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COLUMN: Dishonest Abe’s False Alibi: A Review of NONSENSE ON STILTS By Paul Graham

21 Wednesday Feb 2024

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Dishonest Abe’s False Alibi: A Review of NONSENSE ON STILTS By Paul Graham

 

In trying to set the record straight on a few old-fashioned American myths, Paul Graham has perhaps inadvertently created a firestorm. The first Yankee Bot 1-star review at Amazon will tell us that anyone daring to protest the words or genocidal tyranny of the smallest tall man in history is just mad that the South lost its war to preserve slavery! Don’t take my word or someone else’s hasbara for it; we have the high authority of Jezebel political postmodernity to trust. When asked, for maybe the second or third time, about the causes of the “Civil War” in the 1860s, while priming the glow plug on her broom, Nimarata Haley wisely proclaimed, “Of course the Civil War was about slavery.” Of course! Come on, Paul! Let all this law and truth and history and being correct stuff go, brother. 

But being honest, we can’t let it go, can we? 

Graham, Paul C., Nonsense on Stilts: The Gettysburg Address & Lincoln’s Imaginary Nation, Columbia: Shotwell Publishing, 2024. 

(Shotwell Publishing, Columbia, SC.)

Paul Graham is a longtime champion of the Southern Tradition and Western Civilization. A native son of South Carolina, he has served as an academic, a popular spokesman, an editor, and a writer whose work always aims to clarify the truth, in general, and specifically as it relates to propounding the still-viable cause of the Old Confederacy. He is the author of Confederaphobia and a co-founder of Shotwell Publishing. He, my editor, friend, and brother, has a certain way with words. His legendary guitar skills, strikingly reminiscent of Mark Knopfler’s transitioning period between the 70s and 80s, may be the subject of future review…

He also nails, dead to rights, Evil Abe, along with the language, law, history, and spirit of the ancient American association and the subsequent Global Amerikan Empire.

Much of what Graham presents is known, or rather, was known—and accepted—as common knowledge about American history. Today, much of it will come as a complete and shocking surprise to various members of our, uh, less-educated society. For some, it will serve as a coherent summary and reminder of the way things actually were or are. And I suspect everyone is in for some degree of wholly novel education thanks to Graham’s ardent scholarship. Why? Because in part, some of the material Graham explains was originally kept secret from the public, whether for three decades or for fifteen! This suppression of information is from an allegedly free and open “democracy” based on “rules” or some such. And, yes, the same nefarious machinations are in play right now, literally the week I am typing this review, as the Washington cartel seeks to persecute, torture, and probably kill Julian Assange for the “crime” of exposing more Washingtonian secrets of the extremely bloody and dangerous kind. And again, yes, the railroading of Assange by the terror firm of Obama, Trump, and Brandon is exactly the kind of thing their 1860s predecessor would have done and did, in fact, do.

As with Assange’s pitiful case, where some people will side with Fred Burton, et al, and others will side with human dignity and veracity, regarding America’s many founding fables, I suspect most people’s thoughts and beliefs are at least somewhat solidified. Yet and still, Paul Graham may have found a way, a very entertaining way at that, to open a few minds if not outright change them. Either will be an astounding feat.

In the aptly named first chapter of Nonsense On Stilts, “Our Fathers Did No Such Thing,” Graham exposes one of many of the lies of Lincoln by simply quoting the great liar’s own famous lie: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation…” Words, whether deployed sincerely or maliciously, have meaning. Graham wisely begins his book by defining his use of “nation,” in accordance with and so as to explain and refute Lincoln’s deception. My friend and the great destroyer both refer to a nation-state of the French Revolutionary, Enlightenment, or Westphalian kind. This definition does not necessarily or directly touch upon the ethnosocial or cultural anthropological notions of a related people, bound by blood, language, belief, tradition, and so forth—an extended family.

There was, in some regards, a genuine if scattered American nation, a kind of ethnostate. It was an extension of the British or English nation. It still exists today, though it is now a distinct minority and even its best-expanded proxy claim teeters at the edge of becoming outnumbered in the boiling, pot-melting stew of chefs Emma Lazarus and Emanuel Celler. It is my view that Anglo-America would have been better served by the kind of more overt clarification or understanding that founded the Russian Empire of old and preserves the modern Russian Federation today. (As for Nonsense On Stilts, my view is neither here nor there.) Graham, like Lincoln, refers to the central government of the land, the master state. And that thing did not legally exist and despite various protestations today, can never validly exist. Don’t believe me? Read the book! Graham brings the irrefutable proof, page after page, truth after truth, all set down in an engaging and, as needed, humorous sequence.

In doing so, he masterfully and meticulously exposes the lies and word spells, fictions, contradictions, and fallback enforcing violence that form the basis of American political history and that created the hateful Amerikan Empire. Even in the complete absence of slavery and war among the States, America would have still had myriad problems, owing in no small part to misapplied or misinterpreted rhetoric (whether authored by Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison, or others). Graham corrects the collective course.

Nonsense On Stilts is largely a dissection and refutation of Lincoln’s famed Gettysburg Address, a lofty screed but one of purely rhetorical falsehood. As Graham notes on page 81: “The Gettysburg Address is certainly among the most eloquent alibis in history, but it is a false alibi.” He shines the plain light of truth on page 16: “As much as Lincoln may have wished it to be the case, no new nation was brought forth on the American continent ‘four score and seven years’ before his speech.” He explains exactly why there never was a proper political American nation by exposing the founding diversions that foisted on the American people the central government of the Constitution of 1787 and the fake nation it lied into pseudo-existence (a very messy and dangerous thing, rather poorly done).

Graham also does an excellent job telling an abbreviated version of American political and general history, from the founding of the first permanent English settlement in Virginia to the causes and actions behind the reluctant movement towards independence from the English King to the Declaration of Independence itself to the vastly superior (compared to the beast of ‘87) Articles of Confederation. Along the way, he explores the high treason committed (in secret) at the Philadelphia “constitutional convention”. In short, the representatives were dispatched to perform minor remodeling and ended up building something entirely new and different. And worse. The exact reasons why they were ratified in their treason instead of being hung remains a speculative mystery. I speculate that most Americans know little to nothing about the entire affair. They will know after reading Graham. They’re in for more lessons too. For instance, some will be surprised to learn for the first time that the Bill of Rights was tacked on as an afterthought, and a rather weak one at that. 

The founding tale of America, as mistold in so many high school civics classes, is in truth only a story of Enlightenment necromancy which Graham properly explodes and dismisses. As for Lincoln’s pertinent part, Graham describes his actions, page 60, as “illegal, immoral, and (saddest of all) unnecessary.” In so describing, Graham also explores the paradox of Lincoln’s evil, by showing that the cherished Constitution, a fraud, though accepted as the “holy” founding fraud by many, contains no mechanism for holding the States in perpetual union. There was not and is no permanent national “nation.” As such, from page 63: “Because there was never a nation conceived in the way described by Lincoln, or dedicated to any abstract proposition such as equality, there was no legal or moral justification for Lincoln’s invasion of the Southern States (period, full stop).” Put that on your broom and fly it, Nikki.

Further, from page 68: 

…if the powers to prevent a State from leaving the federation is not delegated to the entity known as the United States by the Second Constitution (and it is not), nor prohibited by the Second Constitution to the States (which it does not), then the right to leave the Union is reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. I don’t know how to make the issue clearer. Secession is not a federal issue and, therefore, the federal authority had no legal right to prevent a State to ‘withdraw their consent’ for the very reason that it is not in the ‘instrument itself.’

Legal arguments against States leaving the “perpetual” union died when the treasonous fraud of the Constitution replaced the Articles.  But Lincoln’s was not a legal argument, it was one of imperial force. Graham understands this, writing on page 22:

This false rendering of plain history and documented facts could only be rendered ‘true’ (politically true, or ‘politically correct’) by bullets, bombs, and bayonets, that is, total war as well as by the skillful silencing of dissenting voices wherever they could be reached so that only one version of American history—the nationalist version —would be left.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. States in rebellion. Gulf of Tonkin. Afghanistan. Ukraine. Assange. Etc.

With a nod to Dr. Donald Livingston, on page 84 Graham notes: “We no longer enjoy self-government and the rule of law at the national level and the only hope for restoring those things is through the States as units of the federal system.” This observation is backed up by observable reality and it was even endorsed by none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin in his February 2024 interview with Tucker Carlson when, based on his experience with so many American leaders, he suggested those leaders are not really in charge of anything. Similarly, the American people are not in charge of their own political affairs. Call it what one will—too many like to yell, “Democracy!” or “Republic!” as if those words mean anything anymore—but the American experiment has, like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, morphed into something terrible and beyond control. It is, as I like to say, not really any form of government. Rather, it is a satanic cult generally masquerading as a terrorist organization. Wounded Knee. Tuskegee. PATRIOT ACT. Gaza. Et cetera.

Before providing a long, relevant, and eye-opening appendix of critical documentation, Graham concludes, on page 102:

If nothing else, it is my hope that it will provide a little healthy scepticism and a willingness to question the legitimacy of the powers exercised over us by the government at Washington, DC, who do not represent our interests which are always specific and local. There are no national issues that need to be addressed because there is no nation.

Again, I think he has a decent shot at fostering such scepticism and realization. 

