Encounter Books,USA – förlag

This explosive new book challenges many of the long-prevailing assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on not only the trendy intellectuals of our times but also such historic interpreters of American life as Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Law Olmsted. In a series of long essays, this book presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many mistaken and dangerous actions, policies, and trends. It presents eye-opening insights into the historical development of the ghetto culture that is today wrongly seen as a unique black identity--a culture cheered on toward self-destruction by white liberals who consider themselves "friends" of blacks. An essay titled "The Real History of Slavery" presents a jolting re-examination of that tragic institution and the narrow and distorted way it is too often seen today. The reasons for the venomous hatred of Jews, and of other groups like them in countries around the world, are explored in an essay that asks, "Are Jews Generic?"Misconceptions of German history in general, and of the Nazi era in particular, are also re-examined. So too are the inspiring achievements and painful tragedies of black education in the United States. "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" is the capstone of decades of outstanding research and writing on racial and cultural issues by Thomas Sowell.

Does your workplace have too few black people in top jobs? It’s racist. Does the advanced math and science high school in your city have too many Asians? It’s racist. Does your local museum employ too many white women? It’s racist, too.After the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, prestigious American institutions, from the medical profession to the fine arts, pleaded guilty to “systemic racism.” How else explain why blacks are overrepresented in prisons and underrepresented in C-suites and faculty lounges, their leaders asked?The official answer for those disparities is “disparate impact,” a once obscure legal theory that is now transforming our world. Any traditional standard of behavior or achievement that impedes exact racial proportionality in any enterprise is now presumed racist. Medical school admissions tests, expectations of scientific accomplishment in the award of research grants, the enforcement of the criminal law—all are under assault, because they have a “disparate impact” on underrepresented minorities.When Race Trumps Merit provides an alternative explanation for those racial disparities. It is large academic skills gaps that cause the lack of proportional representation in our most meritocratic organizations and large differences in criminal offending that account for the racially disproportionate prison population.The administration of Donald Trump has taken aim at disparate impact doctrine, following a roadmap laid out by When Race Trumps Merit. The book’s analysis remains as urgent as ever. As long as alleged racism remains the only allowable explanation for racial differences, we will continue tearing down excellence and putting lives, as well as civilizational achievement, at risk.

"The book is a highly personal and readable account of a profound change in the author's outlook: one that grew gradually over the course of decades but has lately blossomed..."—The Wall Street Journal“Millions are like me when it comes to religion: well-educated and successful people for whom religion has been irrelevant,” Charles Murray writes. “For them, I think I have a story worth telling.” Taking Religion Seriously is Murray’s autobiographical account of the decades-long evolution in his stance toward the idea of God in general and Christianity in particular. He argues that religion is something that can be approached as an intellectual exercise. His account moves from the improbable physics of the Big Bang to recent discoveries about the nature of consciousness, from evolutionary psychology to hypotheses about a universal Moral Law. His exploration of Christianity delves into the authorship of the Gospels, the reliability of biblical texts, and the scholarship surrounding the resurrection story. Murray, the author of Coming Apart and coauthor of The Bell Curve, does not write as an expert. He acknowledges that those taking religion seriously for the first time, like himself, must grapple with topics and ideas that defy intellectual mastery. In this book, Murray offers his personal example of intellectual struggle toward religion. “Maybe God needs a way to reach overeducated agnostics and that’s what I stumbled into,” he writes. “It’s a more arid process than divine revelation but it has been rewarding. And, if you’re like me, it’s the only game in town.”

