The "suicide of the West" is a puzzle to both friend and foe. In this short but, creative volume, Thomas Molnar sees the collapse of our civilization as rooted in a failure of authority to assert itself. Due to an assortment of leftist critiques over recent centuries the sources of authority in the West are now handcuffed. The proper wielding of authority is seen as non-democratic and against the freedoms of pluralism and egalitarian society. Molnar shows what authority, in essence, is and how it could possibly be restored in our culture. In the end, though, he remains far from optimistic about our future if devoid, as it is at present, of authority.

As Thomas Molnar tells us, humanism -- a man-centered ideology -- is dominant in the West. It is Molnar's aim in this modest size book to analyze the phenomenon and also show its influence on the Roman Catholic Church. In so doing, Molnar provides an enjoyable overview of Western thought spending a good deal of time on authors that many of us might not have the time to study. Yet these thinkers have had great influence on history: from Joachim of Fiore, Cusanas and Meister Eckhart in the past to more recent names such as Moltman and Teilhard de Chardin.

Molnar is quite interesting in his discussion of how Christianity has surrendered to secularism. The discussion of the influence of Maritain is quite valuable as well. This is a very informative book.

The continental European Right is Molnar's basic subject in this significant book. He presents the political and social ideas of those who rejected, throughout the past two hundren years, the assumptions of democracy, secularization, pluralism, "rights", capitalism and other modernist dogmas. For Americans this is a most important work since they are never exposed to this sort of analysis. The author remains essentially dispassionate in his presentation but it is fairly clear that his sympathies are with those he describes. Must reading for those interested in significant alternatives to current poltical "norms".

Read this concise, clearly written introduction to philosophy *before* and *after* you read individidual philosophers. Molnar's style was a welcome relief to me after slogging through tomes on postmodernism. With precision and acute historical insight, he exposes the postmodernists, New Agers, and utilitarians. This is not a polemic, though Molnar does through argument demonstrate how the loss of religion (specifically Christian) has damaged society. You may not agree with his suggested antidote to the superstition and nihilism prevalent in our society, but this summary of the major movements in philosophy that have led to our current state is valuable in itself. I borrowed this from the library, after a couple pages wished I had bought my own copy to annotate, but couldn't wait to get my own copy to read. I'm going to buy my own copy to keep on my shelf for ready reference. I would recommend this book to anyone teaching philosophy or literary theory (*please* assign this before you assign Derrida or Foucault!). Same goes for those who want to aquaint themselves with the basic ideas of philosophy. (This *is* a serious work of philosophy, not an *Idiot's Guide*; Molnar is one of the great scholars who is able to cut through the jargon others hide behind to present an intelligent analysis.)

Utopia, the Perennial Heresy is a very original and thorough criticism of a common human tendency: attempting to create a perfect world. The hypothesis of the book is that the overwhelming self-confidence of the utopian visionary and his/her belief in creating a perfect world is by its essence at odds with the Christian (Augustinian) understanding of human nature (in particularly the idea of a personal God and that of original sin). Based on this hypothesis TM argues that societies built upon utopian ideals (Christian and non-Christian alike) inevitably lead to exclusion or isolation of those members of society who dare to question and think independently, the favouring of mediocrity over natural talent, and the disappearance of privacy. On an official level the accompanying result is the growth of bureaucracy. The criticism is aimed not only at the most obvious examples (mainly Marxism) but also at some of the symptoms exhibited by present-day Western societies such as political correctness, the dominance of ideological bias in the arts, media, and academia.

Even if one is not willing to go along with the hypothesis of the work, it has to be acknowledged that TM definitely places what he has to say on solid foundations. Not only is a wealth of ideas and their historical contexts presented in this book (which alone makes it of great educational value) the critical examinations from such an original point of view turn each analysis into real food for thought.