Why do cultures commit suicide? Why are we witnessing a new great extinction of peoples? Why is the economic crisis really a spiritual crisis? Probing the inner workings of civilization in a tour d'horizon of cultural decline, Spengler argues that Europe's postnational, secular dystopia is a death trap, that the onslaught of modernity has plunged Islam into an even greater crisis, and that the destiny of nations is decided in the human heart, by religion. Christian America, in spite of its follies and gullibility, has the spiritual strength to restore the faith of the West. This book presents, in one comprehensive volume, the wide scope of Spengler's theories on Christianity, Islam, America, the financial crisis, horror movies, modern art, Israel, Tolkien's Middle Earth, tribalism, the global balance of power, demography, and sex in the twenty-first century. he global balance of power, demography, and sex in the twenty-first century. These highly original essays may provoke you, even frighten you-but never bore you. "In the more than twenty years I've known David Goldman, he's always had an original take on the big picture and frequently has spotted key turning points well in advance of the herd. He's an indispensable voice on financial television and a must-read observer of politics and economics.” -Lawrence Kudlow CNBC Television "Ask anyone in the intelligence business to name the world's most brilliant intelligence service, and we'll all give the same answer: Spengler. David P. Goldman's 'Spengler' columns provide more insight than the CIA, MI6, and the Mossad combined.” -Herbert E. Meyer Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and as Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council.
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"David P. Goldman's 'Spengler' columns provide more insight than the CIA, MI6, and the Mossad combined.” -- Herbert E. Meyer, Special Assistant to the CIA Director and as Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, Reagan Administration
About the Author
David P. Goldman (Spengler) is an American-born polymath-music theorist, financial analyst, literary critic, historian, and geopolitical strategist-and the author of one of the most widely read columns on the Internet.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 50 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
From Spengler: THE socio-political-civilizational unified field theory for our era
October 31, 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have been an avid reader of Spengler's essays for years. I just ordered this compendium, but I daresay that one will find in this work Spengler's socio-politico-historical "theory of everything" -- a veritable unified field theory for political scientists. A good precis of this comprehensive theory can be found in the October 28, 2003 essay by Spengler entitled "Mahathir is right: Jews do rule the world", which is archived in the Asia Times Online website.
This Spenglerian worldview will invariably explain the who, what, where, how and why of world geopolitics and the pluses and minuses of American geostrategy with regard to the big, bad world out there on almost any issue of world affairs and current events.
Very few analysts have the breadth, depth and real-world experience of David P. Goldman aka Spengler. Spengler gives you deep analysis, meta-analysis that is extremely hard to come by on all sides of the political spectrum. He delivers this analysis in a compelling sui generis style, laced with his unique sense of humor.
Beware, Spengler is no low-brow or middle-brow essayist. He is very high-brow, both stylistically and content-wise. I often have to read and re-read his essays several times to wrap my mind around his editorial output. But it has been worth it. Spengler knows his history, economics (he is a trained economist), foreign cultures (he speaks some half dozen languages fluently), religion and theology (he did a stint as an editor of the prestigious religous journal First Things), not to mention philosophy (he is no fan)--he is a true polymath in our brave new world increasingly dominated by pols and pundits who are soi-dissant experts, the definition of which, by the way, is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.
This Spenglerian worldview will invariably explain the who, what, where, how and why of world geopolitics and the pluses and minuses of American geostrategy with regard to the big, bad world out there on almost any issue of world affairs and current events.
Very few analysts have the breadth, depth and real-world experience of David P. Goldman aka Spengler. Spengler gives you deep analysis, meta-analysis that is extremely hard to come by on all sides of the political spectrum. He delivers this analysis in a compelling sui generis style, laced with his unique sense of humor.
Beware, Spengler is no low-brow or middle-brow essayist. He is very high-brow, both stylistically and content-wise. I often have to read and re-read his essays several times to wrap my mind around his editorial output. But it has been worth it. Spengler knows his history, economics (he is a trained economist), foreign cultures (he speaks some half dozen languages fluently), religion and theology (he did a stint as an editor of the prestigious religous journal First Things), not to mention philosophy (he is no fan)--he is a true polymath in our brave new world increasingly dominated by pols and pundits who are soi-dissant experts, the definition of which, by the way, is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful
By luckytown
Format:Paperback
Classically educated look at civilizations and their demise. Including yours & mine. More macro level thinking than most Americans ever indulge in. Always thought provoking & witty to boot. His (mostly) weekly column on Asia Times is one I have read for years with as much joy as Hitchens on Slate or Wieseltier on TNR - the deeply thoughtful / witty sort of dialogue.
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
David Goldman is probably one of the brightest men on the planet, and this book brings news that many people are going to find disturbing and unwelcome.
His major thesis is hardly a secret: societies and people which are religious are the ones having children these days, while the liberated atheists are not. If a society is not having children, naturally, it will soon be nothing but a memory --- and not even that for long.
I should stress that this is not Goldman's crackpot theory: it is backed up by plenty of data and many different population studies. The facts have even spawned one book which was desperately worried that the U.S. was going to turn into a fundamentalist theme park.
