Enemies of Society 0689107986

Citation preview

PAUL

JOHNSON

A brilliant attack on The Fascist Left and its harmful undermining of Western society in all fields, from education and economics to the arts and sciences.

ISBN 0-689-10798-6

$9.95

"This book is cross. But it is adventurous, learned and vehemently funny. Paul Johnson is one of the British masters of polemic, and he has sum­ moned together all his enormous reading, all his prejudices and loves, into a political testament." Neal Ascherson, The New Statesman

Paul Johnson has many times over proved himself a master in the handling of complex and far-flung materials in support of a thesis; he has never shown this mastery more brilliantly than in this important book about the enemies (witting or unwitting) of the democratic society of the West. The book is an all-out attack on what the author brilliantly charac­ terizes as "the fascist left" in every conceivable field; not simply politics, but education, philosophy, eco­ nomics, the arts and sciences. He begins his analysis with a grand historical survey of Western economic development since classical times, and shows how this process was related to political and cultural factors. He then examines the various stresses to which Western society is being sub­ jected in the 1970s, and the fears of a real break­ down. How serious is the threat? His answer is: first, know your enemies. One by one he examines the philosophies and strategies of those who, unwittingly or not, threaten Western democracy, such as Marx and Freud and their myriad followers whose the­ ories have built-in mechanisms to meet and absorb criticism. This is an audacious and unfashionable book, which challenges the conventional, liberal wisdom on a number of key points; its forcefully expressed argu­ ments are not to be ignored.

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BOOKSBYPAUCJOHNSON Enemies of Society

1977

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Enemies of Society

ATHENEUM NEW YORK 1977

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Johnson, Paul, 1928Enemies of society. Bibliography: p. Includes index. l. Civilization, Modern-20th century. 2. Civilization, Occidental. I. Title. 77-2662 CB425.J56 1977 909'.09'821 ISBN 0-689-10798-6

Copyright© 1977 by Paul Johnson

All rights reserved

Manufactured by The Murray Printing Company, Forge Village, Massachusetts First American Edition

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Contents

1 The Escape from Archaism 2 Cancers of the Ancient World 3 The Western Time Dynamic 4 Art, Science and Freedom 5 Lift-off at Last 6 The 'Permanent Miracle' 7 Ecological Panic 8 Uncertain Trumpets 9 From Priests to Witchdoctors 10 Dancing Angels and Bottled Flies 11 The Scientist and his Doppelganger 12 Ivory Tower or Knowledge Factory? 13 Schools for Attilas 14 The Assault on Value 15 Crime, Madness and Savagery 16 'The Night of Unknowingness' 17 Cultural Juggernauts 18 The Return of the Devils 19 Heart of Darkness 20 A New Deuteronomy Bibliography Index

1 10

28 42 52 74 85 102 117 129 139 161 174 185 194 213 225 234 244 254 261 269

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ENEMIES OF SOCIETY

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