The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: diem ethos, visceral code, tribal actors, United States, North America, Cosmic Process (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From a "startlingly original and visionary"* writer, a disturbing and far-ranging look at the West's vulnerability to fanaticism.

Whether by choice or not, the West finds itself in a low-grade yet bitter war with Islamic fanaticism. It is a war the West is singularly ill equipped to fight. The foe is resistant to any of the normal methods of conflict resolution such as negotiation, economic sanctions, or conventional armed confrontation.

The Suicide of Reason shows how modern liberal societies, whose political theories are born of the Enlightenment, are unfamiliar with the nature o mass fanaticism. The West can only think of fanaticism as a social pathology, a failure to modernize, rather than as what it is: a variety of social order that is not only fully viable in the modern world but also willing to use weapons to which the West is uniquely vulnerable. A governing philosophy based on reason, tolerance, and consensus cannot defend itself against a strategy of ruthless violence without being radically transformed--or destroyed.

Extraordinarily original and thought-provoking, The Suicide of Reason explains the logic of fanatical movements from the Crusades through Nazism to radical Islam; describes how the Enlightenment overcame fanatical thinking in the West; shows why most Western attempts to address the problem are doomed to fail; and offers strategies by which liberal internationalism can defend itself without becoming a mirror of the tribal forces it is trying to defeat.

*Salon

About the Author

Lee Harris is the author of Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History and a frequent contributor to Policy Review, the Wall Street Journal's "Opinion Journal," and other publications, both print and online. He lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (July 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 046500203X
• ISBN-13: 978-0465002030
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #505,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another masterpiece, July 15, 2007

By	J. Adams "History buff" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you have read Harris' Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History you have read the first installment of this book. But Harris has had a few more years to observe and think about the clash between Islam's followers and those whom they declare to be "infidels."
Harris examines fanaticism with a look through history that most in the West have no understanding of. His observations of the Crusades, Fascist Germany, Stalin's USSR and other such movements are fresh insights into their ability to find common ground with current Islamists' view of the righteousness of their cause. Harris is also able to show that the West's victory over fanaticism, based upon the Enlightenment, in many ways, have given most in the West a false sense of inevitability when it comes to a generally assumed myopia that Western notions of a civilized society will somehow prevail.
Harris is never "politically correct" but usually correct about politics including the polity of Islam and the West's arrogance in thinking that they can count on their world always being the victor without having to lift a finger to win.
While I don't necessarily agree with everything Harris says in this book, it is one that everyone should read.
Another great book.

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another compelling read . . ., July 30, 2007

By	Ernest A. Almazan - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lee Harris writes another thought-provoking treatise on the state of world affairs since 9/11. While his first book, Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History, discusses the problem of the enemy and the modern, liberal's propensity to forget the enemy's ruthless nature, The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West, offers a much more concrete and relevant explanation of the enemy facing the modern, liberal culture-bloc of the West.

Mr. Harris presents an audacious account of Western evasion (and unconscious complicity through multiculturalism) of the threat of Radical Islam's Fanaticism. In doing so, he satisfies many readers who are interested to know more of this particular threat, which he might have failed to accomplish with his first work. This satisfaction may be short-lived when one confronts the enmormity and scope of the challenge for the West as Mr. Harris provides a cogent scenario for the collapse of the Western world by Fanatical Islam.

By defining the battle-lines of Enlightened West and Fanatical Islam in the clash of cultures, Mr. Harris pulls together a masterful argument for drawing these distinctions by examining the history of Reason-based societies, the mystification of Reason, the cultural-preservationism of Fanatical Islam and jihad as a tool for spreading this culture. The result is a logical account of fanaticism and jihad to explain many current events: Al-Qaeda's spectacular acts of terror against Western countries, the "cartoon riots," and the events at the "Red Mosque" in Pakistan.

The prose is much easier to read and comprehend this time around; although, many will find his message too outrageous to consider. The lack of scholarly presentation of his position will be sure to ruffle feathers of intellectuals couped up in the Ivory Tower, but the book is sure to stimulate thought and discussion among those wanting a better understanding of the current War of Cultures.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for the US voter, and the politician, August 23, 2007

By	ellen walker "ellen" (France) - See all my reviews

The book is extremely readable, of great interest to both the person who knows nothing about history, and to the real experts.
Mr. Harris does this by
1)leading the reader, step by step, through the events and thoughts that have shaped the west, and have a bearing on the situation of the US now. This is accessible to everybody, and convincing.
2)for the expert, Mr. Harris offers a unique view of all the events/thoughts as well as exploring a lot of "what ifs".
3) the language is clear and powerful.
I wish to respond to some of the reviewers who have said that they disagree with the writer on a lot of things. It seems to me that the aim of the book is to challenge everyone's ideas, or notions, about a great many things- to create a dialogue about the current situation.
I also wish to respond to reviewers who give the impression that this is about either fanaticism or Islam. To me, it is far more about the effective response by the West to fanaticism. Effectiveness, what works, is the point.
The US is in an environment which does not allow much room for error. Voters and policy makers have to do it right, and this book is a contribution to that. It also expresses points not aired in any press.
I also think that the book might have benefitted from a few footnotes and exploration of nuances in the current situation. At the same time, that would likely have detracted from the principle message, and made the book more cumbersome to read. As is, it works, and hooks the reader like the best thriller.
Thank you.