Book review: "Civiliation and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History"

(note: since precious few people know this blog exists, this "book review" is more a book report to myself, to assist in actually retaining some of the information I learned reading a certain book. But if someone stumbles upon it, and it is at all helpful, great.)

Lee Harris, "Civiliation and its Enemies: The Next Stage of History," Free Press (Simon & Schuster), 2004.

So this book isn't brand new... it is from 2004. And it's certainly more philosophy than political science, but it melds a bit of both under the "current events" theme, particularly apparent in its fiery title.

I imagine the title might inspire the following thought in some folks: "Enemies? It's not PC to say that we have enemies, or to suggest that other people might be uncivilized!") But this isn't Michael Savage.

OK.

The first thing I want to know about a book if I've never heard of the author is "Who is the author?" This is particularly important with academic books. And I've never heard of Lee Harris, although I should caution that I know zero modern philosophy authors.

But here's the funny thing: This isn't really an academic book. Here's the author's bio:

Lee Harris entered Emory University at age fourteen and graduated summa cum laude. After years spent pursuing diverse interests, including a stint at divinity school, several years writing mystery novels, and a career as a glazier, he began writing philosophical articles that captured the imagination of readers all over the world. The author of three of the most controversial and widely shared pieces in the history of Policy Review, Harris has emerged as one of the most talked-about writers of recent times. He lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

OK, a few questions before I even address the book.

1. College at 14, commendable.
2. But what was your degree in?
3. I assume there's no post-graduate work here. The road less traveled is admirable, but...
4. Mystery novels -- I wonder how they stack up to L. Ron Hubbard's.
5. Glazier? I had to look it up, and apparently it is a person whose trade is glazing windows.

Summary: This is cynical, but one thought I had is that this might be just another middle-age dude with no real academic background who has some spare time and cranks out some writing, possibly influenced by AM radio.

Granted, the whole college-at-14 thing contradicts that, as certainly do the multiple Policy Review publications.

So he's a non-traditional scholar. That's cool, let's mix it up a bit.

But here's the problem with mixing it up: We get a hodge-podge book that starts and ends discussing a bit of terrorism, but gets neck-deep in philosophy (Hobbes, Greeks, etc.) throug much of the middle.

The main point seems to be that "gangs" thoughout times destroy civilization (a term which transcends country or even continent), and currently the gang to be concerned with is radical Islam.

The pop-culture references throughout flag it as a non-serious work, in my humble opinion, but there's certainly a market for political/current events books for the masses.

Yes, I know it is easy to find the negative aspects and any book, and it is simple to write a bad review. So "non-seriousness" aside, Harris does present some interesting anecdotes, and one intriguing concept in particular:

Fantasy ideology.

Harris presents a thought-provoking argument -- which apparently originally appeared in his Policy Review work -- that these gangs are captivated by fantasy ideology; whether it is Mussolini's idea of returning to classic Roman empire days or radical Muslims' plans to retake Spain and the Western World while they're at it, it is fantasty based on glory more than genuine political or religious conviction.

He cites Mussolini's capture of Ethopia, which of course had no strategic value, but was originally done 2,000 years earlier.

Harris argues that terrorist attacks such as Sept. 11 weren't intended to threaten the United States as much as they were to motivate the folks back home -- to uplift or provide a feeling of glory for an otherwise downtrodden segment of the population.

What's the solution to that?

Harris doesn't really present one, but argues that we sholuld stay vigilant while avoiding becoming an overbearing empire. It doesn't make a good bumper sticker, and it's a sentiment most folks agree with (to an extent), but he seems to fear waning vigilance over new imperialism.

Oh, and he stresses the value of teams and family to a culture -- not either or -- and of course avoiding the gang mentality.

And he mentions Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" several times.

Overall -- the fantasy ideology section is interesting. But if you just want commentary on the GWOT (as the title implies it might be, or perhaps I assumed), look elsewhere.

I suppose the combination of academic philosophical, current events, history, and some pop culture references just was too messy of a mix. Too much philosophical slog -- such as metaphorical hunters and metaphorical rabbits.

For those fans of philosophy who enjoy the history of civilization, and forces that have or could threaten it, this might be worth checking out.