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Type of bind: Kindle Edition
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.09821
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Regnery
Manufacturer: Regnery
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 260
Printing Date: May 06, 2008
Publishing house: Regnery
Release Date: May 19, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 3629
Studio: Regnery
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You've heard of the 'Great Books'? These are their evil opposites. From Machiavelli's The Prince to Karl Marx's The 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. Witty, shocking, and instructive, 10 Books That Screwed Up the World offers a quick education in the worst ideas in human history-and how we can avoid them in the future.
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Rated by buyers 
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I'm a devout Christian in a traditional Evangelical church.
The very first question to ask is, "Why should anyone read this book?" I see absolutely no constructive purpose in making commentary about these influential books of history in this condescending manner. This book is no different than Richard Dawkins writing a book about atheism to an audience that is already decidedly atheist. It is precisely books like this that widen the divide between believers and non-believers. It is a "pep-rally" book, and nothing more. If you don't like Darwin, just don't read him. If you're worried about Darwin's effects on the world, or if you think you know better than those who read his work, then your're sinning by worrying about it, exhibiting pride, and not believing that God is in control. Save the money for your offering trays!
Rated by buyers -
It is interesting that my thoughts throughout the reading of this book echoed the words written by the other low-raters. I would hope that this book is never used as an intellectually honest appraisal of the books cited in this commentary. I would add, as others have, that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of philosophers and political thinkers who have written and espoused contrarian or revolutionary concepts that have influenced world civilizations. Mao's "Little Red Book" comes easily to mind. Espousing right-wing Christian orthodoxy is a legitimate activity for any person of Dr. Wiker's background. Couching this orthodoxy in an attempted intellectual trashing of a short list of books, some which I would not consider worthy of the time spent(i.e. Feminine Mystique, Coming of Age in Samoa and the Kinsey Report)leads me to put this book on the shelf with my collection of books about books and hope it slowly recedes from memory.
Rated by buyers 
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This book is a must read for any of us who wonders how we got to this place we are in. It is easily readable and very insightful. I have bought 5 copies to give to friends.
pat wier
Rated by buyers -
Actually, it's also good because it's entertaining--witty, in fact--while tackling some of the horrifying theories that have been embraced by our intellectual elite.
Anyone who's ever had to endure hours of hectoring by professors on the subject of these books will be deeply thrilled to hear the other side. Yes, even today, innocent students are given "Coming of Age in Samoa" even though Mead has long been exposed as a fabulist. Her stories about Samoa had more to do with wanting to promote promiscuity than it ever did with the actual lives of Samoans.
And Marx! Great heavens, no matter how stupid the idea there is an intellectual out there idiotic enough to swallow it, hook and sinker. Marx's "Manifesto" has produced, as Wiker notes, "corpses--perhaps upwards of 100,000,000" and has clearly "failed so miserably"(p 57) that is certainly is mysterious that there are still professors who seem not to have noticed. Pol Pot and his minions killed almost every human over the age of consent in their brutal regime. Priests and nuns, innocent peasants and children were hauled off to the gulag to be starved or beaten to death in the cheerful socialist paradise of the USSR. In Spain, the communists dragged nuns out of convents, shot or raped them, and crucified priests.
But bad ideas are hardly confined to only the last, unlamented, bloody century. Who can forget Rousseau, one of the greatest pests in history? Rousseau, who didn't lived to see the thousands dragged off to be beheaded, but who whined on about how "society is not just unnatural; it's actually bad" (p 47) and wanted everyone to get back to primitive nature. Funny how he ignored the priest who returned from America with his fingers bitten off and eaten by the charming native, natural Indians the priest had tried to convert. And too bad about Rousseau's children, tossed off at orphanages to die of starvation because he couldn't be bothered by them.
This is one fierce, brilliant book. Go get it.
Rated by buyers -
This is an exceptional book for a concise, intelligent, reality based analysis of the history of the West since Machiavelli. His methodology is neither Anti-Intellectual nor Dogmatic in its interpretation. Having read most of the Works of the majority of Authors analyzed except the perverse deviant Kinsey, it is clearly apparent to me that Doctor Benjamin Wiker has captured the vital core of their philosophies and desires. This incisive understanding relieves him of the need to elaborate further to capture their inherent depravity and immorality. The Left worships many of these writers but steadfastly refuse to assume responsibility for the horrendous outcomes when the ideas found in them are implemented as public policy. Those who refuse this patrimony are here commenting on the book's facile nature and use Doctor Wiker's Christian faith and worldview with approbation as if the disreputable collection of evil, murderous, lying Atheist psychopaths inspiring and inspired by these works are beyond reproach and unimpeachable .
That is the problem with the truth is usually very simple to understand and extremely difficult to embrace. I can only recommend this book with the highest acclamation as a worthy addition to your library and to clarify the nature of the entrenched evil confronting Western Christian Civilization.
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