I will conclude with a few observations about a few related matters. First, the problems that confound America today are descended from those that have vexed this land from its inception. America and Americans have always had a problem with identity. It wasn’t always so evident or pronounced, for so long being buried under prosperity, growth, or turmoil. But the problem was always present, a byproduct of the same issues that even plagued pre-colonial England before the founding of Jamestown in 1607. 

As for that year, somewhat in defiance of certain circles, I urge a little caution and inspection. Let the reader ask himself why America, so often referred to as Christian, has so little official reference to Christianity. There is no such reference in the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the 1787 Constitution, or even the Confederate Constitution to the Trinitarian God, Christianity, or Jesus Christ. The Declaration contains a lone bare mention of “Nature’s God” and the Confederate Constitution does, in its Preamble, invoke, “Almighty God.” But that’s it. America, regardless of how one defines it, was a grand experiment in Enlightenment philosophy brought to life. The main purpose of the Enlightenment was always to weaken and destroy Christianity and to substitute for it an allegiance to worldly power. Further to my dated point, the legacies of 1607 Jamestown and 1620 Plymouth are both really chronicles of the rapacious exploits of conjoined Seventeenth-Century hedge funds. Both were chartered into existence by a neo-Kabbalistic heretic and widely alleged sodomite. They were primarily designed to enrich certain private monied interests while placing constraints and expenses on the English people to say nothing of the treatment of the Native Indian Tribes. 

As such, and as no corrective actions have ever been undertaken in America or England, is it any wonder that our countries are today ruled by outright luciferians? That is a question that all English and European-descended Americans should carefully examine. I suspect that many will not seek an answer, at least, not yet. I also suggest, with a degree of optimism, that other good people in the collapsing United States would also benefit from such introspection. The Empire is at its end and is already rapidly disintegrating. When whatever final processes take place, all people within current U.S. territory—Black African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Indians, etc.—would be wise to be ready to rebuild and to be on guard against the kind of malice and misdirection that brought down older America. I had one specific case and poster woman in mind, a rare political mastermind who can cook some mean fiction. For now, I shall keep that example to myself. For her part, she undoubtedly knows what I mean, having lately suffered but a continuation of the long-standing American tradition of lies, deception, and false rule which is now visited upon new demographics. Without caution and intervention, there will be much more of it. 

I go so far as to suggest people outside America and even outside the Combined West will also benefit from a little Nonsense on the brain. Ergo, to begin or reignite the thinking process in defense of genuine freedom, peace, and stability, I highly encourage all concerned and civilization-minded people to consider Paul Graham’s worthy and groundbreaking work. Whoever and wherever you are, do yourself a favor and order Nonsense On Stilts today. Being a staunch proponent of multi-bibliotheca, I also suggest Graham’s book pairs very nicely with a slightly different kind of book, The Stone House, by Dr. Yara Hawari. Both deal with the phenomena of real people afflicted by fake law, the overcoming of which shall be a great cause for celebration. Cheers, and pleasant readings!

 

COLUMN: A Review of THE STONE HOUSE by Dr. Yara Hawari

07 Wednesday Feb 2024

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A Review of THE STONE HOUSE by Dr. Yara Hawari

 

It is a book about oppression, injustice, misery, and death. It’s also perhaps equally a book about wonder, hope, joy, and life. These qualities mysteriously combine, forging a story that seizes the reader and compels his anxious, enthralled attention until the final words of the Epilogue. Children loving, fearing, and being mischievous, studying, playing, picking tobacco, and play-acting their favorite John Wayne movies—to me, this conjures a mental picture of rural Virginia in a bygone era of American history. That all of this happened some 9,500 kilometers away from the Upper James River testifies we all may have more in common than most would know or admit.

Herein I discuss and cite to: 

Hawari, Dr. Yara, The Stone House, London: Hajar Press, 2021 (electronic-copy).

(Hajar Press, London.)(Hajar, Hanna Stephens, and Samara Jundi are to be praised for their simple, graceful cover designs.)

The Stone House was a New Arab Book of the Year in 2021. Please read their excellent Book Club review by Aisha Yusuff. Hajar, the entire team, did remarkable work in bringing the book to the public, describing it as, “A vivid, haunting tale of intergenerational trauma and survival under Israeli occupation.” It is that, and more; it will make the conscious, honest reader sad, remorseful, and very, very angry. At the same time, it will make the reader laugh, rejoice, and give thoughtful praise. Be forewarned that Hawari’s book provides an extended and tantalizing ride into the heart of human thought, emotion, and behavior. For readers of almost all intellectual or situational knowledge levels, deep learning and enhancement are offered. None of this amounts to a small feat for a novella of only 96 pages, a shorter work with a tremendous punch and follow-through. All of it is a great credit to the author. That she has accomplished so much in a debut book is astounding and speaks to her unusual skill, talent, and preternatural gifts.

I discovered Dr. Hawari via her powerful writing for Aljazeera. Doctor Hawari has earned her title, undoubtedly through years of toil and perseverance, with a PhD in Middle Eastern Politics from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. In addition to writing for Aljazeera and other outlets, she is a co-director at the Palestinian think tank, Al-Shabaka. 

Her expert knowledge and professional methodologies must have greatly assisted her in developing The Stone House. An academic quality, though certainly not one of the mundane ordinary, shines through each page and section. But there is something far greater at work. This is the story of her people and, more exactly, her own family. Three generations, from her father to his grandmother, are chronicled in gripping, surprising, and unsurpassable fashion. I note at the end the author herself makes a brief, twiddling appearance—a delightful kick! Her book, certainly a very personal endeavor, is important for many reasons. This was previously noted in a review for Mondoweiss by Haidar Eid, another worthy survey to consider. 

One thing that will quickly jump out at the even moderately aware reader is that the conjoined, multi-decade-spanning tales presented in The Stone House are eerily similar to the current-day news and commentary articles published by writers like Dr. Hawari. That is because what is happening in Gaza and Greater Palestine today, the same as has happened all of my life, is but the sad continuation of a colonial saga that has been, as noted recently by Hamas, in progress for over 105 years. The reader will painfully note the similarity between portrayed family massacres and uprootings during the Nakba and those during Israel’s current war of genocide. But across the century-plus of death and destruction, a sense of optimism, defiance, and civility never leaves the survivors, God bless them. I recently watched a micro-documentary from the Guardian that relayed the life and times of a seven-year-old girl and her family in Gaza. Their plight is bleak. Yet living out of a tent and the bed of a pickup truck, the family exhibits better familial cohesion and more expressed happiness than their average counterparts in the suburbs of the United States. Perhaps facing death brings a sense of urgency to living. Or perhaps something higher factors into the equation.

Hawari’s story begins on a school bus in 1968. The author’s then fifteen-year-old father, future archaeologist, professor, and museum curator, Mahmoud, is about to embark on a journey of revelation, across a stolen, occupied country, to Jerusalem. This is Mahmoud’s story, as he undertakes his trip, in the company of other children, with his uncle, Nawaf (by chance, also only fifteen). They discuss and view their corner of the world during events they do not quite fully understand but of which they are sorely cognizant. 

Mahmoud glances out the bus’s window and visually greets his mother, Dheeba, who has come down to see her son and baby brother off on their excursion. Once they depart, her story begins. Dheeba, unlike her fallah (farmer) husband, is a Bedouin, known locally, colloquially as Dheeba al-Badawiya, or, “the Bedouin.” For the author, and for me, this terminology held significance. This story delves deeper into the nature of the family’s travails during and after the Catastrophe, the Nakba. 

When the bus leaves, Dheeba walks to her mother’s house to discuss the events of the day. With womanly talk and domiciliary horticulture, so starts Hamda’s story, the third and final part of the book, which partly relates to the tumultuous existence of Palestine before the departure of the British and the coming of official, earnest Zionist terror.

The whole story covers approximately six decades, from the end of Ottoman rule, through the treacherous British period, until just after the 1967 Six-Day War or, to Palestinians, “the Setback.” The chronology is generally reversed, with various jumps between periods. I encourage any reader to belay an attempt at mentally (pre)ordering events and to merely proceed with a laissez-faire perusal; simply release conscious logical compartmentalization and let the story tell itself—which it does beautifully. In exchange, in addition to the wonderful memoir, diversified facts are presented in eloquent clarity and with an emotional, heartfelt touch. Per my habit of discussing literary “flow,” I say The Stone House moves like the River Jordan, with many twists, yet always effortlessly carrying the reader along. And just as with the Jordan, ere the end there is “salt” for the reader’s eyes and mind.

Again for a shorter work, it is simply overflowing with ideas, moments, horrors, inspirations, and facets that leap into the brain and stick there. I was repeatedly struck by certain super-heterogeneous commonalities Hawari presents. John Wayne’s popularity, for instance, caught my attention and my fancy. So too did many other revelations, more than a few of which the average Westerner might not have previously considered.

The story is largely set in the ancient town of Tarshiha, which the occupiers call Ma’alot or Ma’alot-Tarshiha. This titular shifting reflects the trend, painstakingly walked through by Hawari, of the Zionists renaming or reconditioning everything they do not destroy. Still, despite their worst efforts, native history and culture live on. Tashiha is and was a “mixed” town, being, the Jewish migrant residents aside, almost entirely Muslim and Christian. Many, perhaps most Westerners, certainly most Americans, do not know (or, it seems, care) that there are Christian Palestinians and Arabs. Mahmoud, his family, and his friends knew it and embraced it, a tradition stretching back many centuries. As Hawari tells around page 14 in the electronic edition, in Tashiha Muslims and Christians live side by side, getting along rather well. Young Mahmoud and his chums pay reciprocal visits to each other on Christmas and Eid. (I suspect there might be a fine dramatized or even purely fictional story or three in those visits!)

