Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
With his trademark blend of political history, social science, economics, and pop culture, two-time NYT bestselling author, syndicated columnist, National Review senior editor, and American Enterprise Institute fellow Jonah Goldberg makes the timely case that America and other democracies are in peril as they lose the will to defend the values and institutions that sustain freedom and prosperity. Instead we are surrendering to populism, nationalism and other forms of tribalism.
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that defines most of history—in 18th century England when we accidentally discovered the miracle of liberal democratic capitalism.
As Americans we are doubly blessed that those radical ideas were written into the Constitution, laying the groundwork for our uniquely prosperous society:
- Our rights come from God not from the government.
- The government belongs to us; we do not belong to the government.
- The individual is sovereign. We are all captains of our own souls.
- The fruits of our labors belong to us.
In the last few decades, these political virtues have been turned into vices. As we are increasingly taught to view our traditions as a system of oppression, exploitation and "white privilege," the principles of liberty and the rule of law are under attack from left and right.
At a moment when authoritarianism, tribalism, identity politics, nationalism, and cults of personality are rotting our democracy from within, Goldberg exposes the West's suicidal tendencies on both sides of the ideological aisle. For the West to survive, we must renew our sense of gratitude for what our civilization has given us and rediscover the ideals that led us out of the bloody muck of the past—or back to the muck we will go.
Suicide is painless, liberty takes work.
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Reviews for Suicide of the West
31 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good subject. the Miracle, which equals the birth of capitalism and classical liberalism, and its tension with nationalism, populism and tribalism. The end message is how people are down on capitalism without recalling that they are likely to be alive and able to read in large part because or the Miracle (of which capitalism is one half).Generally good writing if a bit too glib at times and deep in anecdotes but not in a discussion of the source material. I had just finished reading describing a person's theory that societies have formed around their energy source and kept expecting to see it mentioned, or the concept at least, but didn't. Jonah G stated that his editor cut quite a lot (1/3rd I think), but definitely could have cut even more. 3 1/2 starts for the content, 4 because the author weaved all of the content together into a story throughout, even it he took too many pages to do that.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Despite it's grim title, this is essentially an optimistic book, only because Goldberg makes a good case for saving American Democracy. And he does it with equal amounts of philosophy, political argument, and humor. It's a great read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I’ve finished the book with a renewed hope in the humanity. A work of art and precision.