A review by inquiry_from_an_anti_library
From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents by David Gress

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

2.0

Is This An Overview?

As Western ideas have become dominant, they have also come under attack.  There is a lot to criticize about the West, but there is also confusion about what the identity of the West is.  Confusion that seeks to share the negative consequences without reference to the values. 

 

The West’s defining feature is the contrasting evolution of liberty and power.  Liberty came from the competition of power, as liberty enables societies to be more effective competitors.  The benefits of Western ideas were thought to be universally desirable, which has totalitarian features.  Universal values that leaders wanted to apply to everyone, wanted to rule over everyone.  In response to the totalitarian imposition, people sought for liberty.  A search for power lead to liberty, individualism.  But liberty without an appropriate administration, without governance, lead to totalitarian regimes. 

 

Caveats?

This book uses nonfiction and fiction to explain the Western identity.  Uses history and mythology.  The interpretations have mixed qualities.  Misinterpreting certain information for a simplified narrative.  Creating an essence of other authors, and the West.  Various authors presented have more complex claims than a single underlying theme provided.  The same narrative of the West, can apply to other societies as well, as the same aspects exist throughout various societies.