Enemies of society

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 characterizes as "the fascist left" in every conceivable field; not simply politics, but education, philosophy, economics, 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 subjected in the 1970s, and the fears of a real breakdown. How serious is the threat? His answer 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 theories 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 arguments are not to be ignored.