There is willful ignorance, stupidity, or even wickedness at work among some of my people that have engendered, let’s call it what it is, an irrational hatred towards all Muslims and “Middle Easterners” (maybe all “others”) regardless of their religion. Mahmoud’s Christmas visits do something to gently dispel the falsehood. We have of late been treated to other such lessons of a sterner variety: Please recall the gatherings of Christians and Muslims together in Mosques and Churches over the past few months, desperately seeking Divine protection, their own comfort and company, and some degree of safety as the IDF saturated Gaza with American-made bombs. 

Words are weapons too. To my mind, one of the more interesting elements of the tale regards Dheeba’s nickname and ethnic status as a Bedouin. During the late Gazacaust, I have regrettably heard at least one American voice dismissively call all Palestinians, “Bedouins,” as a slur. Dheeba’s story reveals something curious though all too common about the human condition. Hawari brings up this quirk around page 35. Though leading a respectable and respected life, Dheeba is ever mindful of rife prejudices in the local native population against Bedouins and other similar, yet dissimilar peoples. She found an irony and a disturbance that oppressed people were guilty of the same kind of scandal and misdeed against their fellows. Does that not sound familiar?

A Bedouin looking at a Russian and a Ukrainian might note little outward difference between the two Slavs. A Ukrainian observing a Hutu and a Tutsi would likewise struggle to differentiate between the Africans. The Tutsi in Japan might see a monolith of people. But we, each in our little groups and sub-groups, sometimes see differently, more keenly, do we not? I found this short passage and its sentiments disquisitive. As a traditionalist, I find some time-honored means of classification helpful in maintaining tradition. But little reminders like Dheeba’s do raise the suggestion of the helpfulness of an introduced decorum, especially towards those of our closer ethnos.

In addition to her daughter’s brand of introspection, Hamda’s grim resolve is presented in a daring, hilarious form. The stone house, the structure, not the title, was stolen from the family the way nearly all of their country was converted away by the Zionists. However—never doubt a woman’s ingenuity—Hamda finds a way to force their way back in and forge a temporary reclamation. I leave the exact wind-blown plot to the reader’s discovery along with any independent investigation into the Draconian legal processes the story highlights concerning Zionist land dispossession. Having examined what passes for Israeli real estate law as it concerns Palestinians, I can attest to its convoluted, thieving, and self-serving character. 

Throughout all three stories, a pertinent concept is portrayed with great allocution: Inversion. Without reading The Stone House, one may be independently aware of what it means concerning Palestinians and Israelis. The occupiers are always presented as the true heirs of the land, only returning to claim what was always theirs. Palestinians are ever presented, almost universally, as terrorists. Any objection to either of these tenets, in addition to being criminal in some jurisdictions, is said to be “anti-Semitic,” a ridiculous assertion and a twisting of words and truth beyond belief and meaning. Hawari uncovers yet more malicious reversals. One unfounded myth is that the occupiers brought civilization, water, and life itself to an otherwise desolate, barbarian land. The truth is the opposite. Another popular fable has it that the “good” occupiers have always attempted to normalize relations with their backward, terrorist victims. The truth is that for their generally kind welcoming of the Zionists, Palestinians have been robbed, raped (with sexual violence used as a dehumanizing tool and crime of war), murdered, and displaced, with some coercively faux assimilated into a kind of third-class (dys)civic existence. Through the eyes of her family, Hawari presents these contradictions of reality in a manner simultaneously dialectic and stirringly narrative. Along with them, she presents several great betrayals and disconcertions of her people and of the good moral order by, of course, the occupiers, but also by the deceptive British, the great powers, and even by other Arabs. 

She also imparts wonderment. In answer to great abomination, the Hawaris and their kin return a constant fortitude gilded with cordiality, fiery righteous spirit, and a zeal for life. Even ordinary personal interactions—such as two women bonding over factory work—convey a pleasantly contumacious independence, elation, and trust. There is a curiosity on every page. Via these little miracles, once again we are reminded of the importance of literature and its ability to conceptually connect across time, cultures, and circumstances. Hawari has joined a select list of story and truth tellers. The inversion of reality, the rank misplacing of atrocities, is in ways akin to the wicked habits of King Zahhak in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the ruler who consorted with Deevs and dark spirits only to accuse his adversaries and subordinates of the same so he might rob them. The tale of modern Palestine has a similar presentment to that of the Elves and Men of Beleriand, holding the faltering line against Morgoth while awaiting war and deliverance as told in Tolkien’s Silmarillion. So far bereft of the aid of great heroes and powers, counting only the contributions of Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Republic of South Africa, and a few others, the Palestinians continue to hold out, endure, and believe. Masterfully told, theirs is a startling and novel tale, if of a nature we’ve elsewhere read glimpses of before. 

Yara Hawari’s work is a rare find. To me, it is very much like the historical books of Erik Larson which read like novels. Hawari’s storytelling, dramatization instead of pure fiction, replete with records and insights, is every bit as good, as sound as The Devil In The White City or In The Garden Of Beasts. I was also impressed that she included, without explanation, a suggested musical playlist of songs the reader likely has and has not heard before. Had I but one word with which to summarize the entire story, it would be “breathtaking.” For the foregoing reasons, I heartily endorse and recommend The Stone House.

Bad Government, Good Review

03 Sunday Dec 2023

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Many thanks to Vox Day, the Dread Ilk, the VFM, the SGers, and the rest for attention to my little review of Dr. Lama’s excellent book.

I’m not certain that democracy is definitely the worst form of government. Certainly, representative democracy is making a powerful claim to the title, and it’s true that the more the franchise expands, the worse the elected governments get. But it is certainly a lot easier to understand why the American Founding Fathers were so skeptical of the concept and determined to limit it.

This review of Dr. Fadi Lama’s book, WHY THE WEST CAN’T WIN, certainly makes it look worth reading: [Review]

There followed a healthy discussion at SG. Again, here’s hoping this is the one book that manages to wake up the still slumbering masses. My take on the GAE’s base government was that it had degenerated into a tedious balance of oligarchy and ochlocracy. But then, it’s really not a government at all anymore, merely being a satanic cult masquerading as a terrorist organization. Either way, its bad, real bad, or the worst. And thankfully, hopefully on its way out.

COLUMN: Reviews of ORDO PLURIVERSALIS by Leonid Savin and LOOKING FOR MR. JEFFERSON by Dr. Clyde N. Wilson

08 Wednesday Nov 2023

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Reviews of ORDO PLURIVERSALIS by Leonid Savin and 

LOOKING FOR MR. JEFFERSON by Dr. Clyde N. Wilson

 

Today, I have the rare honor of presenting two excellent books in one review! They are Leonid Savin’s Ordo Pluriversalis and Clyde Wilson’s Looking For Mr. Jefferson. As a review preview, “Ordo Pluriversalis” is, of course, Latin for “versatile order” or the “order of many”, a natural name for a tome about the multipolarity of the Sovereign Nations; and, look no further, we have found Jefferson, in a way rescuing him from almost two centuries of confuscation. In my mind’s eye, these works are somewhat interrelated though their subject matters are separated both by oceans and the considerable passage of time. They both also came to my attention and into my possession within a matter of short days. Therefore, in an effort certain to please all, I hereafter discuss them consecutively and with some small degree of overlap. I recommend both with the greatest enthusiasm and sincerity.

Savin, Leonid, Ordo Pluriversalis: The End of Pax Americana and the Rise of Multipolarity, London: Black House, 2020.

Regardless of latitude, longitude, and speed of rotation, the world is a small place. We, those of us in, though not of the world, occasionally experience issues of timing which delight mysteriously—almost as if we are under Someone’s grand plan for us and our fellows. Only a few weeks before writing this review, I had added Ordo Pluriversalis to my “books to buy” list. Perhaps divinely inspired, or else by telepathy, the magnanimous author sent me a copy, for which I am most grateful. 

For those unaware, perhaps in my Southern audience, Mr. Savin is an expert on geopolitical, military, and terrorism-related matters. He is a member of the Military Scientific Society of the Russian Ministry of Defense and a steering committee member for the Islamabad International Counter-Terrorism Forum. He is the founder and chief editor of Geopolitika. In 2022, he also received the high honor of being singled out by name by the U.S. Department of State and its lapdog Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for his ongoing contributions to the Russian-led Multipolar “far-right information ecosystem.” Recalling that the hatred and scorn of the wicked is proof positive of noble virtue, I, for one, thank fake Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Carpenter, and the rest of America’s false government of occupation for their endorsement of my friend. I would be remiss if I did not also praise the superb translation skills of Mr. Jafe Arnold who skillfully converted the book into English.

My America has truly morphed into the Global American Empire (“GAE”), a thing which, thankfully, appears to be entering its final days of international troublemaking. However, it is worth remembering or learning that the GAE was originally born as a multipolar association of free and sovereign states. With a tip of my hat to the international community, my review is primarily intended for Western readers, those in America, generally, and my South, particularly. For a comprehensive and exhaustive critique, I heartily endorse Dr. Kerry Bolton’s 2021 survey. I also hereby appropriate Dr. Bolton’s opening remarks:

This book is significant not only because of its detailed examination of globalisation, unipolarity, multipolarity, and associated themes such as foreign policies, superpower rivalries, geopolitics and diverse branches such as the meaning of nationalism, and ethnos, but because it provides an insight into an important school of thought in Russia and further afield.