"The way Guelzo weaves faith, liberty, reason, and historical complexity into a coherent and accessible story creates a rich and thoughtful exploration of Western civilization that feels both rigorous and deeply human." —Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human SocietiesA compelling, resource-rich history of the modern West—from the Renaissance to the present—designed for students and lifelong learners alike, and grounded in the enduring ideals of liberty, faith, and reason. This is Volume II of a two-part series tracing the story of Western civilization from antiquity to the modern age.The Western Tradition from 1500 to the PresentWith the Renaissance in Europe, the Western world experienced a long series of cataclysmic events that still reverberate in modern society. Written by Allan C. Guelzo, The Golden Thread, Volume II: The Modern and Contemporary West begins in 1500, when the Protestant Reformation brought an end of the Roman Catholic Church's dominance over European states. It then turns to the rise of imperial powers that swiftly circled the globe, and to the explosion of intellectual, economic, and technological advancements sparked by the Enlightenment. These were moments of flourishing in Western civilization, but also moments of uncertainty, as they portended the violent political upheavals that shook continental Europe and the Americas during the American, French and Bolivarian Revolutions as well as the Napoleonic Wars. The Industrial Revolution, the Romantic revolt against the Enlightenment, and a second wave of scientific advancement in the nineteenth century challenged any attempt to restore the classical unity of the West. A radically redrawn world emerged from these developments, one that was ill-prepared for the colossal physical and moral shocks of the First and Second World Wars.In its closing chapters, Guelzo explores how Western civilization has, in our own time, been simultaneously challenged by secular totalitarianism and yet remained remarkably resilient laying the foundations for material prosperity around the globe. Through the paradoxes of the twentieth century, The Golden Thread engages with the most significant questions facing the West today.The Golden Thread is a two-volume history of the Western tradition. Volume I is authored by James Hankins; Volume II, covering the modern and contemporary West, is authored by Allen C. Guelzo.The Golden Thread series features:The Vision of Two AuthorsWritten by two of the most distinguished historians of our time.The Golden Thread speaks in coherent, singular voices. Each volume is authored by an eminent individual writing in narrative form and interpretive tone, and animated by the conviction that knowledge across disciplines is best pursued through stories that are rich in insight, humanity, and meaning.A Cultural InheritanceNearly 1000 curated images—sculptures, paintings, and artifacts—from the vaults of the West’s finest cultural institutions.Readers are not merely told what happened, but shown what was created—page after page alive with the rich architecture, sculpture, music, and painting that gave visible form to the West’s most enduring aspirations.Living Voices from the Distant PastFeatures close to 200 foundational primary source texts drawn from every era.Woven through the chapters are the voices that once commanded nations, composed poems and hymns, and drafted creeds. These are not summaries or paraphrases—they are the words themselves, as they were first spoken, sung, and inscribed.Visual Histories of the WorldEnriched by over 150 bespoke maps, each a visual key to the unfolding story of the West.The Golden Thread does more than locate events—it reconstructs the shifting boundaries of thought, faith, empire, and imagination that defined how men and women once pictured the world and their place within it.

"...a monumental work of reclamation and revival...The Golden Thread comes as a history, an argument, a treasure hoard." —The Wall Street JournalA sweeping, resource-rich history of the ancient world and Christendom—designed for students and lifelong learners alike, and faithful to the enduring legacy of the Western tradition. This is Volume I of a two-part series tracing the story of Western civilization from antiquity to the modern age.The Western Tradition from Antiquity to 1500Where do the threads that form the Western tradition originate, and how were they woven together over the two and a half millennia before 1500? What are the sources of our modern ideas about science, freedom, equality, law, good government, and virtue? These are the questions explored in The Golden Thread, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom, written by James Hankins.The story begins with the seminal culture of the classical Greeks and moves through the Hellenization of the east following the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hankins then narrates the rise and dominance of Rome and the fusion of Greco-Roman and Judea-Christian cultures in the Christian empire of the fourth century AD. The volume follows the history of Christendom from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, charts its centuries-long rivalry with the Islamic world, and culminates in the emergence of European civilization in the Middle Age and Renaissance. Volume I Examines how the foundations were laid for the West's political and economic dominance in the modern era, illuminating the deep roots of the ideas, arts, and institutions that continue to shape our world.The Golden Thread is a two-volume history of the Western tradition. Volume I is authored by James Hankins; Volume II, covering the modern and contemporary West, is authored by Allen C. Guelzo.The Golden Thread series features:The Vision of Two AuthorsWritten by two of the most distinguished historians of our time.The Golden Thread speaks in coherent, singular voices. Each volume is authored by an eminent individual writing in narrative form and interpretive tone, and animated by the conviction that knowledge across disciplines is best pursued through stories that are rich in insight, humanity, and meaning.A Cultural InheritanceNearly 1000 curated images—sculptures, paintings, and artifacts—from the vaults of the West’s finest cultural institutions.Readers are not merely told what happened, but shown what was created—page after page alive with the rich architecture, sculpture, music, and painting that gave visible form to the West’s most enduring aspirations.Living Voices from the Distant PastFeatures close to 200 foundational primary source texts drawn from every era.Woven through the chapters are the voices that once commanded nations, composed poems and hymns, and drafted creeds. These are not summaries or paraphrases—they are the words themselves, as they were first spoken, sung, and inscribed.Visual Histories of the WorldEnriched by over 150 bespoke maps, each a visual key to the unfolding story of the West.The Golden Thread does more than locate events—it reconstructs the shifting boundaries of thought, faith, empire, and imagination that defined how men and women once pictured the world and their place within it.

