The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization

by Anthony Esolen

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

CB245 .E695

Description

Everything you should know--but PC professors won't teach--about Western heritage. Western civilization is the envy of the globe. It has given to the world universally accepted understandings of human rights (rooted in Judeo-Christian principles), created standards for art, music, and literature that have never been equaled, and originated political and social systems that have spread all across the planet. Political correctness now obscures these and other truths about Western civilization. Leftists and Islamic jihadists find common cause in assailing Western "colonialism," "imperialism," and "racism" as its defining characteristics. Guilt-ridden Western leaders and public figures speak of their cultural patrimony in disparaging terms they would never dare to use about a non-Western culture. And in universities, "multicultural"-minded professors flatter students into believing they have nothing really to learn from Sophocles or Shakespeare. But now, Professor Anthony Esolen--one of the team-teachers of Providence College's esteemed Development of Western Civilization Core Curriculum--has risen to the West's defense. The Politically Incorrect Guide(TM) to Western Civilization takes on the prevailing liberal assumptions that make Western civilization the universal whipping boy for today's global problems - and introduces you to the significant events, individuals, nations, ideas, and artistic achievements that make Western civilization the greatest the world has ever known. Today, defending the West has become an urgent imperative: if we don't value what we have and what we have inherited, we will surely lose it. The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Western Civilization is an essential sourcebook for that defense.… (more)

Publication

Regnery Publishing (2008), 340 pages

Pages

340

ISBN

1596980591 / 9781596980594

Collection

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

340 p.; 9 inches

Rating

(16 ratings; 4)

User reviews

LibraryThing member mrtall
Anthony Esolen’s entry in the ‘PIG’ series of ‘politically incorrect guides’ takes on the granddaddy of them all: it’s the PIG to western civilization itself.

With such a daunting and crucial task at hand, Esolen is a marvel. He’s erudite, witty, bold and so, so right about the myriad
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ways in which the glories of the West, from the Greeks to the Romans to Jews to the Middle Ages to the present day, have been suppressed or undermined by quislings within.

In just over 300 sparkling pages, Esolen plays Virgil to the open-minded reader -- now cajoling, now challenging, now simply opening windows to allow fresh air and light long excluded to flow back into the room.

The elegance and yes, beauty of Esolen’s work here is in danger of being obscured by the series’ insalubrious title and the book’s rather garish cover. Don’t let this put you off. Although this is a perfect gift for university or graduate students, it’s a work that rewards the attention of anyone interested in the truth.
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LCC

CB245 .E695
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