It is an utterly fascinating exposition of political thought, philosophy, practice, and history, crystal in clarity and expansive in scope and notation. It is also seemingly prophetic. At nearly 500 pages, one supposes that Savin labored for more than a year or three in researching and assembling the book. Knowing the writing process, I suspect a draft was finished no later than 2019 for publication in 2020. And by 2019, massive, tectonic changes were already happening in the world of international relations. But it was the events of 2022 (through today) that have literally brought Savin’s assertions and theories to life. Ordo Pluriversalis reads like a script well-written in advance and well-enacted by the players of the global stage. This is amazing, confounding even, for the Western reader—even one thinking himself abreast of various developments. As such, as this work has empirically proven its validity, it should command a premium value for those who undertake reading it in any year. 

The book is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of another book, Europe and Mankind, by a (or the) father of Eurasianism, at least of the Russian variety, Nikolai Trubetzkoy. Because of its great size, high population, and immense resources, the Eurasian supercontinent has ever been of great strategic importance. It was not meant to be ruled, dominated, conquered, or sidelined by a peculiar power on a small island in the North Sea or its larger descendant on a vast island of sorts, separated from Eurasia by ample lengths of oceans. It can’t be. Ordo Pluriversalis is the story of the new beginning for the Old World, as largely led by Russia and China. Again, it is an almost predictive model of current events, ostensibly riding the leading edge of an unstoppable wave. However, just as it cannot be ruled from without, Eurasia has little interest in ruling from within. As approximated in the book and as witnessed in real-time, the concept of multipolarity is just that—the idea of many countries and peoples standing sovereign and separate while interacting fairly with each other when they meet. For those of the “golden billion” of the West, should they sort out their own internal affairs, the prospects of joining the larger civilized world are great and potentially rewarding. It is my hope that some in America, England, France, Germany, etc. are able to replicate some of the ideas Savin discusses so well.

History did not end, as were told it would or had. However, the age of Western global dominance is over. The Enlightenment was a resounding failure. As Jacques Barzun’s masterpiece title told us, the thing has run From Dawn To Decadence. The moment of Western-led unipolarity was just that—a moment not an era, as Savin notes several times (pages 7, 11, 13,  etc.). Much of the extreme chaos and violence in the world today, from Ukraine to Palestine, is the (hopefully) final frantic efforts of the rulers of the West to maintain and impose their “rules-based” international order. As President Vladimir Putin recently noted or scoffed at Valdai, no one was consulted about the formulation of these rules and no one even knows what they are. It is good and right that they now fade into history, taking their masters and proponents with them.

As others have surmised, long ago and along its way the West was essentially hijacked. While the process was assisted by many internal accomplices, it was pushed and is now (mis)ruled by a loose cabal of cosmopolitan outsiders best described as satanists. For they are and ever have been against God, against Christianity, and against any and all free peoples of goodwill. Until The End, they cannot be wholly defeated, though it is good to see them recede. Real Westerners should rejoice as the great unfolding heralds their rare chance to reclaim their true identities and societies. In addition to expertly explaining various alternatives to the rot of the hijacked fake West, Savin does an excellent job of deconstructing what the West was and is and how it came to be what it is.

Part of the deconstruction may be grating for the Western reader, though it is a shaving worthy of consideration. Also, as the book admits, many words and concepts have different meanings depending on where they are used and by whom. I encourage the intrepid reader to play along with such terms as “racism”, “nation”, “nationalism”, and more. Getting right to a perhaps uncomfortable truth, on page 152:

Independently of political ideologies and academic schools of thought, one can approximately conclude that the very idea of the West has three key characteristics. The West is a particular understanding of society, time, and space which led to (1) the emergence of racism in various forms, (2) ideas of linear time separated from space, as well as (3) the exaggeration of Europe’s position (and later the US’) as a special place in which a special community had formed that claimed global governance and assigned labels to other peoples. It is only natural that other versions of society, time, and space were thereby marginalized and relegated to the periphery of the ‘civilized world.’

The world is now witnessing a de-marginalization from the periphery. Joseph Borrell’s “jungle” is growing back, like Kudzu on steroids. And it turns out that most of it is its own kind of beautiful garden, if not the limited, curated type Borrell prefers. Much of Chapter Five, “Deconstructing the West,” is eye-opening and may foster new thoughts or ways of thinking in the reader’s head. This process is a good thing for the heritage Westerner because, as others have shown clearly, he has been in many ways, similar and dissimilar, oppressed by the faux rulers of the West just like the marginalized people of the colonized or relegated outside world. In honest Borrell-speak, while much destruction and herbicidal spraying went on in the outside jungle, inside the garden there was excessive native pruning. The time has come to end all of the damage.

The unipolar gardeners are in every sense attempting to rebuild and control the Tower of Babel. As such was intentionally destroyed by God the Father, who saw fit to fully separate the peoples of the earth (Genesis 11:9), the attempt to reassemble the host in defiance of God is purely luciferian. What is supposed, post-Genesis, to extend to all nations, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark 13:10. The gardeners must fail eternally—a refreshing thought—as we are assured the nations will endure even in Heaven. Revelations 7:9. Their transient temporal failure is already happening, and while it may be accompanied by upheaval and discord, we should welcome it.

A large portion of the book is dedicated to showcasing the differences across cultures and time regarding things like law, sovereignty, borders, economic structures, and even the very natures of different peoples. It is, in fact, good that there are these many differences. I have something extra to add from Savin’s Eighth Chapter, “Economics and Religion”. But as this is a dual review and I have an idea to combine bits, I’m going to risk mixing it in with Dr. Wilson’s fine book and related commentary! Savin’s final chapters deal with the new alternative of multipolarity. As I noted, above, in the context of America’s thirteen original “pole” states, the alternative is really just a reversion to the historical norm. A one-world order is unnatural. As Savin notes, on page 401: “With regards to homogeneity, the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben suggested that the notion of a uniform world for all living beings is an illusion.” 

Chapter Twelve is a walk-through of various theories for implementing, or, rather, re-implementing a pluralistic world order. The author remains optimistic, as do I, that the new sovereign order will represent a more perfect and harmonious substitute for what we have suffered since the end of World War Two, and especially since the end of the Cold War. That the alternative is not operated by overt devil-worshipers speaks well of its potential. Most ideologies and “isms” being dead letters, new philosophies and theories are needed. Savin discusses some of them. There is also a need for new institutions to facilitate orderly interaction between peoples and countries (or a revamping of existing institutions). Savin delves into these around page 432, with “Parallel Structures”, those designed to supplant or surpass the existing compromised forums. BRICS, for instance, has already grown mightily since Savin’s book was published, with the BRICS economies surpassing those of the G7 last year and the copious expansion of BRICS(+) this year. We eagerly await the Kazan meeting next year and the formal unveiling of that which will replace SWIFT and, potentially, the Petrodollar (already a thing in decline and retreat).

Some space is devoted to the future of “European Autonomy”, page 436—, and the coming potential liberation of European countries, both from their own devices and from Washingtonian control. It is not so difficult to envision a tandem liberation of the American States. 

As Savin explains in his Afterword, page 463, “The theory of multipolarity has developed shoulder to shoulder with critiques of the hegemony of the United States of America. Even outside of this context as well, many authors have been wary of the US’ efforts to preserve its leadership.” The theory is becoming fact and practice before our eyes. And as the events of the past several years have shown, many are correct to be wary as the rulers of the dying GAE fiercely try to maintain some semblance of control over the world they are losing. May that they falter and collapse as their loss is mankind’s gain. Savin ends with the impact of the (then) current effects of the US’s evil bioweapons program, COVID, on the US itself. Today, his mention of “This sickness”, pages 466-467, may as well be a metaphor for the overdue death throes of the US Empire. The survival of the US (in some form(s)) and the greater West is at stake. We in the West and of its heritage must take this issue seriously if we are to emerge and rebuild. In this regard, Leonid Savin gives us either a grand map, a strong cornerstone, or both. I am pleased to suggest his sublime scholarship as expressed within Ordo Pluriversalis. 

Wilson, Clyde N., Looking For Mr. Jefferson, Columbia, SC: Shotwell, 2023 (EPUB edition*).

Dr. Wilson, like his subject, Thomas Jefferson, requires no introduction in Southern circles. This review, however, might, for those in the wider world. Dr. Wilson is a professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina, the “dean” of Southern history. That the politically correct administration at USC refuses to include him, their most famed living professor, on the department’s retired faculty website, speaks volumes about their shallowness and cements Dr. Wilson’s academic prowess and value. He is a co-founder of Shotwell Publishing, the South’s premier showplace of historical, intellectual, and fictional thought, and he has made a career of documenting the importance of many Southern leaders, including the immortal John C. Calhoun, Thomas Jefferson, and more. Like Savin, Wilson also possesses a keen sense of timing, the temporal grace of the Almighty, or both. In response to my previous review of Why The West Can’t Win by Dr. Fadi Lama, Dr. Wilson (to me, “Clyde”, my cigar and rebel-rousing buddy) left this comment at Reckonin’:

Perrin, the book is all you say. Of course, the author doesn’t know this but in revealing the Evil Money Power is merely restating what our Southern forebears knew—Jefferson, John Taylor, Calhoun, Davis, the Populists, the Agrarians.