What is culture? Why should we preserve it, and how? In this book, renowned philosopher Roger Scruton defends Western culture against its internal critics and external enemies, and argues that rumors of its death are seriously exaggerated. He shows our culture to be a continuing source of moral knowledge, and rebuts the fashionable sarcasm that sees it as nothing more than the useless legacy of “dead white European males.” Ranging widely over the arts and philosophy, Scruton defends what Eliot called “the common pursuit of true judgement” against the dismissive attacks of the new academicians. In his striking account of music and its role in moral education, he defends the classical tradition as well as the American popular song, and points to the damage done to the psyche by the new forms of pop. He is robust in defense of traditional architecture and figurative painting; critical of the fashionable relativists, such as Michel Foucault, Edward Said and Richard Rorty; and urgent in his plea for our civilization, which more than ever stands in need of the self-knowledge and self-confidence that are the gift of serious culture.

The Ideological Lie, as Solzhenitsyn calls it, was born when modern revolutionaries replaced the age-old distinction between good and evil with the illusory distinction between progress and reaction. In the name of progress, evil was called goodness, and goodness in the form of wise restraint was labeled evil, backward, racist, colonialist, sexist, etc.Jacobinism, Marxism-Leninism, National Socialism, Progressive Democracy, the New Left, and now the new woke dispensation have all iterated upon this central conceit. Their adherents were all frenziedly preoccupied with being on “the right side of history”—the side of “progress.”In The Persistence of the Ideological Lie, Daniel Mahoney chronicles each manifestation of the Ideological Lie, up to and including contemporary wokeism. He explains how each is marked by the same errors: impatience with piecemeal reform, contempt for self-limiting constitutional order, and the belief that people are guilty for their immutable characteristics—belonging to the wrong class or race—rather than for their actions. He shows how the woke, moved by self-loathing and a disdain for our civic inheritance, are transmuting our so-called democracy into a new form of despotism.Mahoney ultimately argues that our failure to learn from the totalitarian tragedy of the twentieth century allowed the ideological virus to metastasize in new and alarming ways. Above all, he takes aim at the omnipresent “culture of repudiation,” as the late Roger Scruton called it, and elucidates multiple paths for overcoming the ideological clichés that continue to deform intellectual and political life today.

James Burnham's 1964 classic, Suicide of the West, remains a startling account on the nature of the modern era. It offers a profound, in depth analysis of what is happening in the world today by putting into focus the intangible, often vague doctrine of American liberalism. It parallels the loosely defined liberal ideology rampant in American government and institutions, with the flow, ebb, growth, climax and the eventual decline and death of both ancient and modern civilizations. Its author maintains that western suicidal tendencies lie not so much in the lack of resources or military power, but through an erosion of intellectual, moral, and spiritual factors abundant in modern western society and the mainstay of liberal psychology. Devastating in its relentless dissection of the liberal syndrome, this book will lead many liberals to painful self-examination, buttress the thinking conservative's viewpoint, and incite others, no doubt, to infuriation. None can ignore it.

