10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help

273 Pages·2008·1.06 MB·English

by  Benjamin Wiker

CONTINUED FROM FRONT FLAP U.S.$27.95Can.$29.95
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JACKETDESIGNBYAMANDALARSEN
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10 BOOKS THAT
SCREWED UP
THE WORLD

10 BOOKS THAT
SCREWED UP
THE WORLD
And 5 Others That Didn’t Help
BENJAMIN WIKER, P .D.
H
Author of Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists
Since 1947
REGNERY
PUBLISHING, INC.
An Eagle Publishing Company • Washington,DC
Copyright © 2008 by Benjamin Wiker
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical,
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ISBN 978-1-59698-055-6
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To my wife of twenty-five years, without whom
the world would be much poorer, and with whom
my life has been infinitely richer.

Contents
Introduction: Ideas Have Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Part I: Preliminary Screw-Ups
CHAPTERONE The Prince . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
CHAPTERTWO Discourse on Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
CHAPTERTHREE Leviathan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
CHAPTERFOUR Discourse on the Origin and Foundations
of Inequality among Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Part II: Ten Big Screw-Ups
CHAPTERFIVE The Manifesto of the Communist Party . . . . . . . . .57
CHAPTERSIX Utilitarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
CHAPTERSEVEN The Descent of Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
CHAPTEREIGHT Beyond Good and Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
CHAPTERNINE The State and Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
CHAPTERTEN The Pivot of Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
CHAPTERELEVEN Mein Kampf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
CHAPTERTWELVE The Future of an Illusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN Coming of Age in Samoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
CHAPTERFOURTEEN Sexual Behavior in the Human Male . . . . . . . . .195
Part III: Dishonorable Mention
CHAPTERFIFTEEN The Feminine Mystique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Afterword: A Conclusive Outline of Sanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251

INTRODUCTION
Ideas Have
Consequences
“THERE IS NOTHING SO ABSURD,” QUIPPED THE ANCIENT ROMAN
philosopher-statesman Cicero, “that it can’t be said by a philoso-
pher.” Unfortunately, philosophers’ absurdities aren’t limited to
classroom sophistry and eccentric speculations. They make their
way into print and are thereby released upon the public. They can
be, and have been, as dangerous and harmful as deadly diseases.
And as with deadly diseases, people can pick up deadly ideas with-
out even noticing. These ideas float, largely undetected, in the
intellectual air we breathe.
If we take a good, hard, sober look at the awful effects of such
deadly ideas we can come to only one conclusion: there are books
that really have screwed up the world, books that we would have
been better off without.