mind is often the only real defense.

Some parts of this book flow quite nicely, where the author has a clear point to make and sticks with it, but other parts feel a bit more rambling, and seem to lack focus. Also, sometimes it feels as though the author's opinions are being presented as facts, without really being backed up. This should not be taken as too heavy a criticism, as the book still contains lots of great food for thought, and I think most critical thinkers would find a lot of valuable content here, but the negatives are enough that I wouldn't put this one on my 'must-read' list.

Mumbo-Jumbo is that specious sounding article you read the other day by that new-ager who tempts you with a re-birthing to 'let go' of the bad karma....it's the economic bastardry of the 'trickle down' effect where only those at the top of the economic pile improve their situation.
Importantly, you don't come away from this book feeling angry, cheated or alarmed - just more aware. Too many publications are out there to get 'them' - this book is out there to get 'us' - make us think and challenge us to questioin the mumbo-jumbo that pervades and sometimes becomes THE established way of thinking.
An extremely worthwhile way to spend some reading time.

If you get your news from the talking (and cutesy) heads of most of today's news, this book is NOT for you. If you want to learn -- or be reminded of how our recent political history affects today, and the "why" of it, read How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World.

As the Boston Globe said, "A very well-written rant against all the baloney that people seem increasingly to believe."

Reading aloud at the dinner table, the content provoked some yes's, boos, laughter and table pounding from my husband and me. Author Francis Wheen covers it all in detail so even those of us who can't remember a historical fact from high school will get it.

For example did you know what caused this to happen?

- 1973 the average American had 26.2 hours of 'leisure time' every week ... and by 1984 the figure had fallen to 16.6 hours -- almost 10 fewer hours a week.

The author explains in relative terms which President or world leader and their beliefs and policies caused what to happen at the time, and how it all fit together. Some facts shocked me at how often policies he described were "developed for the common man," but actually benefited the rich. What's wrong with this picture?

No one, no party, no belief is left alone -- he bashes everyone equally. This book is for the cynic -- and fodder for an astute stand-up comic.

Here's my fist on the table. I'm outraged, indignant, baffled -- then on a new page, I'm laughing. So that's "history," according to author Wheen.

Armchair Interviews says: Nothing is scared so get your drink of choice and flop into your own favorite armchair for a great read. You will be there a long time reading and reacting and wondering whether what you believe is true.

This is a sometimes-wonderful but ultimately frustrating book. Wonderful, because it brings together so many hilarious examples of crackpot thinking; frustrating because it fails to tie these examples together into any sort of unified thesis. Wheen adopts a scattergun approach, taking fire at neoliberalism, management theory, dotcom mania, postmodernism, new age religion, Islamic fundamentalism, self-help literature, UFO sightings, the Diana cult and more besides. "How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World" might more accurately be entitled "How Things that Really Annoy Francis Wheen Conquered the World". The tenuous thread which Wheen attempts to weave between these disparate phenomena is that they represent a betrayal of the Enlightenment and a retreat from reason and rational thought into ... well, mumbo-jumbo. Okay, but irrational thinking is hardly unique to our age and if we are to accept that there is something more pervasive or different about it today then we need to address two questions: first, what are the connections between all these different forms of mumbo-jumbo (apart from the fact that they are all really silly); and second, why are they flourishing today? Wheen fails to address these questions. Instead he relates a litany of human idiocy which is certainly amusing and sometimes even disturbing but which in the end doesn't really go anywhere. I had hoped for a concluding chapter which would draw the threads together and present a cogent argument as to what all this meant, but it was not to be. The final chapter in fact epitomised what is wrong with this book, lumping together a critique of the dotcom boom and the Enron saga with an excoriation of the political left's response to 9/11 and its supposed anti-Americanism. Maybe I'm missing something but I really don't get the connection between the criminal activities of Lay and Skilling and the intellectual failings of Chomsky and Moore. If there is a connection I would like Wheen to actually explain it. It does not suffice for him to simply laud the Enlightenment again and castigate those who "wish to consign us all to a life in darkness". For all his commitment to the Enlightenment, Wheen ultimately entertains rather than enlightens his readers. The book is superbly researched and delightfully written, and most of his targets deserve all the derision which is heaped upon them. It is worth reading for these reasons alone. But don't expect to emerge any the wiser.

This is a good read, even though I write as someone more likely to use the word "Enlightenment" in a Buddhist context, rather than in reference to the revolution of "pure reason" inspired by the likes of Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton over two hundred years ago. Unfortunately Francis Wheen appears to believe that the two world views are mutually exclusive and that only truth derived from rationalism and scientific progress is the way forward. Surely there is room for both?! Possibly the author would dismiss this last suggestion as "post-modern relativism".

