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indianajane's review
5.0
This book is all dog-eared with bits that I want to share with people. I want everyone to read it.
kokod's review
DNF
“Abortion is a dagger twisted into the heart of a woman” (122).
“Esther is gentle but not to be moved from what is right, industrious but not exhausting to be near, soft-spoken but not mousy, delighted by the quirks of other people, saddened by their faults, trying always to interpret things for the best, yet not naive, not easily fooled. She is an astute judge of character. She is exactly what any good man would want in a wife” (123). YIKES
“Abortion is a dagger twisted into the heart of a woman” (122).
“Esther is gentle but not to be moved from what is right, industrious but not exhausting to be near, soft-spoken but not mousy, delighted by the quirks of other people, saddened by their faults, trying always to interpret things for the best, yet not naive, not easily fooled. She is an astute judge of character. She is exactly what any good man would want in a wife” (123). YIKES
josiahdegraaf's review
3.0
Forasmuch as the subtitle of this book is "rebuilding American culture," a good 50% of the book is more about critiquing current American culture than setting out how to build up an ideal one. In fact, this book isn't really about how to practically rebuild American culture as much as it's saying "here are the problems with current American culture" and "here is where American culture used to be/should still be." His thoughts were good, but they weren't quite what I came to this book hoping to find. After all, it's easier to critique current culture or romanticize the past (which I felt he did here quite a bit) than to suggest practical means to actually reforming a decaying culture.
Many of my other thoughts about Esolen as a writer also apply here. He frames things well and I appreciate his point-of-view, but he is pretty assertive and at times abrasive for his positions, making him rather unpersuasive if you don't already accept his premises. At times, the book felt more like an opinion piece than an argument. It's a very well-written opinion piece. But I was hoping to find more argumentation here, and there was some of that, but not as much as I wanted.
Overall, I'm glad I read the book as it gave me some good things to think about, but think Esolen would be a more persuasive and influential writer if he were better able to get into the mindset of his critics and speak to them where they're actually at.
Rating: 3-3.5 Stars (Fairly Good).
Many of my other thoughts about Esolen as a writer also apply here. He frames things well and I appreciate his point-of-view, but he is pretty assertive and at times abrasive for his positions, making him rather unpersuasive if you don't already accept his premises. At times, the book felt more like an opinion piece than an argument. It's a very well-written opinion piece. But I was hoping to find more argumentation here, and there was some of that, but not as much as I wanted.
Overall, I'm glad I read the book as it gave me some good things to think about, but think Esolen would be a more persuasive and influential writer if he were better able to get into the mindset of his critics and speak to them where they're actually at.
Rating: 3-3.5 Stars (Fairly Good).
claybird's review
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Filled me with hope for my children's future. We will win.
deletednullfakeuser's review
3.0
I agree with most of what he says, just nothing particularly insightful or surprising. If you want more examples/info to get a better understanding of where things are at give it a read but don't expect more then that. In terms of actual action is where it falls shortest, he talks about it very little and the little he does is mostly brief remarks about beauty or avoiding the power of the state (he spoke most about this).
There is essentially nothing on recognizing and avoiding the influence of the social engineering forces he makes brief mention to, and because of that weakness it is unable to seriously articulate a response. For people looking for that The Sexual State is a brief and more palatable work you might find worthwhile, but for a serious deep dive E. Michael Jones is the only one I know who takes the problem seriously. Libido Dominandi would be the recommendation for starting out with his work. In order to improve things reading poetry, slightly annoying bureaucrats, or bringing back the Latin mass won't fix anything, just at best slow the decline (They were doing all that when things got this bad in the first place). You have to be able to identify what/who's causing the issue to respond adequately. See whose books have been banned from amazon if you want a clue to who actually poses a threat.
There is essentially nothing on recognizing and avoiding the influence of the social engineering forces he makes brief mention to, and because of that weakness it is unable to seriously articulate a response. For people looking for that The Sexual State is a brief and more palatable work you might find worthwhile, but for a serious deep dive E. Michael Jones is the only one I know who takes the problem seriously. Libido Dominandi would be the recommendation for starting out with his work. In order to improve things reading poetry, slightly annoying bureaucrats, or bringing back the Latin mass won't fix anything, just at best slow the decline (They were doing all that when things got this bad in the first place). You have to be able to identify what/who's causing the issue to respond adequately. See whose books have been banned from amazon if you want a clue to who actually poses a threat.
suvata's review
3.0
A little too conservative Christian for my liking but the book raised some very good points. Well written and thought provoking.
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