I like how he also reveals how the sainted Reagan was a tool of the Money Power, although he probably did not realise it. My new book on Jefferson takes up this very issue. CW

With Clyde, the certainty of a new book is guaranteed, though the timing can be a mystery. I launched a quick inquiry and wound up with my e-copy before I even got the usual launch notification email from Shotwell. As promised, the book does a fine job recounting Jefferson’s valiant struggle against debt, usury, and more. It is a compilation of some fifty years of written commentary and lecture material about America’s third federated republican President under the Constitution of 1787 (effective 1789). I remind some and inform others that America had, in fact, fourteen “Continental” Presidents before George Washington, with Peyton Randolph and John Hancock each serving two separate terms. 

But of the fifty-nine men who have served as America’s chief executive—sixty, if one foolishly includes the installed rather than elected Brandon the AI—few stand out as Jefferson did in his time and as he continues to as an exemplary historical marker. Dr. Wilson well captures the mind and spirit of the great statesman, no small feat for a shorter book!

Mentioned and alluded to here and there, Dr. Wilson devotes Chapter 19 to “A Jeffersonian Political Economy”. Here is as fine a place as any for me to point out that the early federated American Republic, as interpreted by the “Federalists,” was a theoretical and political progenitor of the GAE, which really launched toward its global trajectory during and after Abraham Lincoln’s war of 1861-85. Why? As Dr. Wilson observes, in Chapter 19, “Southerners saw the [new 1787] Constitution as the people’s control over government power. Northerners saw it as an instrument to be manipulated to their advantage.” Later on, especially after 1865, the Northern view guided the nexus of political and economic dominance towards empire, within and without the several American States.** 

The world was issued a dire warning about the future growth of Lincoln’s empire, even without Lincoln, via words Dr. Wilson included in a list of quotes in Chapter 20, “Jeffersonian Wisdom”: “The consolidation of the States into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.” So said General Robert E. Lee in 1866. The GAE grew to be all Lee feared and foresaw. The twin driving factors behind this malignancy were military power, real or conjectured, and financial/monetary prominence. Jefferson would have detested both.

Back in Chapter 19, correctly writes Wilson:

The Jeffersonian position on the role of the federal government in the economy was succinctly stated by a newspaper in 1843: FREE TRADE, NO DEBT, SEPARATION OF GOVERNMENT AND BANKS. It was taken for granted that this included modest government spending, restricted to the clearly stated Constitutional powers and duties of Congress as spelled out in Article I, section 8.

Jeffersonianism has remained a real and long-lasting tradition of thought. It underlays the formation of American colonial society. There was a reason that an English poet referred to Virginia as “the earthly paradise.” Because those who had no hope of independent status at home could there attain it there. This describes the spirit that underlays the American War of Independence and Jeffersonian opposition to Hamiltonianism.

Since 1861 the Jeffersonian political economy has been a very weak force. Every principle that its spokesmen advocated has been crushed and everything they warned against has become only too true.

Was and is this position perfect? Of course, not. But it belied a noble worldview and spirit. Jefferson’s newspaper call for “free trade” was asserted the year before David Ricardo’s fanatical obsession with corn uber alles was redesigned to foster nebulous “comparative advantage”, notions since abolished by nearly two centuries of practical experience. As Wilson notes elsewhere, Jeffersonian free trade really meant “fair” trade, the opposite of what globalizing free traders have foisted on the world. Jefferson’s aversion to debt stands as valid now as it did then. That the Washington Post recently cautioned against meddling with the precious Federal Reserve system and its alleged good deeds, speaks to the horrible power the thing has accumulated via its abetting Washington’s madness and its shareholder commercial banks will to absorb all value from the entire economy with digital nothingness. What is practiced today, a wicked inversion of reality, is not the separation Jefferson envisioned. Rather, it is a false face for the collusion of the Money Powers to dominate all with usury compounded upon usury and based on nothing more than hoaxes and threats. Jefferson, were he alive today, would assuredly stand against satanic faux Western monetary and economic policies; I suspect he would also keenly understand the sovereign desire to move beyond unipolar control of the world by liars, thieves, and murderers. While I cannot say he might be a proponent of them, Jefferson would certainly understand the Sino-Russian concepts of “whole process” “democracy” and economic policy.

Wilson covers well the idea of “Jeffersonian Democracy” in Chapter 7. “Thomas Jefferson remains the best American symbol for democracy—that is, decision-making by majority rule of the body of citizens. He really believed in the rule of the people. In the short run they might go astray, but the people—with their judgment, honesty, and patriotism—were the best reliance for a good commonwealth.” Jefferson was a true philosopher and a somewhat libertarian idealist. Wilson adds a proper cautionary note which is in keeping with Jefferson’s own expressed views of democracy:

Two qualifying points here are necessary for 21st century readers. First, in Jefferson’s ideal most of life and society was outside the jurisdiction of government of any kind. The majority ruled in a very limited sphere. They were not entitled to do anything they wanted. They could not make coercive transfers of wealth or force changes in society to suit some plan of supposed improvement.

Second, Jefferson always has in mind a known commonwealth like Virginia. His majority consists of citizens who have a stake in the commonwealth for themselves and their posterity—men who head families, pay taxes, and serve in the militia.

In the context of Jefferson’s late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries, the lapse towards a chaotic form of government, classically-speaking in line with tyranny and oligarchy—into which American democracy evolved—is somewhat forgivable. All of America’s founding—her leaders, the Constitution, and the very composition of the population—were a mixed bag. For a time, reality allowed for Jefferson’s high optimism. Hindsight is twenty-twenty and we may see that some of Jefferson’s rhetoric, truly based on the best intentions, especially as compared to that of Alexander Hamilton and other lesser Americans, in ways contributed to some of the developments Jefferson feared. Rhetoric, while pointing towards a truth, may not exactly be the truth. For instance, Jefferson’s insistence in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal”, while lauded by many in various political camps, is, in fact, false. No men are created equal, not even identical twins. Jefferson’s qualification, “they are endowed by their Creator…”, serves as a proper if understated and oft-ignored admission that the only kind of total human equality is limited to the eyes of God. Wilson, at intervals, discusses Jefferson’s religious beliefs and practices and how they were perceived by his temporal peers. The whole underpinning of Jeffersonian democracy, which was at odds with competing Yankee or Freemasonic visions of American governance and way of life, was that the people remain faithful and uncorrupted. Even in his time, this may have amounted to very well-intended but still wishful thinking. 

However, after Jefferson, and after Lincoln, things progressed or devolved as they did. Many changes rapidly swept the land, its people, their ideas of government, and how they perceived money and economics. America’s money today is essentially non-existent, which allows the Money Powers virtually unfettered discretion in how best (or worst) to rob and maim the world. How all this was allowed to happen over the long years is a slight mystery, perhaps best explained by a gentle gullibility on the part of so many Americans. As Wilson notes, many in the South, then and now, have a less than clear understanding of what economics is and how it works. This mental fogginess is shared by most mainstream economists, as noted by Dr. Lama, Michael Hudson, and others. 

Some of the lingering American misunderstandings may, as some suggest, stem from a contest of Protestantism(s): of (Southern) Calvinism versus (Northern)(English) Puritanism. Understood or not, this is part of the genesis of “liberal capitalism,” aka, financial or globalist capitalism. Here, the reintroduction of Savin’s observations: Ordo Pluriversalis, supra, page 255: “It should be noted that among the creationist religions, it is Judaism and Protestantism that became a kind of set of wings for the plane of liberal capitalism, which has extended its influence on a global scale.” It is most interesting to note that the US was founded and built largely by Protestants and that sometime in the mid-late 20th Century, it came to be controlled, de jure and/or de facto, by Judaics.*** This may be the natural path of a course plotted in Germany 500 years ago, which, in America, reached a feverd pitch in the 20th Century. It may explain the American obsession with “sacred” contracts and debts, tolerance of usury and fake money, and essentially a prohibition against debt cancellations and socioeconomic realignment – among many other unusual things.

Savin goes on, page 263, to plainly set the “spiritual roots” in the tandem ground of Judaism and Protestantism. Understanding the nature of those roots, which at earliest begin with the suggestion for and support of the Reformation, goes a long way in explaining the post-Bretton Woods monetary and economic world and, really, the captured Western world in general. Savin, for his part, then discusses the differing—from the status quo of postmodernity and from each other—positions of Orthodox and Latin Catholic doctrines. It would be wise for Westerners to also consider these matters if we are to ever change course, financially and otherwise.

Wilson goes on, Looking…, supra, painting an excellent portrait of Jefferson, with his own commentary, reviews of works by others about the President, expositions of the lives of other Jeffersonian-minded Americans, and an explicit examination of why postmodern thinkers (and general Hamiltonian-Lincolntonite theorists of all ages) hate Jefferson. On that last note, Chapter 16 is titled, “Why They Hate Jefferson,” being a review of The Long Affair: Thomas Jefferson, and The French Revolution by Connor Cruise O’Brien. In short summation, Wilson writes: “The Establishment is frightened by the rumblings they hear from the Great Beast (that is, we the American people).” Jefferson was the foremost of our genuine intellectual benefactors. We do, even at this late hour, run the risk of “watering the tree” as he once suggested. That is why “they” hate him (and us).