In fewer than two-hundred pages, David Stove leaves the well-established and widely regarded edifice of the academic philosophy of science in smoldering ruins.This book provides a modern history of scientific reasoning, from David Hume’s inductive skepticism to Karl Popper’s outright denial of induction, to the increasingly irrational and absurd scientific views that followed. When Popper untethered science from induction, Stove argues, he triggered a postmodernist nightmare of utter nonsense culminating in Paul Feyerabend’s summation that “anything goes” when it comes to defining or describing science. With undeniable logic, a deft analysis of the linguistic slight-of-hand that make absurd arguments seem reasonable, and regular displays of wit, Stove gives the reader a front row seat to one of the greatest unforced errors in the history of modern thought. Stove’s views are entirely consistent with the origins of scientific inference and logic, as well as modern advances in probability theory, and yet he remains largely unnoticed by most of the academic world. From Stove’s insider-outsider perspective, the train wreck that is academically accepted philosophy of science and “science studies” is a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining subject of study.Scientific Irrationalism is the perfect place to begin any examination of what science is—and what it is not.

A wide-ranging collection of essays from one of America's leading public intellectualsIn Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth acclaimed political philosopher and legal scholar Robert P. George tackles one of the most vexing issues dividing Americans today. He argues that the "Age of Faith" of the Medieval period and the "Age of Reason" of the European Enlightenments have been followed by a modern "Age of Feeling," in which people derive their beliefs not from faith or reason—or faith and reason—but from emotion, which becomes the central source of truth. And so, many have embraced a fierce moral absolutism on the basis of beliefs that are the products of nothing more than subjective inclinations and experiences.This collection of essays challenges the "Age of Feeling" by appealing to reason in the pursuit of sound moral understanding on crucial and contentious topics of human dignity, the definition of marriage, philosophy of law, constitutional law, the nature of civil liberties, free markets, and others.Robert George has taught generations of students at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and he has long proclaimed that a teacher's sacred mission is to form his students to be determined truth seekers and courageous truth speakers. In Seeking Truth and Speaking Truth he shows us how it is done.

A wonderfully written, sweeping narrative history of the United States that will help Americans discover the land they call homeHigh School and College Age StudentsThe Original Land of Hope Narrative in Paperback Edition We have a glut of text and trade books on American history. But what we don't have is a compact, inexpensive, authoritative, and compulsively readable book that will offer to intelligent young Americans a coherent, persuasive, and inspiring narrative of their own country. Such an account will shape and deepen their sense of the land they inhabit, and by making them understand that land's roots, will equip them for the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in American society, and provide them with a vivid and enduring sense of membership in one of the greatest enterprises in human history: the exciting, perilous, and immensely consequential story of their own country. The existing texts simply fail to tell that story with energy and conviction. They are more likely to reflect the skeptical outlook of specialized professional academic historians, an outlook that supports a fragmented and fractured view of modern American society, and that fails to convey to young people the greater arc of that history. Or they reflect the outlook of radical critics of American society, who seek to debunk the standard American narrative, and has an enormous, and largely negative, effect upon the teaching of American history in American high schools and colleges. This state of affairs cannot continue for long without producing serious consequences. A great nation needs and deserves a great and coherent narrative, as an expression of its own self-understanding: and it needs to convey that narrative to its young effectively. It perhaps goes without saying that such a narrative cannot be a fairy tale or a whitewash of the past; it will not be convincing if it is not truthful. But there is no necessary contradiction between an honest account and an inspiring one. This account seeks to provide both.

