Perhaps the author's main points is that ideology is always at variance with reality (i.e., natural law): so ideology can never work in the end, and trying to make it work always results in totalitarianism. Also, “no civilization can survive that is not willing to die and kill for what it believes in”: i.e., actual reality found through centuries of trial and error…and Christianity. There is also some philosophy, history, and lots of military discussion.
If you are looking for a credible, detailed prediction of how the US will fall (as all great nations do in the end) that would take volumes. The author’s aims seem to be different: to convey basic principles, and to systematically address major issues.
He writes kind of like a good newspaper reporter: readable, straight forward, but not intended to be great literature.
Now, about the other stuff: if you like political correctness, you will hate this book.
But if you have a rather sick sense of humor, you too may find the account of the burning of the heretical Episcopal Bishopess hilarious: not the burning itself, but the understated way he describes the whole situation. Humor so dry that it could absorb all the moisture out of the Great Dismal Swamp.
Prejudice comes in many forms. A rare form is a twisted hate which blames another group for one’s own failings: you won’t find that in this book. Growing up in a town with no minorities, I encountered another kind of prejudice: an ignorance that is capable of imagining that another group just might be all bad—you won’t find that here either.
What you will find is what I encountered sometimes in the East and the South: an open prejudice which ALSO sees all the good in both the group and in the individual--and values that good. The joking of a barracks, or a police car, or among friends (at least before the days of PC). A willingness to see, and name, the faults of other groups—as well as your own!—without taking them too seriously (unless it involves actual crime). A view of that amounts to: This is who I am, and where I come from. I prefer that, and I imagine that you will be equally loyal to who you are, and where you come from. And that's all okay...probably even inevitable in the end...although we can also enjoy our differences."
He also poses this question in the context of the fall of a nation which killed millions: so, what should be the fate of those who caused that fall? Those who want to continue/reinstitute the ideologies that cause it? I don’t mean those who were taken in—he goes lightly on them—but on those who were doing the taking in…and enforcing evil? At times his answer is brutal: but it is done by government, not vigilantes! So, for us the issue is purely theoretical.
At times, this book is jarring if not shocking: but most of the people who ever lived would have understood it just fine. So, are we living in unreality? Or has reality fundamentally changed somehow? And is the notion that it has changed anything other than our astounding arrogance and vanity? Confusing technological advances with advances in essentials? The book provides a lot to ponder.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Flip to back Flip to front
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Products related to this item
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
