A review by tombodenberg1702
The Empire and the Five Kings: America's Abdication and the Fate of the World by Bernard-Henri Lévy

4.0

Levy builds his theme on two pillars : the abdication of world leadership by the United States and the abandonment of the Kurdish people by the Syrians and Turks. His chief beliefs are the upholding of "Western values" dating back to classical Greece and the legitimacy of stateless peoples. Europe and the United States are besieged by what he refers to as the five "kingdoms", citing Biblical antecedents. These kingdoms are Iran, Turkey (Erdogan), China, Russia, and Syria. While I agree with his central thesis (and admire his intellectual breadth) , I feel his close connection to the current Kurdish situation dominates his thinking , perhaps at the expense of missing on other possible aspects of decay in the post WWII, post 1989 political order. However, this should not deter the reader. While one is tempted to recall Saul Bellow's complaint of "Where is the Proust of the Zulus?" while reading some of Levy's arguments, he does make a strong case for the Western ideals of freedom, governance, and leadership in today's uncertain world.