After America: Get Ready for Armeggedon by Mark Steyn

"If something cannot go on forever, it will stop"

Published in 2011 by Regnery.

The above quote is from the economist Herbert Stein. Besides being a clever little bit of the obvious, a Yogi Berra-type quote, it is also part of a scary thought about America itself that Mark Steyn points out in After America - America cannot keep doing what it is doing forever and hope to lead the world - it will stop. It cannot keep  borrow 40% of its budget forever and hope to keep its economy afloat or offer its children a decent future. America cannot hope that a post-America world will be pleasant - as Steyn notes on page 14 "...it's not hard to figure out how it's going to end."

After America: Get Ready for Armageddon is really the sequel to America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It a book that details how low birth rates, a general cultural malaise and a nanny state stupor threatens to overwhelm the same countries that once led the world in political, military and cultural might. Now, he warns of the same sorts of danger happening to America itself - we will not be "America Alone" but something different - different culturally, maybe more than one country, maybe nothing but a hazy memory.

Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn is truly one of the wittiest writers I have ever read. I have always enjoyed his columns, but in a larger format Steyn truly shines. He builds on what he has already written about so well that it almost becomes like an extended conversation with the man. He almost seamlessly ties together point after point. Steyn makes you laugh at the absurdity of the situation and then, while in mid-chuckle you stop and think, "Wait! That's not really funny at all. That's outrageous (or sad, or scary)." This is simultaneously the funniest and the scariest book that I have read this year.

What are his points? Steyn starts with commentary about the national debt that seems as fresh as if it were a column written today thanks to the government's extended wrangling over the debt ceiling this summer. He also comments about how politically correct thought, excessive regulation and years upon years of erosion of free speech rights and property rights are changing this country from a can-do country to an entitlement country.

Steyn changes his style a bit in a chapter called After: A Letter from the Post-American World. This is a sobering, even depressing chapter As the title suggests, this is a letter from the future and it shows how when the West hamstrings itself, the whole world suffers and it does not become a place you would want your children to live in. Or your Jewish friends. Or your gay friends. Or perhaps even your Christian friends. It's not like we aren't being warned about this possibility now - Steyn points out headline after headline, trend after trend that should be screaming to us. But, we have Facebook to play with and Jersey Shore to watch. Plus, who are we to judge? So, Steyn predicts on page 306: "...incremental preemptive concession was the easiest option. To do anything else would have been asking too much."

This is not a perfect book. Not all of Steyn's arguments hold water, in my opinion. But, most of them do and this is a must-read book for anyone interested in big picture history. In this entertaining and sobering book Steyn predicts that we are at one of those hinges of history moments and we are not going to succeed.

Sadly, I can't say that I disagree with him on that point at all.

****

On a separate note, I criticized America Alone because it had no footnotes or end notes. It didn't even have a bibliography. This book has extensive end notes with bibliographical reference and is meticulously indexed so the reader can easily find this information and articles for him(her)self and inform others.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: After America: Get Ready for Armageddon.

America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn

Important information but not well-presented

Published in 2006

I am a genuine fan of Mark Steyn. I am a frequent reader of National Review and his "Happy Warrior" column is what I read first. I picked this book up as a result of listening to a half-hour interview with him on my local radio station. I picked it up less than 4 hours after hearing him.

The information in America Alone The End of the World as We Know It is important, but the presentation is lacking. Steyn repeats himself so often that, if properly edited, this book would only have about 50 pages. Steyn writes brilliant columns. This book reads like a series of columns that overlap information, commentary and theme and was not up to the standards that I expected.

Steyn has done a lot of research, includes dozens and dozens of quotes and paraphrasing. However, he includes absolutely no endnotes, no footnotes, heck, he doesn't even include a bibliography! C'mon, Mark, I expect my tenth grade students to show their sources. You should do the same.

An interesting side note: A Canadian court tried to ban this book, Mark Steyn and the magazine that printed excerpts from this book due to some sort of 30 year old politically correct hate crimes law (can't write items critical of ethnic groups, etc.). While I'm not fond of the way this book is written, I can't stand the idea of banning a book for PC reasons. Steyn's book describing the trial is Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech and the Twilight of the West. Click here for my review of that book.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on May 2, 2008.

Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech and the Twilight of the West by Mark Steyn

Fascinating, entertaining and important

Published in 2009 by Stockade Books.

For those of you who are not aware, Mark Steyn was brought before three courts of Canada's Human Rights Commission for violating the human rights of some Muslim students and the Canadian Islamic Congress. You see, in Canada, your right not to be offended is more important than your right to speak your mind (except in the hypocritical cases Steyn has fun with throughout the book).

What was Steyn's crime? Maclean's magazine printed excerpts from his book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It. This was a bestseller in America and Canada but if he was found guilty the books would be pulled from all Canadian bookstores and Maclean's would have to be minded by politically correct nanny censors. Steyn is continually amazed that "large numbers of Canadians apparently think there's nothing wrong in subjecting the contents of political magazines to the approval of agents of the state." (p. 4)

Mark Steyn

Steyn details the fight against these three cases. Along the way he generates lots of memorable quotes such as, "I don't want to get off the hook. I want to take the hook and stick it up the collective butt of these thought police." (p. 5)

So, Steyn includes offending comments from the excerpts that brought him to court. He also includes columns that were included as supporting evidence. As a bonus he includes commentary from the complaints and then writes rebuttals. Steyn gleefully quotes author Martin Amis who noted that Steyn's "thoughts and themes are sane and serious - but he writes like a maniac." (p. 106). How very true - Steyn whipsaws back and forth - sometimes darkly sarcastic, sometimes sad, sometimes like a little boy who is glad to point and call names. But, throughout all of it Steyn is right - dead on 100% right. We cannot let the freedom of speech to be compromised, especially not in the name of offending the religious sensibilities of a determined few (my own religious beliefs are assaulted almost daily on sites I visit on the internet, TV and even in my classroom but I hardly am interested in shutting up those who offend me). To quote Steyn again, "What's so bad about disagreement that it needs to be turned into a crime?" (p. 182)

One of the most important books of our troubled times - as a bonus it's a joy to read!

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech And The Twilight Of The West

Reviewed on January 30, 2010.