Still, Wheen makes a lot of good points and fires at a wide range of mostly easy targets in the modern world. His analysis of the emotional hysteria surrounding the death of Princess Diana is interesting and his cynical attacks on all things remotely "new age" are occasionally funny and insightful. Likewise the observations of various political and economic hypocrisies are well informed. However, he sometimes seems on the virge of dismissing all human feeling and failing as "Mumbo-Jumbo". By the end of this rambling book there is very little that has escaped criticism.

Amongst other things, this is an entertaining and informed overview of 25 years of social, political, and economic history. I will be re-reading sections of it but Wheen appears to be inhabiting a rather depressing intellectual world here. Many people have willingly embraced "non-rational" ideas and points of view because they have felt let down or alienated by the dehumanizing attitude of rationality and scientific progress that Wheen appears to worship.

There is a memorable passage in Saul Bellow's novel 'The Dean's December' where a dog barking in Communist Budapest seems to be railing passionately about the limits of his era, his condition, his doggy ignorance.

That seems to me to encapsulate the theme of this book. Three centuries ago we had the Enlightenment - a sweeping range of progress in science, political thought and philosophy seemed to overthrow the Medieval mysticism and mumbo jumbo once and for all. A generalization of course, but that is how historians portray it.

And now what do we have. Nearly half the population of America sincerely believing they have been abducted by extra terrestrial beings. Governments in the world's richest democracies claiming we can have lower taxes AND comprehensive social justice AND whatever kind of liberty you want. Horoscopes in nearly all the serious newspapers and magazines. Mass outpouring of grief for a dimwitted blonde sloane who happened to be unfortunately killed in a car crash in Paris.

Wheen's argument is sweeping, controversial and is bound to raise eyebrows. His thesis is that the twin revolutions in 1979 (Islamic in Iran and Thatcherite in the UK) heralded a sweeping away of the rational progress that was taking place and a new age of quacks, conspiracy theories, madcap French intellectual paradigms (the first Gulf War didn't exist you know)half baked governmental policies and a dangerous regression to Medieval barbarism in parts of the Middle East

Wheen picks out some important targets - the ludicrous 'End of History' nonsense as pedalled by Fukuyama, the loony 'Lexus and the Olive Branch' Samuel Huntingdon theory (even an Vietnamese peasant woman with a pair of scales is a player in the great shiny world of global capitalism). Very important is his denunciation of the fantasy world of Tony Blair - the true high priest of the Thatcherite mumbo jumbo world with his mud baths, his 'third way' (never yet clearly defined) and his belief that the private sector will enforce proper social justice as well. Thatcher, to be fair was less of a mumbo-jumbo priestess than an old fashioned economically liberal social conservative which may be unappealing but at least there wasn't the same extent of smoke and mirrors about it.

Wheen takes a scattergun approach to hit a lot of targets in one book. It is a loose limbed, flexi style of prose, arguments are often truncated and jump from one theme to another without being patiently argued through to their conclusions. This style is likely to irk some readers and leave many thinking that it is an intellectually sloppy piece of work.

Also, Wheen fails to get to the root of some of the mumbo-jumbo issues he tackles. Take the case of Princess Diana. Like most liberal middle class commentators, he seemingly fails to see that the mass outpouring of grief was from people with small, difficult, struggling lives (Bellow's dog again) who latched onto a princess figure who gave them a shred of hope.

Mumbo jumbo theory appeals mainly to the under educated and the closed minded. There are intelligent people who have latched onto the public's desire for grand theories that explain everything, and made a ton of money from writing bestsellers, but the main problem is lack of curiosity.

Wheen's book leads naturally on to the spate of books that followed - the religion debunkers (Hitchens, Dawkens, Dennett, Harris), the left liberal shibboleth destroyers (Nick Cohen, Hitchens again, Martin Amis) and those by contemporary politicians who lament the decline of reason (Gordon Brown, Al Gore).

With Blair now gone to hawk his neo-con lite theories around the USA, the UK at least has a Prime Minister who seems to be a bit more intellectually rigorous and serious than Blair was. It is my hope that the post Bush and Blair days will be a mite more rational (now that the Citibank chairman has resigned due to massive defaults on borrowing, perhaps more people will realize that money doesn't come from nothing). Wheen ends on a positive note - that reason is strong, and will prevail in the end. But this book shows what a tide of nonsense it has to overcome to do that.

Like Bellow's dog - more people need to open their minds, educate themselves, be lovers and seekers of truth.

Not bad. Not excellent, but an enjoyable read, overall.

Criticisms:

He wasted a lot of space with aimless ranting about the patently absurd (such as astrology, UFO's, etc. - you either don't need a warning or one won't work on you anyway) and seems to have almost a personal bone to pick with several people, with no sources cited in support(e.g. Noam Chomsky).

The overall structure appeared to be a "cite-cobbling" approach and could have used a bit more direction/focus. Each chapter sort of meandered from story to story; no overall cohesiveness.

Nitpicky detail: How the hell can you have a "long Blitzkrieg"?? Sorry, but it's been bugging me since I saw the phrasing.


