The range of important, but neglected ideas intelligently discussed in this beautifully-illustrated publication makes it uniquely valuable. Comments below on several articles:
In “Telling the Truth About History.” Carolyn Emerick begins filling a gap in our understanding of slavery. The antebellum South’s role is a consistent theme for Hollywood, schools, universities, media. But they show no interest in slavery as practiced under Islam, which was often beyond cruel. To this day in predominantly Islamic Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, and Sudan slavery continues.
Emerick speaks to this gap using mostly 19th century eye-witness accounts such as: “White Slavery in the Barbary States” by Charles Sumner (1853); “White Slaves, African Masters” (1999), a collection of Barbary captivity narratives; and “The Story of the Barbary Corsairs,” by Stanley Lane-Poole and Lieut. J. D. Jerrold Kelley (1890).
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“Promoting European-American Heritage,” by blogger “Lady Lily” (homemaker and mother) describes the predicament whites face in their own countries:
“Despite political, cultural, and spiritual differences, I have found that throughout the world, many people of European descent are feeling deep frustration, even anger, toward the political establishment for forcing multiculturalism on our countries. We are pushing back against the leftist narrative that says ‘diversity is our strength’ and that predominantly white countries must be the refuge of every war-torn and poverty-stricken country on the planet.”
In confirmation, I’ll mention a 6-minute video, “Suicide of Europe” by Douglas Murray for PragerU. Murray summarizes his 2017 best-seller The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity and Islam. The video was released on May 14, 2018. As I post four days later, it has 1 million views.
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In “Embracing Ethnic Identity with European Native Faith,”Ms. Emerick warns those of European ancestry that a globalist elite seeks “to dismantle the cultures that founded our societies.” They achieve their aim, in part, by psychologically manipulating us into a “state of self-loathing masochism.”(Emerick could also have mentioned their other major weapon: mass Third World immigration.)
In any case, she argues, Christianity is “no longer resonating with an ever increasing number of ‘white’ people.” Atheism is “akin to nihilism, and that will not help our situation.” Emerick urges that we look for inspiration in Europe’s native pagan faith: “Europeans also have an indigenous belief system filled with uplifting spirituality, moral guidance, and that nurtures a positive mindset to help us overcome life’s hurdles.”
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In our age of “white privilege”/white guilt training for the young, Joseph Scott Amis brings balance in “The Crusades: Fallacies and Facts.” For example: What role do the Crusades play in current Islamic terrorism aimed at the West? Useful rhetoric, mostly copied from left-wing western historians. Nothing more. But what does matter?
“In truth, jihad: aggression and war for the purpose of bringing the entire world under Islamic law and rule is prescribed in the Qu’ran and can be properly called the root cause of Islamic aggression and terrorism.”
The big difference between the two major monotheistic faith is “the scriptural direction toward conversion of ‘unbelievers’”: “The Qu’ran clearly states that forcible conversion, with the only other options being execution or a status of slavish submission, is not only permissible but also desirable, and that jihad is the obligation of every male Muslim. In contrast Christ taught nothing of war as a means of conversion, instead stressing love, forgiveness, and peace.”
What did the Crusades mean for Europe at the time? The Crusades saved Europe:
“Centuries prior [to the Crusades], Islamic powers had made concerted efforts to conquer Western Europe, and succeeded in Spain. In their conquests of strategic Byzantine territories, the Islamic Seljuk Turks put themselves in a position to threaten the Byzantine Empire and subsequently gain a base for an effort to conquer all of Europe. Previous events left little doubt that they would indeed attempt to do so.”
The Crusader Kingdoms established in the Middle East lasted two centuries. That was enough to stall potential Muslim invasions of Europe and to give “the ongoing efforts at Reconquista in Spain a vision and a spiritual boost.” The Crusades “bought European nations and the Church the time necessary to consolidate the resources and military ethic that would give them the power and sense of Christian unity needed to successfully defend western Europe from massive invasions by the Ottoman Turks.”
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How can Western peoples cope with rapid, disorienting, social and technological change? One answer is in “The Pre-Raphaelites: Inspiration for Our Current Epoch” by Carolyn Emerick. The Romantic Movement of the mid-nineteenth century, which was a reaction to an earlier era of rapid change, shows us the way. 19th century Europe was disrupted by powerful forces: Enlightenment rationalism, industrialization, urbanization, the scientific revolution.
The Romantic Movement, led by a group of English painters known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, said, in effect, “Hold on . . . We have something precious and it will be lost if things continue as they are. . . ” With “their style, subject matter, and passion for beautiful representation of cultural heritage,” they preserved a unique and beautiful cultural heritage and identity. They found their muses, “in the great artists of the Renaissance,” “in the high art seen in Greco-Roman antiquity,” in the indigenous mythology of Europe such as the Arthurian legends, in stories from Greco-Roman mythology, and in notions of chivalry in images of knights and fair damsels from the Middle Ages.
Look then to “our own myths, our own legends, our own glorious past . . . ready to lead us to greatness once again.”
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What a promising debut edition!
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S. BROADBENT
A good first effort.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2018