Following a remarkable epoch of greater dispersion of wealth and opportunity, we are inexorably returning towards a more feudal era marked by greater concentration of wealth and property, reduced upward mobility, demographic stagnation, and increased dogmatism. If the last seventy years saw a massive expansion of the middle class, not only in America but in much of the developed world, today that class is declining and a new, more hierarchical society is emerging.The new class structure resembles that of Medieval times. At the apex of the new order are two classes—a reborn clerical elite, the clerisy, which dominates the upper part of the professional ranks, universities, media and culture, and a new aristocracy led by tech oligarchs with unprecedented wealth and growing control of information. These two classes correspond to the old French First and Second Estates.Below these two classes lies what was once called the Third Estate. This includes the yeomanry, which is made up largely of small businesspeople, minor property owners, skilled workers and private-sector oriented professionals. Ascendant for much of modern history, this class is in decline while those below them, the new Serfs, grow in numbers—a vast, expanding property-less population.The trends are mounting, but we can still reverse them—if people understand what is actually occurring and have the capability to oppose them.

In "Islam Unveiled," Robert Spencer dares to face the hard questions about what the Islamic religion actually teaches--and the potentially ominous implications of those teachings for the future of both the Muslim world and the West. Going beyond the shallow distinction between a "true" peaceful Islam and the "hijacked" Islam of terrorist groups, Spencer probes the Koran and Islamic traditions (as well as the history and present-day situation of the Muslim world) as part of his inquiry into why the world's fastest growing faith tends to arouse fanaticism. "Islam Unveiled" evaluates the relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and "mainstream" Islam; the fixation with violence and jihad; the reasons for Muslims' disturbing treatment of women; and devastating effects of Muslim polygamy and Islamic divorce laws. Spencer explores other daunting questions--why the human rights record of Islamic countries is so unrelievedly grim and how the root causes of this record exist in basic Muslim beliefs; why science and high culture died out in the Muslim world--and why this is a root cause of modern Muslim resentment.He evaluates what Muslims learn from the life of Muhammad, the man that Islam hails as the supreme model of human behavior. Above all, this provocative work grapples with the question that most preoccupies us today: can Islam create successful secularized societies that will coexist peacefully with the West's multicultural mosaic?

Harry V. Jaffa (1918-2015), professor at Claremont McKenna College and Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute, was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His hundreds of students have reached positions of power and prestige throughout the intellectual and political world, including the Supreme Court and the Trump White House.Jaffa authored Barry Goldwater’s famous 1964 Republican Convention speech which declared, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” William F. Buckley, Jaffa’s close friend and a key figure in shaping the modern conservative movement, wrote, “If you think it is hard arguing with Harry Jaffa, try agreeing with him.” His widely acclaimed book Crisis of the House Divided: An Interpretation of the Issues in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1959), was the first scholarly work to treat Abraham Lincoln as a serious philosophic thinker.As the earliest protégé of the controversial scholar Leo Strauss, Jaffa turned his theoretical insights to understanding the United States as the “best regime” in principle. He saw the American Revolution and the Civil War as world-historical events that revealed the true nature of politics. Statesmanship, constitutional government, and the virtues of republican citizenship are keys to unlocking the most important truths of political philosophy.Jaffa’s student, Glenn Ellmers, was given complete access to Jaffa’s private papers at Hillsdale College to produce the first comprehensive examination of his teacher’s vast body of work. In addition to Lincoln and the founding fathers, the book shares Jaffa’s profound insights into Aristotle, Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, and more.

After Charles de Gaulle’s death in 1970, France’s new leaders launched a quiet revolution. Under the guise of guiding the country into a new progressive era, they destroyed everything that had made it great. Éric Zemmour’s The Suicide of France pulls back the veil on their project, showing the contempt France’s new leaders had for her culture, heritage, and institutions.These new leaders destroyed the strong presidential republican system that de Gaulle had built, replacing it with the government of activist judges. They attacked the authority of the father figure, replacing him with the hollow, feminized man of managerial society. And despite their constant expressions of disdain for the United States, they imported the worst of its post-60s multicultural and economic revolutions into France to replace her people and ways. Step-by-step, episode-by-episode, Zemmour describes the devious stratagems and devices that eroded the soul of a once-great nation.Released in 2014, The Suicide of France became a runaway bestseller, turning its author into one of the most famous—and infamous—writers and political figures in France. Now available for the first time in English, this edition includes a new introduction and conclusion. Zemmour reflects on what has happened in France over the past decade. He recounts why he jumped from writer to politician, running for president of France in 2022 and founding a new political party, Reconquête!. Finally, he reflects on the precarious situation of France and the United States today as they struggle to preserve their shared civilization.

