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10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help
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You Are Here: Books About Antiques > Blue Books > Item 1 of 420
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$16.74
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Available from Amazon
Price Last Updated : 6-25-2008
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Features
Hardcover: 260 pages
Publisher: Regnery Publishing May 2008
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596980559
ISBN-13: 978-1596980556
Product Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
From the Inside Flap
You've heard of the "Great Books"?
These are their evil opposites. From Machiavelli's The Prince to Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto to Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, these "influential" books have led to war, genocide, totalitarian oppression, family breakdown, and disastrous social experiments. And yet these authors' bad ideas are still popular and pervasive--in fact, they might influence your own thinking without your realizing it. Here with the antidote is Professor Benjamin Wiker. In his scintillating new book, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World (And 5 Others That Didn't Help), he seizes each of these evil books by its malignant heart and exposes it to the light of day. In this witty, learned, and provocative exposé, you'll learn:
* Why Machiavelli's The Prince was the inspiration for a long list of tyrannies (Stalin had it on his nightstand)
* How Descartes' Discourse on Method "proved" God's existence only by making Him a creation of our own ego
* How Hobbes' Leviathan led to the belief that we have a "right" to whatever we want
* Why Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto could win the award for the most malicious book ever written
* How Darwin's The Descent of Man proves he intended "survival of the fittest" to be applied to human society
* How Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil issued the call for a world ruled solely by the "will to power"
* How Hitler's Mein Kampf was a kind of "spiritualized Darwinism" that accounts for his genocidal anti-Semitism
* How the pansexual paradise described in Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa turned out to be a creation of her own sexual confusions and aspirations
* Why Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was simply autobiography masquerading as science Witty, shocking, and instructive, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World offers a quick education on the worst ideas in human history--and how we can avoid them in the future.
Back Cover Copy
Praise for 10 Books That Screwed Up the World
"Benjamin Wiker has read the worst books in Western civilization so you don't have to. In this sprightly, witty, engaging survey of bad guys ranging from Marx to Hitler, Nietzsche to Betty Friedan, Professor Wiker's poison pen portraits are great critical aids to analyzing some of the worst ideas that have ever contaminated Western civilization. Professor Wiker recommends actually reading the books--but his own book is a whole lot more fun." --THOMAS E. WOODS, JR., PH.D. author of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
"A valuable contribution to the most urgent intellectual project of our day: restoring our culture to that healthy state in which the truisms that most people take for granted are actually true. If you want to know where Western civilization ran off the rails, read this book. And if you want to help get us back on track, buy extra copies and see what you can do to get them into doctor's office waiting rooms, faculty lounges, and your local public library. Wiker has the goods on the authors of our current confusion about (among other things) human nature, morality, sex, economics, law, and government--this book will open many eyes." --ELIZABETH KANTOR, PH.D. editor of the Conservative Book Club and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to English and American Literature
Reader Reviews
I recommend this book to any American who is concerned about the condition of our culture. Dr. Benjamin Wiker is the kind of doctor we need in order to heal our souls, a specialist in moral philosophy. Too many of the bright minds of our boomer generation swallowed the dangerous idea that morality had been superseded, and that technology and scientific knowledge would be sufficient to guide us into an ever-improving future. On a personal and on a societal level, we are now realizing that morality matters, and that we had better take another look at the moral tradition that Western Civilization has been grounded in thru all these centuries. Ben Wiker is extremely well-informed about that tradition, and there is more good news: his writing is not dry, obscure or impenetrable. His style is lively and fast-paced, and he has a flair for memorable figures of speech. Since he has been a teacher for many years, he knows how to keep the level of his discourse appropriate to his intended audience. Thankfully, that level is such that his book is accessible to anyone who is not afraid to think about ideas, and who has a high-school graduate's command of English. An alternative title for this book might be "Philosophers' Absurdities," a phrase taken from Wiker's introduction. Please don't let the word philosophy scare you. Wiker has a virtuoso's ability to cut the concepts down to sizes appropriate for those of us who have not taken courses in philosophy. And he does not fall into the trap of presuming knowledge in fields that are not within his expertise. For example, in his discussion of Darwin and the survival of the fittest, he concentrates on Darwin's pronouncements about human beings and their moral status, rather than getting into murky discussions about biological speciation or Lyellian substantive uniformitarianism. This book does not have the answers to all of life's questions, but it gives a clear-minded critique of some very dangerous ideas. Please read this book and then join the work of reading, thinking and communicating that will be necessary in order to restore our nation's moral compass. Perhaps Dr. Wiker will aid us in this work by following up with another compilation, 10 Books That Can Heal the World. Until then, I recommend "Schall's Twenty Books to Keep Sane By," which is available on the Web. Wiker's book has an adequate 10-page index and is printed in easy-to-read type on pages which have minimal show-thru. The binding looks strong. All in all, it is worth the price. Benjamin Wiker has been blessed with a brilliant mind, and with the ability to communicate his mind's findings with grace and artistry. For evidence of this quality, see the Amazon reviews of his earlier book (written with Jonathan Witt) A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature.
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10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help
by Benjamin Wiker
Available from Amazon
Price: $16.74
on 6-25-2008
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