On the matter of intellectualization, and, thus, education, I end with a brief look at Jefferson’s accomplishments as detailed in Chapter 8, “Thomas Jefferson: New World Philosopher”. Jefferson, the founder of the University of Virginia, also set about building a curriculum for the then essentially non-existent Virginia (lower) public schools. Wilson makes patently clear and obvious that what Jefferson wanted was the polar opposite of the state-mandated evil of Northerners like Horace Mann and his system of schools as docile slave training factories. Jefferson wanted young students to learn—a concept completely outside the current American mainstream. 

Wilson gives a bare hint of the curriculum:

There follows a long list of reading requirements—a catalog of 24 Greek and Roman authors of philosophy, history, and literature. These were to be read in the original, not in translation, which seems to tell us Peter, at age 15, was already capable of the classical languages. The list of authors would be daunting to any of today’s professors of classics.

This was to be followed by selected modern history, Milton, Shakespeare, Swift, and Pope, the latter two for absorbing good style. More ancient classics, and then natural science. Interestingly, Jefferson remarks:

You are now, I expect, learning French. You must push this; because the books that will be put into your hands when you advance into Mathematics, Natural philosophy, Natural history, etc., will mostly be French, these sciences being better treated by the French than the English writers.

Jefferson also considered daily physical exercise critical for the development of a young mind. To this end, he advocated daily constitutional walks—with a firearm. This is a far cry from the non-standards of neo-Prussian, feminized, homosexualized American education today, a system of total innumeracy, lack of any scientific acumen, and illiteracy regardless of language. Jefferson’s was a better system, designed by a better man. Those who have experienced his works and wisdom are better for having done so. In keeping with that legacy, I suggest all will benefit from joining Dr. Wilson in Looking For Mr. Jefferson.

*My EPUB (browser) reader displays well but leaves a little to be desired in the way of pagination. Therefore, I referenced as well as I could.

**As a related aside, I would like to someday explore the actions of a certain Tsar, understandable if counter-fortuitous, and how they might have assisted the nascent American imperial development which would soon become the plague and peril of the world. This exploration promises to be fun, or so I imagine. In time.

***I sure hope I don’t end up on the witch Nimarata’s little list…

UPDATE: Also at Geopolitika.

COLUMN: A Review of WHY THE WEST CAN’T WIN by Fadi Lama

18 Wednesday Oct 2023

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A Review of WHY THE WEST CAN’T WIN by Fadi Lama

 

With a Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, Dr. Fadi Lama may be a ramblin’ wreck. His book, however, is anything but — a smooth, fast, and powerful look deep within the rot necrotizing the West and afflicting the rest of the world. It would greatly benefit most Westerners, especially most Americans, and particularly those Americans in my Dixie to read Why The West Can’t Win. Therefore, at least to the Americans who need the information and presentation the most, we could safely assume most won’t. I hope that isn’t the case, and I have some irrationally optimistic sense that this might be THE book to finally start driving a little truth home among the masses. 

Hello, it’s another book review. As much as I mean to cut back on these, we just keep getting so many very good books. Herein we examine and I cite Lama, Fadi, Why The West Can’t Win: From Bretton Woods to a Multipolar World, Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2023 (Kindle Edition). 

It’s loaded with charts, statistics, notes and citations—usually sure killers of reader connectivity. Yet and still, I think Lama pulls off something amazing with his short, insightful work. In many of my reviews, especially concerning works of non-fiction, I repeatedly stress the importance of how well a book flows. Lama is an engineer so it makes sense he designed a presentation that cleverly posits real information, pairing it with keen discussion in a uniformly interesting fashion. The order goes something like this: 1) an idea is announced, 2) the idea is visually presented via a graph, mathematical operation, or picture, and 3) the information is synthesized with language I think most readers will appreciate and be capable of following. 

Why The West Can’t Win is a brief history of the corruption of Western Civilization, especially of the Anglo-American variety by a cohort of living demons Lama aptly calls “the Money Powers.” I’ll start where Lama ends, with his final cautionary words on page 357:

The chickens have come home to roost. The oppression inflicted by the Money Powers against humanity will now be directed internally. Until people in the Western Realm revolt against this miniscule parasitic financial “elite” that oppresses them, and recover their civilizations and sovereignty, the best depiction of their future would be George Orwell’s statement in 1984: 

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.

Bleak, but appropriate. And to a large degree, self-inflicted. What he means is that with the bifurcation of the world into Sovereign and Clown factions, and the growing inability of the Clowns to directly oppress the majority of the world population, they are now forced to vent their eternal hatred of God and man upon their only remaining victims, the people of their host countries. That hideous process is already underway. What passes for the mainstream media in the West is a poorly reasoned yet hypnotic collection of lies. Vladimir Putin recently warned the people of Kyrgyzstan to avoid reading Western outlets for that reason. I note that he concentrated on the reading part. Most Americans, being dull and barely literate, generally gain their propaganda by staring stupidly at television screens. On page 234, Lama presents a chart showing Money Power ownership of major Western media outlets; by that measure, Fox “News” really is the worst. Americans continue to defy physics, reality, and belief by falling for one set of lies after another. In the wake of the war on “terror,” the financial collapse, the global pandemic bioweapon attacks, the stolen election and coup in DC, and the NATO Nazis’ war on Russia, the dullards have instantly fallen in line with Israel’s and Lispy Graham’s goal of genociding Palestinians and spreading war and misery across the Middle East. Never letting a crisis go to waste, the anti-human wraiths of the ADL, an organization founded to honor a child rapist and murderer, are pushing more and more dystopian censorship on Americans. Not to be outdone, the feeble UK Parliament passed, in September of 2023, a new law to further regulate (read, “censor”) online information. There are many other existing examples, many of which you, dear reader, are probably aware of, and more and worse is coming. A little resistance from the people of the West against their true enemies would be both wise and welcomed.

Westerners have almost uniformly come to live under democracies. Drawing on both Republican Roman experience and the traditions of Greece, Cicero believed that democracy was one of the worst forms of governance possible, along with tyranny and oligarchy. Thomas Jefferson, in his own interesting way, expressed a similar sentiment. Listen to any Clown World heathen, like fake US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and within two or three minutes some platitude about democracy will be incanted with sacred solemnity. Lama masterfully walks his readers through the history of the Money Powers-driven West and the Powers’ absolute obsession with democracy. He exposes the clear pattern of the ruin of nations by eliminating religious and nationalistic controls and replacing them with democratic perversions, degeneracy, and usury. The end result, in France, America, or India, is a form of slavery and societal pillaging. That is why all attempts to democratize government, such as the US’s 17th Amendment, allowing for the supposedly “free” popular election of Senators, act to subvert freedom, prosperity, and true representation of and for the people. Lama mathematically demonstrates, on page 88, that “from a socioeconomic standpoint, democracy is the worse form of governance throughout history. That is natural, as it was made by the Money Powers for the Money Powers.” 

As much as the book is a warning to those who need it and might hear it, it is equally an optimistic appraisal of where the majority of humanity stands moving forward in this century. In between and all around, a history is woven—from the ancient world, through the Middle Ages, through the horrors of the Enlightenment, across the financial capitalistic terror of Bretton Woods, ending with the emergence of multipolarity. Lama nicely sums up the where-we-are-now as follows, from page 20: “The current global geopolitical clash is in essence a struggle between the colonial powers wishing to preserve the Bretton Woods system that facilitates siphoning the wealth of nations and sovereign nations striving for independence and an end to a millennium of their oppression.” If that statement confounds one, then there is all the more reason to read the book as the patterns and methods of oppression are pointedly discussed. 

That discussion raises historical observations seldom called to anyone’s attention. For instance, from pages 89-90: “Wealth pillaged from the colonies was not pillaged for the colonialist nations, but for the bankers and shareholders of the exploiting companies based therein; that is, the Money Powers.” That is why, as English corporations looted African, Asian, and American colonies, the lives of many Londoners were little better than those of the poor natives in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, as expressed through the eyes and words of many Dickensian characters. It’s a concept perhaps many American Millennials and Zoomers can relate to today. Lama explains the mechanisms of this universally immiserating phenomenon in much the same way Michael Hudson, Steve Keen, David Graeber, Alexander Macris, and other authors do. 

At present, in a desperate bid to save their empire, the Money Powers rely on the postmodern versions of three time-tested tactics: fake money (the Petrodollar), “virtual reality” (the deceptions of the media), and fading US military power (CVN-78 to Palestine, etc.). As Lama illustrates very well, the events of the past two years have dispelled the myth of American military invincibility and the necessity of the Dollar as the world reserve currency. All that really remains are the lies of Clown World virtual reality. And those necessarily collapse upon crashing into actual reality. Page 40: “When virtual reality meets reality on the battleground, T-Bills and ETFs stand little chance against flying missiles and artillery shells.”

I mention CVN-78, the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, for a timely reason. In between the publication of Lama’s book and my review, the US Empire dispatched the Ford, the Ike, and other ships, planes, weapons, and troops toward Occupied Palestine to assist Israel in potentially exterminating some of the poorest people in the world. (The virtual reality liars may tell it otherwise.) Yet, given the condition of the Ford, one almost wonders if its true mission isn’t more in keeping with that of the Lusitania, the Maine, the Arizona, or the Liberty. From page 244: “The $13 billion Gerald R. Ford ‘has yet to demonstrate that it can effectively’ defend the aircraft carrier from anti-ship missiles and other threats, according to the Pentagon’s testing office.” There is, one supposes, nothing like live testing.

