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10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help Audiobook
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Publisher Description
You've heard of the "Great Books"?
These are their evil opposites. From Machiavelli's The Prince to Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto to Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, these "influential" books have led to war, genocide, totalitarian oppression, family breakdown, and disastrous social experiments. And yet these authors' bad ideas are still popular and pervasive—in fact, they might influence your own thinking without your realizing it. Here with the antidote is Professor Benjamin Wiker. In his scintillating new book, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help, he seizes each of these evil books by its malignant heart and exposes it to the light of day. In this witty, learned, and provocative exposé, you'll learn:
—Why Machiavelli's The Prince was the inspiration for a long list of tyrannies (Stalin had it on his nightstand)
—How Descartes's Discourse on Method "proved" God's existence only by making Him a creation of our own ego
—How Hobbes's Leviathan led to the belief that we have a "right" to whatever we want
—Why Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto could win the award for the most malicious book ever written
—How Darwin's Descent of Man proves he intended "survival of the fittest" to be applied to human society
—How Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil issued the call for a world ruled solely by the "will to power"
—How Hitler's Mein Kampf was a kind of "spiritualized Darwinism" that accounts for his genocidal anti-Semitism
—How the pansexual paradise described in Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa turned out to be a creation of her own sexual confusions and aspirations
—Why Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male was simply autobiography masquerading as science
Witty, shocking, and instructive, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World offers a quick education on the worst ideas in human history—and how we can avoid them in the future.
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"Enjoyable and very informative. Benjamin Wiker has a nice way of, first, allowing the views of the authors to sink in and then, secondly, ripping their fantasies apart and expose their evil implications. It makes you want to read these dreadful books. "
— Lars (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“A valuable contribution…This book will open many eyes.”
— Elizabeth Kantor, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature -
“Witty, engaging…Wiker’s poison pen portraits are great critical aids to analyzing some of the worst ideas that have ever contaminated Western civilization.”
— Thomas E. Woods Jr., author of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization -
A valuable contribution.... This book will open many eyes.
— Elizabeth Kantor, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to English and American Literature
10 Books That Screwed Up the World Listener Reviews
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" How a handful of misbegotten books led us to centuries of misery. "
— Joe, 6/23/2011 -
" The review by Rue Burch (below) is perfect. The book was preachy, but it did shed light on some of the authors' reasons and concepts in writing their books. I used it as a companion for my Western Civ class where we read 7 of the books Wiker writes about. It helped me see the total picture. "
— Kathy, 3/19/2011 -
" Okay, I didin't really finish. I skipped around. I like that it doesn't revere these books as gospel but it is also a bit too snarky to hold my attention or take it too seriously. "
— Jean, 11/20/2010 -
" This books helps a person understand the ideologies which shapes thinking and action. In this case not for the better. <br/> "
— John, 9/14/2010
About the Authors
Benjamin Wiker received his PhD from Vanderbilt University and has taught at Marquette University, St. Mary’s University, Thomas Aquinas College, and Franciscan University. He now writes full time as a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He has written several books including 10 Books That Screwed Up the World, 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read, Worshipping the State, The Darwin Myth, and Answering the New Atheism (co-authored with Scott Hahn).
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.
About Robertson Dean
Robertson Dean has played leading roles on and off Broadway and at dozens of regional theaters throughout the country. He has a BA from Tufts University and an MFA from Yale. His audiobook narration has garnered ten AudioFile Earphones Awards. He now lives in Los Angeles, where he works in film and television in addition to narrating.