This discovery is hardly welcome in "enlightened" circles. They had it all figured out: religion was the enemy, and once society got rid of the enemy, peace and love would break out on all sides. They were satisfied to "prove" to themselves that God did not exist, and they fancied themselves brave enough to live with the resulting ideas: that a man's individual life was a matter of pure chance, that his life was of no importance at all to the universe, and that his death would wipe him out forever. Maybe these men were brave enough to live with such a view of the universe, but apparently most men were not. The result is something never seen before in human history: prosperous, educated, "trouble-free" societies which are committing slow-motion suicide. The most obvious example is Europe, but another, surprising, example is the Muslim world, in particular Iran.
But is this all just a rehash of Goldman's other book, "How Civilizations Die"? Fortunately, not at all. Goldman takes the reader to many fascinating places: a revaluation of Tolkien and "The Lord of the Rings," Wagner, modern art, and a number of essays contrasting Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In his introduction, Goldman writes that he is really trying to convey the thought of Franz Rosenzweig and his masterpiece, "The Star of Redemption," which Goldman spent the 90's working on.
I notice another reviewer calls Goldman out for being a Jew. You could hardly read five pages in this book without "noticing" that! Goldman returned to Judaism in his late 30s, perhaps because he suddenly realized that the only two advanced countries which were replacing their populations were America and Israel, but more likely because he slowly came to realize that there was something about "enlightened" atheist thinking that just did not work for humanity. Much to the horrified surprise of enlightened policy-makers, religious faith suddenly went to the top of the agenda. They imagined that religion was part of the barbaric past.
That's about all I can say about this brilliant, thought-provoking book. It will surprise you, at the very least by its stunning revaluation of the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. And, as a caution: don't try jumping into "The Star of Redemption" unless you are ready for a graduate course in philosophy and theology.
Highest possible recommendation!
His major thesis is hardly a secret: societies and people which are religious are the ones having children these days, while the liberated atheists are not. If a society is not having children, naturally, it will soon be nothing but a memory --- and not even that for long.
I should stress that this is not Goldman's crackpot theory: it is backed up by plenty of data and many different population studies. The facts have even spawned one book which was desperately worried that the U.S. was going to turn into a fundamentalist theme park.
This discovery is hardly welcome in "enlightened" circles. They had it all figured out: religion was the enemy, and once society got rid of the enemy, peace and love would break out on all sides. They were satisfied to "prove" to themselves that God did not exist, and they fancied themselves brave enough to live with the resulting ideas: that a man's individual life was a matter of pure chance, that his life was of no importance at all to the universe, and that his death would wipe him out forever. Maybe these men were brave enough to live with such a view of the universe, but apparently most men were not. The result is something never seen before in human history: prosperous, educated, "trouble-free" societies which are committing slow-motion suicide. The most obvious example is Europe, but another, surprising, example is the Muslim world, in particular Iran.
But is this all just a rehash of Goldman's other book, "How Civilizations Die"? Fortunately, not at all. Goldman takes the reader to many fascinating places: a revaluation of Tolkien and "The Lord of the Rings," Wagner, modern art, and a number of essays contrasting Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In his introduction, Goldman writes that he is really trying to convey the thought of Franz Rosenzweig and his masterpiece, "The Star of Redemption," which Goldman spent the 90's working on.
I notice another reviewer calls Goldman out for being a Jew. You could hardly read five pages in this book without "noticing" that! Goldman returned to Judaism in his late 30s, perhaps because he suddenly realized that the only two advanced countries which were replacing their populations were America and Israel, but more likely because he slowly came to realize that there was something about "enlightened" atheist thinking that just did not work for humanity. Much to the horrified surprise of enlightened policy-makers, religious faith suddenly went to the top of the agenda. They imagined that religion was part of the barbaric past.
That's about all I can say about this brilliant, thought-provoking book. It will surprise you, at the very least by its stunning revaluation of the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. And, as a caution: don't try jumping into "The Star of Redemption" unless you are ready for a graduate course in philosophy and theology.
Highest possible recommendation!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great essays on multiple topics
Spengler is an original thinker and he makes you think about every topic he covers. Not the most cheery reading but it is hard to argue with many of his facts
Published 12 days ago by Erna Kostuch
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love Spengler!
Do you want the story behind the story regarding the failure of past civilizations or nations? This book has it. It is written by Spengler from Asia Times. Read more
Published 5 months ago by kLUB mARCUS
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nescience, Not Erudition, or The End of the Author
This is an eclectic collection of articles/blogs that range from erudition to nescience, from absolute greatness to incredible idiocy. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Fredrick P. Wilson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strange pot pouri but with excellent chapters
I read David Goldman's essays regularly and have a profound respect for the author and bought this book with high expectations. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Remco D. Van Santen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Reading Material
David Goldman's second book is still a review of population demographics and decline but introduces his long standing use of the philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig via the "Star of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Norman W. Kirk II
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing, brilliant, engaging...
I read the book within a week and then gave it to my wife to read, pointing her towards his groundbreaking chapter on music theory. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Susan L Bowyer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful and Entertaining
David Goldman/Spengler is one of the most insightful and entertaining writers of global politics and demographics that I have ever read. This book makes fascinating reading.
Published 16 months ago by Sheepdog
1.0 out of 5 stars
grinding a paper axe
The author is Jewish and gives us what we expect. Wagner was evil (he didn't like Jews). The Southerners of the Civil War were evil (not too many were Jews). Read more
Published 19 months ago by Nom de plume
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