There’s a healthy supply of many other examples of Western evil like that. I leave most for the delighted discovery of the reader. Here’s one more. Russia’s SMO in Ukraine, forced by NATO, the US, and the Money Powers, revealed many things the virtual realists would prefer people forget about. Following a brief mention of the horrors of Imperial Japan’s Unit 731, Lama comes to a natural conclusion on page 196: “Not surprisingly, with the head start acquired from ‘research’ of Unit 731, the U.S. is today the leader in bio warfare, with its bio labs dotting the globe. U.S.-controlled bio labs in Ukraine have performed experiments similar to those of Japan’s Unit 731.” One is reminded of the nature of many of those experiments as told by JRK, Jr. in his excellent book on Tony Fauci’s miserable life and work. The COVID+ evil from those labs was but one of hundreds of examples of illicit US biowarfare necromancy, a legacy that predates the empire’s acquisition of the 731 war criminals (“paperclipped” into the fold like so many SS Nazis). 

In the reading, should a Westerner begin to feel a pang of slight guilt, it is because, while he himself might be blameless, extreme wickedness has been perpetrated in his name and on his watch. Again, now would be a grand time to turn guilt into cleansing action, letting the suffering of Oliver Twist give way to the resistance of a Gaza or Donbass freedom fighter.

But whether anyone finally awakens in the West, the changes in the world already proceed apace. Much of Why The West Can’t Win is an exemplifying comparison of factors and a recitation of exactly why the West can’t. Much or most of it comes down to sovereignty versus slavery and reality versus fantasy. Lama does much in the way of contrasting the hype for and the reality of the West with that of Russia and China, perhaps the two best examples of the free multipolar domain. On page 129, Table 5, Lama makes a quick comparison of the financial condition of the Russian and US economies. While Russia is, in a word, “healthy,” the US is a basket case. Yet, in Table 6, he shows that the fake Western ratings agencies assign the greater risk of investment to Russia, with the US, of course, being “AAA” and “Prime.” This is but one of many exposures of the prime, AAA, exceptional bullshit that underpins postmodern Western existence.

The captive West cannot win and has really already lost because of factors such as money and monetary policy, technology, human rights, manufacturing capacity, education, and healthcare—all of which are covered in detail. These deficiencies are generally interrelated as Lama demonstrates in various places, including his take on education in the US. On page 123 he writes (emphasis mine): “Many individuals who have great potential are effectively discarded. The consequences of this can already be observed in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), which since 2000 has been unable to develop any competitive weapons system.” In addition to boondoggle false flag fodder like the Ford, the discarding of talent speaks to a large part of the character (or lack thereof) of the postmodern American nation. Richard Hofstadter correctly titled his 1963 book about anti-intellectualism in mid-20th Century America. Since then, things have continued to shift towards outright hostility against genuine higher intelligence. There is a reason why China wisely and officially embraced Wang Huning and why America stupidly but effectively shunned Chris Langan. Already, the results of this shift speak for themselves. 

While I cannot nail down an exact religious affiliation, Lama’s book is replete with positive morality. It would behoove Christians to read the book and take stock of where they ontologically and physically stand in several areas—particularly areas imbued with a creeping sense of discomfort. While we cannot control the past or the actions of others, we can and must live today as we plan for tomorrow, all while accounting for the intentions of other parties. Those of us in the West must realize that the centuries-long malfeasance of our hijacked culture is losing and will lose, as it deserves to; we, however, need not go down with the sinking ship. Imagine our boot resting upon the throat of a wicked little parasite.

Fadi Lama is to be praised for his insight, research, wit, and bravery in assembling an outstanding volume dedicated to intelligence, truth, dignity, and justice. Please buy and read Why The West Can’t Win. 

COLUMN: Apophatic Apologetics: A Review of ESCHATOLOGICAL OPTIMISM by Daria “Platonova” Dugina

31 Thursday Aug 2023

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Apophatic Apologetics: A Review of ESCHATOLOGICAL OPTIMISM by Daria “Platonova” Dugina

 

There are few things more intellectually agreeable than a well-reasoned treatise that forces one to continually think, that offers both reassurance and challenge. If such a work is both inspiring and captivating, then it becomes an even finer rarity. So it is with today’s subject, a proper exposition of the good, the true, and the beautiful: 

Dugina, Daria “Platonova”, Eschatological Optimism. Tucson, Arizona: PRAV Publishing, 2023. 

The book is the posthumously collected essays and lectures of the brilliant Daria (also to some, Darya) Dugina, as masterfully edited by John Stachelski and fluidly translated into English by Jafe Arnold. This review and all page citations are based on the Kindle edition; for reference, I use the pagination rather than positioning provided by my Kindle reader. One may and should order a copy either from PRAV or from Amazon.

Eschatological Optimism is extraordinarily well-structured. Given topics that some might otherwise present with a stuffy, stilted, or disjointed complexity, the innately smooth format instead flows verbally and mentally like a gentle stream. This is a credit to the skills of the editor and, for the English-reading audience, the translator. Yet there is something more remarkable at work, which speaks to the prowess of the author and which is highlighted and magnified by the fact the posited chronicle is a compendium of smaller annals. One encounters a series of repetitions of the title theme and related matters. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, for example, is mentioned in multiple places. Yet at no time does the recurrence become stale. Rather, the litany has a reinforcing cumulative effect. As such, the presumed editorial joining and rejoining of various matters exposes a deliberate composition to engender delight, awe, and perhaps even envy. This phenomenon speaks most highly of the mind behind the assembled words, of an intellect active, engaged, and engaging. A concentrated will and organization obviously guided all of Dugina’s script, understanding, and reflection. 

The book will be of great interest to Orthodox Christians, Russians, and Neoplatonic thinkers. It will also be of great interest to all other Christians, non-Russian nationals, Aristotelians, and anyone else who enjoys exercising his brain. Along with the thoughtful rendering of its nominal philosophy, Eschatological Optimism allows for subtly divergent, if parallel consideration of the component parts or conclusions of the stated theory by the reader. Pouring through the pages, a wonderful idea of complementary synthesis builds in the mind, a congruency. Commodious space is provided for individual intellectual maneuvering; though one need not precisely follow every attestation or predication of the text, one should, in my estimation, be able to reach a pleasingly similar denouement. Your reviewer is, for the sake of disclosure, an eschatological optimist. All Christians should be as well, for we know and trust that even as our plodding way may be rough, our ultimate destination and salvation are assured. For almost every interested party, there is something to be learned from Dugina’s book. She forced me to remember things forgotten, consider things in new ways, and to consider entirely new concepts. She has opened a wide and well-lit door. She did so, admittedly, from a distinctly and naturally Russian perspective and the very different (from the “ordinary”) outlook of the philosopher. Regardless of disposition, all of the types of readers I just noted should feel or foster towards each other a kind of camaraderie and respect as each approaches that door. It leads to something and somewhere rewarding.

“Eschatology,” of course, concerns the final end of the world, and for Christians, the Second Coming. “Optimism” is a favorable perspective. Together, as Dugina explains on page 34, the combined terminology is “rather dangerous and complex.” It’s also rather positive, informative, and even enchanting. Two approaches to the philosophy are delineated along with the defined assertion that the eschatological optimist, while accepting that terminal change in the world is imminent, nonetheless soldiers on by consciously and purposely living. On page 54, Dugina provides perhaps a clearer and more actionable definition: 

…eschatological optimism is the consciousness and recognition that the material world, the given world which we presently take to be pure reality, is illusory: it is an illusion that is about to dissipate and end. We are extremely, sharply conscious of its finitude. But, at the same time, we maintain a certain optimism; we do not put up with it, we talk about the need to overcome it.

A dialectical Christian may or may not hone in on the illusory aspect. For my part, I hope he does, wrestling with the notion of being in but not of the illusion. If I failed to mention there is great thrill and fun in the reading, then know that there is. The wallop is far-ranging, as one will find numerous examples from history, theology, and literature. For instance, like the author, I still ponder the questioned optimistic potential of Edgar Allen Poe. Was the raven’s perch of choice supposed to suggest to us something of deeper ancient character?!

In many ways, Eschatological Optimism is a grand refresher for those who previously studied Plato (and other classical philosophers). If one is not well-acquainted with Greek thought, then it is a marvelous introduction. Platonism is well-explicated across the course of some twenty-five centuries and from various points of view and understanding. The reader will be reminded of the linkage and harmony across socio-theological realms regarding ontology, hierarchy, and more. Dugina covers many subtopics very well, a list too multitudinous to recount here. I touch only upon a few of many interesting points.

Apophatic theology, intricately bound to Orthodox tradition and general Christian thought, lies at the heart of eschatological optimism. As opposed to, or rather, in addition to, direct cataphatic orientation towards God, the apophatic is a path to comprehension (of the ultimately incomprehensible) via negation or indirect appreciation — trusting that which cannot be seen clearly in this world. It is reasoned yet mystical faith, not “blind” as it is guided by a form of structured logic. Beyond Eastern Orthodoxy, the apophatic has been part of Catholic doctrine since the Thirteenth Century, as embraced and expressed by Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was deeply influenced by Areopagitic thought. The root of (apophatic) Christian Platonism — see page 301 — comes from the fusion of Greek philosophy with Christian Patristic tradition forged by Dionysius the Areopagite. That coalescence of religious and Platonic thought is expounded thoroughly and even poetically.