The suicide bombings carried out in London in 2005 by British Muslims revealed an enormous fifth column of Islamist terrorists and their sympathizers. Under the noses of British intelligence, London has become the European hub for the promotion, recruitment and financing of Islamic terror and extremism - so much so that it has been mockingly dubbed Londonistan. In this ground-breaking book Melanie Phillips pieces together the story of how Londonistan developed as a result of the collapse of traditional English identity and accommodation of a particularly virulent form of multiculturalism. Londonistan has become a country within the country and not only threatens Britain but its special relationship with the U.S. as well.

The twentieth-century literary critic Edmund Wilson chided Agatha Christie for her “mawkishness and banality” and declared her work “literally impossible to read.” Even if this were so, that Agatha Christie’s books were mere trash of no intellectual substance whatever, the fact that they were (and are) of such worldwide appeal might be worth investigating. How is it that books whose action takes place in a social milieu so completely alien to that of the vast majority of mankind were nevertheless able to capture their imagination? Does this not suggest some skill on the part of the author? Agatha Christie and the Metaphysics of Murder investigates the philosophy behind the Queen of Crime’s bestselling books, arriving at conclusions that will surprise readers who might dismiss them as lightweight fluff.

This searing account of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine reveals that, contrary to popular media narratives, Western hawks are culpable in triggering a war that has cost many thousands of innocent Ukrainian lives.In 1991, the Cold War ended in a bloodless victory for NATO. After 45 years of a grueling, nuclear-tinged Cold War, communism was dead, Eastern Europe was free, Russia looked to the West for how to build a better, freer future for itself, and liberal democracy and capitalism reigned supreme.But in the ruins of the last war lie the seeds for the next great conflict. Floating just beneath the surface of post-Cold War international relations was the question of what was to become of NATO with the loss of the Soviet Union as a threat. Western leaders believed expansion into the former Soviet states of Eastern Europe was the natural next step. But the Russians opposed this.For 30 years, a succession of Russian leaders—from Mikhail Gorbachev to Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin—warned the West that NATO’s expansion into territories bordering Russia, notably into Ukraine, would trigger a violent response from Moscow. Yet, the West did not listen. Contrary to the popular narrative in the West, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine will show readers how Westerners created our current crisis with Russia and why innocent Ukrainians are being made to pay with their lives for the arrogance (and ignorance) of Western leaders in the post-Cold War era. Thanks to their hubris, the world now teeters on the brink of a potential nuclear world war over the status of Ukraine.

AI has always been thought of in one of two ways: violent overlord, or benevolent savior in a world moving faster than humans can keep up with. However, while we’ve been concerned with ferocious domination, we’ve already started along a path of soft oppression. It’s not about domination, but seduction. There is no doubt that AI is useful, but “being highly useful is the subtlest form of seduction there is.”In this Broadside, Glenn Harlan Reynolds explores how AI need only take advantage of innate human characteristics – exactly as we programmed it to do – to wreak havoc on society as the most subtle of overlords: anticipating our needs, pleasuring us with tailored “sex bots,” isolating us through convenience, and ultimately thinking for us. Eventually, we may not be able to do – nor even imagine doing – anything without AI. To avoid this trap, we must understand what AI is doing to us, even as it does things for us.

