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Suicide of the West

An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism

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Suicide of the West

By: James Burnham
Narrated by: Phillip J. Sawtelle
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About this listen

William F. Buckley, Jr., perhaps best described the importance of this seminal work when he said, "James Burnham has written a book about Liberalism for which the world has been aching. It is worth more to the West than the year’s gross national product, more than all the planes and bombs…."

Through studious research into past civilizations, Burnham diagnoses the 20th century and finds it afflicted with destructive, even "suicidal" tendencies - all of which arise from the “Liberal syndrome” and its inherent applications.

The book explores several important questions, including why Liberalism clashes with Christianity and how Liberalism is a root cause of race riots and the rapid growth in crime. For James Burnham, who died in 1986, this book is certainly one of his greatest legacies.

©1985 1986 by James Burnham (P)1988 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences Inspiring

Critic reviews

"This somber, brilliantly written book attempts to fix the blame for the suicidal ‘contraction of the West’ over the last fifty years upon Liberalism, chiefly in the United States…It is at the same time a venture into the philosophy of history and an indictment of those responsible for the present disastrous plight of once triumphant Western civilization." ( National Review)
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Most relevant
A thought provoking book.
How many people actually deeply think about their beliefs and truly analyse and test them. This book asks you to do that and demonstrates how to do that and possibly put the results into action.

A revealing read

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This book is simply a must read. It brilliantly demonstrates how the dominance of liberal notions and ideas are the root of practically everything that is wrong with the modern west, and how it will ultimately lead to it's suicide. Well written, in language which is clear and easy to understand, Burnham manages to simplify the complex issues into something perfectly digestible. Regardless of your personal ideological position, do yourself a favor an read this book. Especially if you are in fact a liberal. If so, this book is like helping a fish realize the nature of the waters within which it swims. A nature that it never noticed before. READ IT!!

Absolute eye opener

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As others have pointed out, it is very one sided, and doesn't really seem to know where it is going. Should we be going left? Should we be going right?
Several assertions are easily disprovable, and laughable that they were asserted in the first place.

The performance of the narrator was top-notch though.

Thoroughly dated and quite frankly, not very good

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The author's argument is one-sided and dubious. He creates a syndrome called the liberal syndrome, which has both left and right leaning tendencies. He blames the syndrome for giving all without calculation while at the same time restricting liberty and destroying foundations of value. He gives statements of fact which are either disputed, inaccurate or untrue. He did use examples which explained clearly how he saw ideology. This was terrible book

I cannot listen to anymore

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James Burnham has some interesting phrases and and articulates his point of view well, but as a view in the year 2022 it’s repugnant, full of lazy biases, misplaced assumptions (we will never be able to generate enough food to feed the world) and post colonial/civil rights era fear of erosion of status that borders on fascistic.

Dated by both analysis and overt racism

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