Given the current state of the corporeal world, the same as it ever was, some of Dugina’s attention turns to the unpleasant aspects of human existence since the expulsion from Eden. She writes, correctly, on page 67, “Evil is easy to find and easy to see.” Much energy and time would be saved if materialists would acknowledge this truth and cease wasting their efforts attempting to explain evil as merely “bad” and if they would limit their tangible reactions to what are primarily spiritual concerns, even those, especially those that intrude into our illusory “real” world. War is presented as a necessary righteous rebellion against the false order of the world, a conflict of what is “below” against God and His order above. In and around that context, and among other timely, cogent observations, Dugina correctly calls out the sad misunderstanding by the postmodern West of nature, life, love, war, and peace. Set against the great spiritual conflict that envelops all of us whether we understand it or not, Dugina delivers a call to resistance the likes of which is rarely if ever heard today, a call made so clearly, passionately, and appropriately. From page 102:

In the conditions of the modern world, any stubborn and desperate resistance to this world, any uncompromising struggle against liberalism, globalism, and Satanism, is heroism.

That passage alone should cement the value of Dugina’s book, her theories, and her bold place among the champions of Christian civilization. She goes on to call for cultivating the warrior within. This is the clarion call for our times.

A fascinating discourse occurs concerning the differences between the legitimate feminine principles (of Russia) and the faltering postmodern feminist attitudes of the West. There is such a thing as “Christian Feminism” and I leave to the reader the joys of exploring its place in sane sociosexual relations. In my estimated summary, men and women were literally made for each other, separate but equal, and utterly compatible. In this, not a minor front in our war, we must reclaim the joy that satan and his minions have stolen or attempted to pilfer.

The various fractures of the natural hierarchy between God and man, between man and man, and between man’s sociopolitical entities and himself are examined in keen detail. Ultimately, what Dugina calls for is a return to or continuation of the grand traditions of our past, to the turning of backs to the disorder of the postmodern world. By doing so, she bravely imagines — and I think she is correct, we can (re)ignite the optimist’s spirit. And we may do so in a way both intelligible to us and pleasing to God. Elsewhere, others have commented at length about the combining of the noble pagan Greek thought, as exemplified by Plato, and the just doctrine of Christianity. Dugina’s detailed look into the life and times of Emperor Julian the Apostate, along with the “Justinian” reaction thereto and thereagainst, and our ensuing history, provides a spectacular example of what works, what does not work, what mystifies, and what may or must happen in order to maintain clarity of thinking (the Platonic way) without sacrificing any of the absolute Truth of Christianity. 

Emperor Julian is presented under “Political Platonism.” On page 277, Dugina quotes W. R. Inge regarding the emperor being “a conservative when there was nothing left to preserve.” There is something familiar in those words for today’s Westerner, particularly for today’s American. Those of us in the West have suffered tremendous damage from the faux Enlightenment, which Dugina proportionally dismisses, including libertine calls for nebulous openness and false freedom. As she notes, true light comes only from Jesus Christ. In it, and only in it do we find genuine comfort and cause for optimism.

Herein, I have painted very broadly and just enough to cover the bare corners. Needless to say, I highly recommend Eschatological Optimism. The reader will be delighted, astounded, and … saddened.

Reading through, roughly articulating a mental outline for this review, I resolved to omit any painful mention of Daria Dugina’s tragic and untimely death. That resolve dissipated upon reading the Afterword written by Daria’s mother, Natalia Melentyeva. Noting the broken character of our world, Mrs. Melentyeva spoke of Daria’s courage and spirit, of the kind of mental and spiritual effort necessary to restore our civilization. She candidly answered the terrible question I feared to broach on page 364:

To the question, “Who killed Daria Dugina?”, there is one final and true answer: “the enemy of humankind,” the modern world, the dark spirit waging eternal struggle against the Light, against the Intellect, against the sublime and the noble.

Despite the wicked endeavors of mankind’s truest, darkest enemies, Daria Dugina is (is, not was), as her mother wrote, “the ever-rising star of Russian thought.” A beautiful, optimistic star to help steer our course.

Да благословит и сохранит тебя Господь, Платонова.

COLUMN: A Review of SCHOOL FOR GENIUS

09 Wednesday Aug 2023

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A Review of SCHOOL FOR GENIUS

 

What’s genius got to do with it?! What did Tina Turner have in common with Boston’s Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge? That’s right! Sensing the impending final chapter of American history approaching, the late, talented, and wise Turner removed herself to Switzerland, settling comfortably in a magnificent chateau just down the lake shore from a school most Americans may not have heard of. And one will literally drive over the engineering legacy of that same school as one heads north on I-93, passing TD’s new Garden, perhaps lamenting the loss of the old Garden, and slowly realizing the Red Tavern up in Methuen has been closed for twenty years.

Hello. It’s another book review. Today we briefly examine School For GENIUS: The Story Of The ETH – The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, from 1855 to the Present, Front Street Press, (2005/6). ETH, short for the Allemand “Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule,” is that famed engineering school in Zurich with which some might not be familiar. It’s also sometimes referred to simply as “the Poly.” It is Switzerland’s and Europe’s preeminent technical school and consistently ranks as one of the world’s top ten universities.

(© Front Street Press. Photo by PL.)

I purchased School for Genius for two very special, personal reasons. First, I am giving the book as a gift to a most important person who may choose to study at ETH in the near future. Second, it is yet another fine work authored by my dear friend, my brother, and our champion of the West, the late, great Thomas G. Moore. That last point alone should sell this review to my readers. 

As many know, Tom and I first met at a school. Many might not know that Tom held three advanced degrees from two European universities. The man understood academia. He knew Europe. Previously, I was vaguely aware of ETH, and he and I had discussed the book and his resident process of researching and writing it. Reading it was nonetheless eye-opening.

As usual, Tom did something utterly fantastic with ETH. He crafted an authoritative history, apology, and exposition that flows and reads like one of his thrilling fictional narratives. It’s not quite like reading an Erik Larson book; one need not constantly remind oneself that Albert Einstein and Carl Jung were real men and not novel characters, but it’s somewhat close. 

The book opens with words of knowledgeable praise from Hon. Faith Whittlesey, a two-term former US Ambassador to Switzerland. Tom begins with a bit of history and culture, wherein he compares the ancient and functional idea of Swiss “diversity” with the doomed and deadly buzzword of late American fame. He then moves into the school’s genesis as it was founded based on the established principles of Paris’s École Polytechnique (another school someone might consider). 

The rise of ETH coincided with, was governed by, and helped steer the rise of the industrial revolution and the modern world. Tom beautifully covers how a decent and intelligent people bridged the transition from a rural agrarian culture to an advanced industrialized society while maintaining the best elements of both. Repeated emphasis is given to the stubborn independence and decentralization that has marked the Swiss people and their Cantons for centuries. He also delves as deeply into the copious scientific and academic contributions and achievements the school and its score-plus Nobel laureates have given the world as 270 pages will allow. 

Here I will stop and highly recommend School For Genius. If not for my two privy circumstances, I might not have ever developed an interest in the subject matter. It is, I suppose, a niche study. Yet, if you or someone you know has an interest in educational history, engineering, math, Tom Moore prose, or the continuation of civilization, then do consider adding the book to your reading list. 

As for gifted young American students who might contemplate ETH as their future alma mater, Tom perhaps outdoes even his own general curiosity and kindness. He dedicates a short section towards the end of the book to just those American kids who might follow Mrs. Turner toward Zurich. The requisite standards are high. Therefore, so too should be the intellectual caliber of the potential scholar. If one is qualified, and one decides to pursue this select excellence, then the process is doable. At Tom’s original press time, the annual cost of attending ETH was approximately $950. This year, it is closer to $1,500. That figure applies to all students, domestic and international. Compare that price to the tuition at MIT. Compare Zurich to Boston, and the CH to the US. ETH is oftentimes referred to as the “MIT of Europe.” That moniker might be reversed. 

For general education buffs, Appendix II provides a cursory examination of the general Swiss school system. As one might guess, compared to what passes for schooling in the US, the CH’s approach is, in a word, “better.” In a self-propagating system of merit and advancement, ETH does its part to keep the cycle spinning much like CERN’s ETH-affiliated Large Hadron Collider. The adventuresome American pupil might further assist this grand process. Learn much more in Moore’s School For Genius.

A special note: Based on my outstanding experience, I also highly recommend Booketeria of San Antonio, Texas as a used bookstore of great worth. If you order School For Genius or any other preowned book from Amazon, do look for them as a source. At their website, they maintain an independent catalog of titles. For the ridiculously low price I paid for my copy, what was delivered bordered on the unbelievable. My mint condition book arrived early and double wrapped like a Christmas present. I sincerely thank these good people for their extreme dedication to quality and service.

Up there in Heaven, I once again thank you, mon frère. Really miss you.

Deo vindice!

Tom Ironsides is a New Hero

20 Saturday May 2023

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Don’t take my word for it. Another new review came in for THE SUBSTITUTE. Says the lovely, intelligent Lynne Neal:

New hero!

Tom Ironsides is a new hero…a man’s man…politically-incorrect…highly intelligent…multi-talented.

As he takes on the failed public school system, the reader lives through a school year with him, his family, his romantic escapades, and winds up cheering him on as Tom implements his ideas for a completely different type of education, built upon classical studies.

Flashbacks to Tom’s time in service to the empire provide more excitement and inspiration from our hero.

Excellent novel. MOST enjoyable! I’m ready for the follow-up!

This may be the best, most succinct summary of the novel yet. Many thanks to Lynne! And don’t just take her word for it. Snag a copy yourself (or, better yet, 10).