For much of American history, an impassable gulf seemed to separate Jews and Christians, keeping their respective peoples and cultures far apart. But in recent decades that has begun to change.  The rise of a militant secularism, one equally hostile to Israel and to America’s Judeo-Christian values and institutions, has unexpectedly drawn Jews and Christians closer together. In the face of a common civilizational threat, the study of the two traditions’ joint contributions to the West has risen to the fore. Jewish Roots of American Liberty illustrates how the free institutions, principles, and liberties that we value so much in today’s America—including Christianity itself—are securely grounded in Jewish antecedents.The twenty-one chapters that comprise this book offer a sampling of the many ways—Biblical, cultural, literary, and political—that the Hebraic tradition has contributed to the treasury of American self-understanding. Topics range from the titanic influence of the Hebrew Bible on the political culture of the American Founding, to the distinctly Hebraic vision of figures like John Milton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Abraham Lincoln, to the Biblical heroes whose examples run through the canon of the American imagination, and more.Suitable for both classroom use and stand-alone reading, the highly accessible contents of Jewish Roots of American Liberty will inform and inspire those who want to illuminate the bond between the American and Jewish stories and convey the blessings of that bond to a rising generation.

American society has become anti-male. Men are sensing the backlash and are consciously and unconsciously going "on strike." They are dropping out of college, leaving the workforce and avoiding marriage and fatherhood at alarming rates. The trend is so pronounced that a number of books have been written about this "man-child" phenomenon, concluding that men have taken a vacation from responsibility simply because they can. But why should men participate in a system that seems to be increasingly stacked against them? As Men on Strike demonstrates, men aren't dropping out because they are stuck in arrested development. They are instead acting rationally in response to the lack of incentives society offers them to be responsible fathers, husbands and providers. In addition, men are going on strike, either consciously or unconsciously, because they do not want to be injured by the myriad of laws, attitudes and hostility against them for the crime of happening to be male in the twenty-first century. Men are starting to fight back against the backlash. Men on Strike explains their battle cry.

A rigorous defense of free markets and open enterprise in the tradition of Adam Smith.During the 20th century, Vietnam and Poland were both victims not only of devastating wars, but also of socialist planned economies that destroyed whatever war hadn't already. In 1990, Vietnam was still one of the poorest countries in the world, while Poland was one of the poorest in Europe. But in the three decades since then, both countries have drastically improved their citizens' standards of living and escaped the vicious cycle of national poverty. In this book Rainer Zitelmann identifies the reasons behind the sensational growth of both nations' economies, drawing out the lessons that other countries can learn from these two success stories. To explain the source of their success, he returns to Adam Smith's 1776 treatise, The Wealth of Nations: the only way to overcome poverty is through economic growth, Smith wrote, and economic freedom is the crucial prerequisite from such growth. Developments over the past 250 years have proved Smith right. The market economy has led to a global decline in poverty unparalleled in human history. Compare this to the fifty years of "development aid" in Africa that have only entrenched the status quo, and it is clear which approach yields superior results. Despite these strides, almost ten percent of the world's population still lives in extreme poverty. So, what measures actually help to alleviate poverty today? Through a wealth of data and stories from the everyday lives of Polish and Vietnamese people who experienced reforms, Zitelmann demonstrates the persistent relevance of Smith's ideas to economic flourishing in the 21st century.

Today, the word prejudice has come to seem synonymous with bigotry; therefore the only way a person can establish freedom from bigotry is by claiming to have wiped his mind free from prejudice. English psychiatrist and writer Theodore Dalrymple shows that freeing the mind from prejudice is not only impossible, but entails intellectual, moral and emotional dishonesty. The attempt to eradicate prejudice has several dire consequences for the individual and society as a whole.

