Hirsi Ali & Lee Harris Book review
The Suicide of Reason
by Lee Harris
How could leaders and policy-makers have been so far off the mark about the viability of democracy in Iraq, and so fatally wrong about a quick invasion and reconstruction?
In The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West Lee Harris argues that when it comes to radical Islam, Western style liberal democracies are hard-wired to get it wrong unless we dramatically change our views.
"Since 9/11, I have been astonished at the lack of bold and original thinking on both the left and right. Instead there has been a re-cycling of the old and comfortable clichés."
Harris rejects the comfort of conventional thinking and delivers a daring argument about the inherent conflict between Western civilization and Islamic fanaticism.
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Some comments on Hirsi Ali and Lee Harris from lgf link:
Good review.
I've read both of Lee Harris' books - Civilization and it's Enemies and The Suicide of Reason - and I would recommend them to all Lizards.
Harris asks hard questions and offers some unusual explanations...which are less than optimistic. Even if you do not agree with all he has to say, once you've read his books you will never think about this long war again without considering his ideas.
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In all, a good review. It does have one pretty big flaw, however. She seems to think that Western civilization arose strictly from the secular Enlightenment, and I think this is wrong.
Western civilization is exceptional because it has two masters -- secular rationality and the Judeo-Christian ethic. It is the interplay between those two poles that created the culture we have today; one that is dynamic and ever changing, yet rooted by an ancient sense of right and wrong. Lose one of these two north stars and the whole of the civilization goes off the rails.
Of course, given her personal experiences, I don't blame her for viewing religion with deep suspicion. But never-the-less, she is incorrect to state that religion is part of the problem with the West today... it is likely part of the solution.
If any of you Lizards have not read Lee Harris' work, I strongly suggest that you do it.
I thought Suicide of Reason was absolutely great.
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Related:
America Alone by Mark Steyn
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Oriana Fallaci's latest book is called The Force of Reason, yet, in reading it, one is bound to ... Lee Harris is author of Civilization and Its Enemies. ...
Conservative Book Service
In The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West Lee Harris ... 9/11 -- and it's what we risk doing again with other deadly enemies who are also ...
posted by 10 men at 12:38 PM
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