Otherwise, it appears to have been nicely cited and edited. Give it a whirl. Or leave it on your coffee table to get people arguing over it when you're bored.

Finally a book I truly enjoyed.
It is easily readable, direct and outspoken.
It articulates a definite and very controversial argument: the belief that our society is witnessing a massive retreat from, almost a betrayal of, the rationalist legacy bequeathed by the Enlightenment.

The argument is highly controversial, and I'm very skeptical about conclusions and causes.
Nonetheless this is the true force of the book: an extreme argument can be accepted or rejected, but it forces you to weight evidence and carefully evaluate conclusions.
It compels the reader to think critically.

The basic thesis is that from 1979, with the seminal events of the Iran revolution and the conservative revolutions of Mrs. Thatcher and president Reagan, a sweeping conservative revolution has been able to disrupt the world born after the tragedy of the Great Depression and the two wars, proposing a full array of new "myths": the neoclassical and neo-liberist recipes of the school of Chicago, the disruption of the welfare state, a new rampant individualistic capitalism to detriment of social responsibility and solidarity, the easy and not-so-easy proposals of (pseudo) philosophies (from structuralism, to communitarism, up to the huge popularity of self-help book), the strange advancing passion for mysteries, magic and miracles and a new uncompromising attitude (from religious radicalism to new age), an unwarranted faith in the power of individual.

Wheen is a thinker extremely Manichean.
He conceives reality like the story of progressive disenfranchisement from the dark ghosts of the past: a story in which a battle has been lost, but war keeps on.
So reality is black or white, but never grey: an enlightened legacy versus contemporary mumbo jumbo, a dream of Keynesian Arcadia versus the new brave conservative world, and looming on the horizon the nightmare of new Armageddon of greed.

But the real question is "Is Mr. Wheen Manicheism so Enlightened?"
Actually some of the most enduring legacies of XVIII century Enlightenment are skepticism, critical thinking and that extremely impalpable ability to share opinions and knowledge besides the smaller enclaves of academics. A more relaxed attitude in Mr. Wheen could have indicated that, after all, nothing new is under the sun.
Only as example, Franklin, one of the great "saints" of Rationalism (at least for the author, who cites him at length not less than 5 times as a model) in his life was a renowned author of those same self help books ("The way to wealth" - "Poor Richard's Almanac" - but what about the copious production of self help books in XVIII century England?) that Wheen seems so much to despise; had to contend with many "irrational" phenomena - often with conflicting attitudes he could not subscribe (religious awakenings and mesmerism, to cite only two of them) and at the end of his life had to fight against a Tory government whose imperial hubris shows some aspects in common with today political conservatism.

In a certain sense partiality comes natural.
The more we are distant from an age, the more we tend to idealize it, and to loose sight of the lesser and more disturbing aspects that intertwined with the (now considered) relevant features.

The most annoying feature of the book is the tendency (openly stated) to see history from 1700 to 1979 as the Reign of Enlightenment, and from 1979 onward as the Age of Mumbo Jumbo.
How can it be so?
Can we truly talk of a long age of Enlightenment?
And what about Pre-romantics and Romantics?
Actually the great season of Enlightenment - at least on mainland Europe - was already moribund on the verge of French Revolution - and the nightmare of the two world wars was partly due also to the new idealistic philosophies of the XIX century.

It was high time to denounce the so many pseudo-philosophies of today, most of them philosophies of egotism: those that propose a moratorium in the creation of new rights, stressing on the importance of duties (but almost always my rights vs. others' duties), those that propose a well ordered society - in which everyone know and keeps his place - as a good recipe for democracy (there's a famous author who stated that kindness and smiling employees are a prerequisite for democracy), and those stating that money is measure of all things (one dollar/one vote).

YES, most of the problems denounced by Wheen are real and alarming, but sometimes a little wit and toleration are far better than crude sarcasm and hopeless enumeration.
If we believe in the power of ideas, we shouldn't be afraid of our ideas, to denounce evils AND propose emendation.
Prophets in the desert can be appealing, but they will do nothing to change the world if they do not advance proposals. If the ideas do not circulate.
Because the true legacy of Enlightenment is probably the ability to share knowledge and ideas and not be afraid.

I have unbounded admiration for Francis Wheen - he has articulated with great passion and skill many things I have felt for a number of years but have been unable to express.

I feel that this is more than just an interesting or amusing book - it is both, of course, and Francis Wheen has a way of explaining things in a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening way, but this book is also an important book. Francis Wheen is, hopefully, sowing a seed - a seed of a new Age of Enlightenment. I hope many people read this book and consider the things Francis Wheen presents to us.

Mumbo-jumbo and other nonsense has been allowed to flourish unchallenged in the world during the latter half of the 20th century. It is time for us to say "enough is enough!".

I take issue with Francis Wheen on one thing - I would date the start of the Mumbo-Jumbo age back a little further - back to the time of musicals Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair and the Chariots of the Gods phenomena in the late 1960s.