Thursday, April 20, 2017

Book Recommendation: Civilization and its Enemies.

Book Recommendation: Civilization and Its Enemies: The Next Stage of History 
by Lee Harris

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's only 218 pages, but it's not light reading. It delves into the philosophy and history of how civilized values like tolerance developed. He points out that there will always be utterly ruthless groups--it's a powerful tool--seeking to impose some fantasy ideology such as Fascism, Nazism, Communism or Jihadism and thus destroy civilization. "Hagel's point is that violence is inevitable once people set out to reshape the world according to their own ideals--ideals that turn out to be nothing more than a kind on intellectual make-believe. The resultant complex is a fantasy ideology, one in which those promoting this complex will stop at nothing simply because they have convinced themselves that they--and they alone--have been chosen to advance the ideals they hold dear." P-141. Not an easy read, but an important one.

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