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We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism Paperback – October 5, 2010

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John Derbyshire (Author)
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4.4 out of 5 stars 44 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Crown Forum (October 5, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0307409597
  • ISBN-13: 978-0307409591
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA Decent Sense of Despair
By Randy Stafford VINE VOICE on October 10, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Most American conservatives, especially since Sept. 11th, exhibit signs of brain damage. And John Derbyshire diagnoses the problem: too much happy talk, too much optimism and not enough pessimism. There are limits about what man can do with himself and the natural world. Humans are not blank slates that can be remade to fit whatever utopian scheme can be dreamed up. Conservatives are supposed to know this and see things as they are. Liberals are there to take care of the happy talk and wishful thinking.

Now this is not an all purpose gloomfest. Derbyshire acknowledges all sorts of apocalyptic possibilities of the natural sort - resource depletion, climate change, and asteroid strike, but he doesn't talk about them. Rather he restricts himself to the social and political disasters that await America in the future. And he talks directly to conservatives. Wipe that smile off your face, he tells them. Get your mind around the fact that America does not and cannot exist outside the currents of history, that America has not been given a pass by God to do whatever it wants without horrible consequences.

And the particular delusions of optimism Derbyshire attacks? Diversity is not our strength, quite the opposite. It corrodes national identity. That presidents and legislators are not deserving of the respect, power, and money we give them. Harry Truman had to borrow money to write his memoirs. High culture has produced nothing of value after the 1950s. Pop culture has produced little of worth. A world of female empowerment is a world nudged closer to totalitarianism. Women are generally fanatical and unthoughtful about their politics. Education has become a cultish object of worship which assumes any child can become anything - if enough money is spent.Read more ›
5 Comments 98 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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2.0 out of 5 starsDisappointed
By Hayyamini on February 13, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I am a fan of John Derbyshire; I regularly listen to his "Radio Derb," and I generally appreciate his perspective. I was, however, disappointed with this work, for the following reasons (I read it in a Kindle edition on my iPhone, so I won't give page numbers).

1. First, oddly enough, he is too optimistic! He attacks Mark Steyn on a few statistical issues for Mark's views on overpopulation, but Derbyshire's own views are hopelessly rose-tinted. Steyn argues that the population collapse of the western and industrialized world guarantees social chaos and cultural catastrophe in the years ahead. I think he is right. Derbyshire has the notion that some technical advance in Japan or China will solve the problem before we get there. This is nonsense. There is no technical advance that can solve the problem of having a tiny base of young adults supporting a massive population of aging, non-productive, and increasingly needy seniors. No technical advance can solve the problem of there being too few consumers to buy the next generation of iPads and other consumer products (this will create enormous economic problems). Derbyshire seemed to enjoy picking a few little holes in Steyn's work, but in the big picture, Steyn is right and Darbyshire is dead wrong.

2. Derbyshire goes on a rant against "Islamophobia." His main point is that he considers any belief in heaven, be it Christian or Muslim, equally absurd. So, he says, he has no reason to prefer one superstition to another. This completely misses the point of our current crisis. Whether he believes in any supernatural reality does not matter where the issue is public policy and the survival of our culture and civilization.Read more ›
10 Comments 84 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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4.0 out of 5 starsHealthy Pessimism--the Antidote to Liberal Wishful Thinking
By Eric Mayforth on September 29, 2009
Format: Hardcover
In "We Are Doomed", John Derbyshire asserts that the American conservative movement is in peril because it abandoned its healthy pessimism about the world, the same pessimism that undergirded the nation's founding, and embraced some of the wishful thinking about human nature, life, and the world normally found on the Left. This led, he believes, to critical errors in fiscal, foreign, and social policy that he believes will likely lead to a diminished future for our country over the next few decades.

Derbyshire discusses many of the problems extant in the country today that are symptoms of a lack of healthy pessimism, such as the desire for diversity merely for diversity's sake, the decline of our culture, the seemingly intractable problems in our educational system, and the scourge of illegal immigration. The author opposes the notion that the immigration of today is similar to the immigration of the early part of the last century and lists the reasons why today's immigration is destructive.

The author includes absorbing chapters on religion and the nature-nurture conflict in regards to human nature. The author makes a good case for taking the nature side of this conflict, although one can think of some individuals, such as Theodore Roosevelt, who took on the fierce challenge of essentially transforming their personalities by relentlessly attacking their weaknesses.

Derbyshire examines the debt time bomb our country faces, and if you have seen the figures concerning government debt, corporate debt, and family and individual debt, they are sobering indeed. However, some futurologists such as Ray Kurzweil (whom Derbyshire mentions in the book) think that the pace of technological change in the twenty-first century will be exponential, not linear.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAn Engaging Read

This book covers a great deal of ground but I’ll try to summarize its core points. First, conservatives have a pessimistic view of both human life and human nature. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Richard B. Schwartz
5.0 out of 5 starsA must-read for political junkies

John Derbyshire is a joy to read. He is smart and witty, and hits every nail squarely on the head. Anyone interested in politics, either from the Right or from the Left should... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Old fogey
3.0 out of 5 starsFactual errors in his book

Many factual errors in his book. He claims that Chinese high culture ceases to appear after the Song Dynasty but that's not true. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Zixiang Zhao
5.0 out of 5 starsWitty and ascerbic and well written

He's not politically correct, and he's somewhat ascerbic, but the cover should have given you a clue. John is a very witty, cerebral writer who pulls no punches for anyone.

Published 14 months ago by sue
5.0 out of 5 starsDerbyshire at his best

I disagree with some reviewers who were disappointed. The book's level is (even) higher than Derbyshire's columns and podcasts, and that is to say something. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Eustaquia
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Book in excellent condition. A good read.

Published 18 months ago by charleshlapo
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

common knowledge...but accurate in my opinion from reading his book

Published 21 months ago by raymond yust
5.0 out of 5 starsfar better than I am capable of expressing them

I wish this book were available in archival quality paper because it's my bible. John Derbyshire seems to have read my mind and put all of my ideas and opinions into words, far... Read more

Published 23 months ago by Fishstick
4.0 out of 5 starsJohn Derbyshire has a humorous-yet-powerful writing style that kept me...

Having read Derbyshire extensively on Taki Mag, I wanted to see what his first book was like. I was pleased with the book, if not the message. Read more

Published on July 15, 2014 by Tim Mullen
5.0 out of 5 starsSocietal Forecast

A realistic forecast for American society: We are all going to hell in an handbasket. Prosperity will soon be a thing of the past.

Published on June 23, 2014 by James M Stiles

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