"...a monumental work of reclamation and revival...The Golden Thread comes as a history, an argument, a treasure hoard." —The Wall Street JournalA sweeping, resource-rich history of the ancient world and Christendom—designed for students and lifelong learners alike, and faithful to the enduring legacy of the Western tradition. This is Volume I of a two-part series tracing the story of Western civilization from antiquity to the modern age.The Western Tradition from Antiquity to 1500Where do the threads that form the Western tradition originate, and how were they woven together? What are the sources of our modern ideas about science, freedom, equality, law, good government, and virtue? These are the questions explored in The Golden Thread, Volume I, Part 1: The Ancient World, written by James Hankins.Hankins begins with the seminal culture of the classical Greeks, deeply explicating their ideals of citizenship, government, honor, war, and poetry. He charts the rise of philosophy and the Hellenization of the east following the conquests of Alexander the Great. He covers the legends and founding mythology of early Rome and the Roman political order and culture, as well as its conquest of the Mediterranean, all while focusing on the central figures and events – from Caesar’s conquest of Gaul and Augustus’s Pax Romana through the startling rise of Christianity and the political, social, and spiritual recalibration that followed, culminating in Constantine’s conversion.While telling this grand story, Hankins examines how the foundations were laid for the West’s political and economic dominance in the modern era, illuminating the deep roots of the ideas, arts, and institutions that continue to shape our world. Replete with lavish classical art, alongside original maps, and the letters, speeches, and quotes of the most important figures of each era, this volume masterfully weaves a vibrant tapestry of the West’s ancient past.The Golden Thread is a two-volume history of the Western tradition. Volume I is authored by James Hankins; Volume II, covering the modern and contemporary West, is authored by Allen C. Guelzo.

The Golden Thread Volume One: The Ancient World and Christendom. Beginning with the seminal culture of the classical Greeks and the Hellenic expansion, followed by the rise and dominance Rome and the emergence of medieval Christendom, before culminating with the Renaissance, Volume One explores the unfolding of early Western history, laying the foundation for the complex historical narratives that arise during the modern period.

What does it truly mean to pursue power—and what are the costs for those who seek or resist it?Studies in Machiavellian Political Philosophy gathers Michael Anton’s work on the founder of modern political thought and his enduring influence on the Western tradition. Concentrating on The Prince, but also traversing the Discourses, the Florentine Histories, Xenophon’s Memorabilia, Montesquieu’s Considerations, and The Federalist, this book attempts to unpack the true gravity of the Italian philosopher’s ambitious political and philosophic project.Anton also explores the spiritual and psychological dimensions of Machiavellian teaching through examinations of war, propaganda, friendship, and the enduring tension between philosophy and political power. His scholarship, informed by the works of Leo Strauss, Harvey Mansfield, and Leo Paul S. de Alvarez highlights important and hitherto under-explained dimensions to Machiavelli’s philosophy and art of writing, as well as the enduring influence of the ancients on the American Founding.This book further explores the recurring dilemma at the heart of all politics: the allure—and the danger—of ambition, and the timeless struggle between spiritual ideals and pragmatic necessity. It is within this tension that Machiavelli’s reimagination of conquest, virtue, and prudent statecraft helps forge a new path for effectual truth and practical action.Fluidly written and intellectually rigorous, Studies in Machiavellian Political Philosophy is essential for students, theorists, and anyone intrigued by the foundational problems and possibilities of political life.

"Millions are like me when it comes to religion: well-educated and successful people for whom religion has been irrelevant,” Charles Murray writes. “For them, I think I have a story worth telling.” Taking Religion Seriously is Murray’s autobiographical account of a decades-long evolution in his stance toward the idea of God in general and Christianity specifically. He argues that religion is something that can be approached as an intellectual exercise. His account moves from the improbable physics of the Big Bang to recent discoveries about the nature of consciousness; from evolutionary psychology to hypotheses about a universal Moral Law. His exploration of Christianity delves into the authorship of the Gospels, the reliability of the texts that survive, and the scholarship surrounding the Resurrection story. Murray, the author of Coming Apart and coauthor of The Bell Curve, does not write as an expert. “If you are taking religion seriously for the first time, you face the same problem I did: We are forced to decide what we make of a wide variety of topics that we do not have the option of mastering.” He offers his personal example of how the process works. “Maybe God needs a way to reach over-educated agnostics and that’s what I stumbled into,” he writes. “It’s a more arid process than divine revelation but it has been rewarding. And, if you’re like me, it’s the only game in town.”"