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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
bougainvillia on Mars? The West and the Rest is a book I have read three times and on each occasion extracted some new realisation. It is a small volume but so packed with civilisational counter-intuitiveness that it will make your head spin. The most profound insight (that I dwell on almost daily when I listen to the news) is the link between democracy and the nation state. Scruton argues quite persuasively that to have a democracy means starting with a nation that sees itself as one. In other words, democracy is the child... more info
Sketchy, full of nonsense and frightening Roger Scruton explains very well the theoretical difference between the West (freedom, separation of Church and State) and the Rest (e.g. Islam).
But this is not the motive behind the 9/11 calamity. As one other commentator wrote here before, the real reason is the fact that the US is seen as an enemy of the Arab people. One blatant sign is its unconditional support of Israel in the Palestinian conflict.
Scruton's essay is based on abstract concepts (membership, religion, the muslims, the West,... more info
The enemy within and without In this short but illuminating book, Scruton examines the political institutions of the West as regards the relation between religion and politics, and the threat of radical Islam. Briefly but with great clarity he explores the political history of West that gave us individual freedom, prosperity and the pursuit of knowledge. These pillars rest upon Greek thought, Roman Law and Judeo-Christianity. He points out that freedom needs to be defined and that it also needs restraints in order to continue to... more info
first impressions mislead Roger Scruton is known for his position somewhere on the traditional right of the political spectrum. Indeed he has written a defence of conservatism. Those on the left may therefore be wary of this book. But as someone who has not in the past sympathised with Scruton's politics I can strongly recommend this book. The book's strength is its intellectual seriousness combined with its clarity of expression. Anyone who is interested in the history of ideas will find this book of interest, since it goes much... more info
