The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great

I liked this book a lot. I am very into spirituality; Zen, Yoga and all the scriptures that free the mind of the self image. Philosophy I feel is another animal and it is much more complex and often intimidating and confusing....BUT, I think there is a purpose to study it which is not about pride or trying to become a morally superior intellectual who dominates others for sport. As a poet, I would like to uncover dozens of these thinkers and find out how liberated their minds were and how afflicted they were and be able to convey this info with satire, music and simple conversation. Ben reveals that some of these thinkers helped to liberate the minds of many or at least challenged the status quo. Some of them made things much worse and influenced tyrants. I feel the key to helping people dissolve their conditioning and their group think parasites which prevent them from using critical thinking with the potential for insight and revelation could be finding the connections between all these psychologists, professors and philosophers along with the religious leaders and retaining an understanding that can be imparted without a long and dry diatribe; I intend to spice it up with pop culture and use hip hop as a vessel to spark the interest of others who might be seduced into being a slave to entertainment and believing the main stream....worshiping celebrities on pedestals. This book has shown me that it is worth years of study to be able to tell this epic of the dream of the human story as we atone and realize the simple truth of NOW as we peel back layers of attachment to our narratives. I want to find where religion, philosophy and spirituality meet with history and then let the spirit do its thing with whatever medium it happens to find most enthusiastic; hip hop music video..., book...ect. Like a rapper Prodigy made an epic album called the Hegelian Dialectic which is one of my fav., I too want to help people see how this dream of suffering and release from suffering came about and the lies and misunderstandings that are pervasive in our western culture which were created to keep us in bondage. So ultimately, this book has shown me it is worth the time to be able, like Ben, to offer to the world the importance of this evolution of thinking in history and how wars, the economy, genre's of music and our reality manifested and how to transcend judgement and uncover our inherent wisdom...how to strip away our allegiance to the government or to pagan hipster green nazi..ism. I highly recommend it.

Ben Shapiro. You love him or you hate him. So liberals beware. This is a short book by historical/philosophical standards. Shapiro summarizes the influence of Greek and Judeo/ Christian thought on the West and as the basis for the foundation of democracy not only in the West but on the Founding Father's and the United States. And of course, progressives will likely find that appalling. Shapiro argues that Greek and Judeo/Christian thought and values are responsible for the birth of science, ended slavery, promoted human/equal rights, has lifted billions out of poverty, and has given dignity to humans (including children) as no other philosophical thought has done. Shapiro also argues that all of that is in danger of disappearing because we are abandoning those values and principles that shaped the West and are retreating into tribalism (us and them/left and right/conservatives and liberals), hedonism (our feel good philosophy) and moral subjectivity (True for you but not for me) where anything goes all under an authoritarian government that controls nearly all aspects of our lives (including what we are allowed to believe?) Shapiro argues that we have come to believe that under moral subjectivity we can solve our problems (history had shown us we can't and that moral subjectivity only deepens the pit and widens the gap). Without an objective morality we lose sight of our moral purpose. In spite of all this, Shapiro does end on a happy note and makes his claim as to how we can recover the greatness that is the West. The Right Side of History is a brief book and not one that is easy to read without some knowledge of Western Civilization (which may be a call to put Western Civilization back into the high school curriculum). Shaprio uses copious references to support his themes. He isn't just an angry Jew with an ax to grind, but presents cogent arguments for his stance. He never argues that the West is perfect but it shines brighter than all others, and without an objective moral standard and an objective moral purpose we will cease taking steps to perfection and retreat once again into paganism.

I have listened to Ben's radio show for a while now, and when I heard about his book coming out I wanted to see what it was about. What I found was a well-written, accessible, eloquently argued defense of the moral and philosophical underpinnings of modern Western civilization. Ben's thesis--the four "things" needed to spur our civilization to the greatest the world has ever known--is remarkably insightful, for how simple it sounds on the surface. He spends the vast majority of this book defining what he means by each term and how they came from our ancient forebears; some of the text is devoted, of course, to modern philosophies, and how they do away with at least one of those four pillars and thus bring us tottering closer and closer to collapse. The weakest part of the book, I think, is the conclusion--the "So what do we do about it?" section. Of course, in fairness, Ben has hinted at suggestions to this throughout the book, and it *is* difficult to suggest concrete courses of action to combat philosophical and moral problems in exacting detail, at least when the problems are at a civilizational scale. Overall, this book is an excellent read and a passionate defense from a very, very smart guy who really did his homework.

I want to read everything not this Author for his intellectual honestly, he is very polite and he fought for his arguments, I respect that

Forget what you may know about Ben Shapiro’s public persona. This is a well-argued book about the fundamental values and heritage that make western civilisation great. He talks about how both classical Roman and Greek thought influenced logic, upon which Judaism and Christianity added meaning. When you understand the world through the lens of our need for both individual and communal purpose and meaning, your outlook on the world - and ability to appreciate and defend what we have - grows.

Ben Shapiro ist für alle die ihn - nicht kennen – einer der rhetorisch begabtesten konservativen Kommentatoren der USA und mit Mitte 30 auch einer der jüngeren. Shapiro der seiner selbst Identifikation nach orthodoxem Juden ist (im deutschen Sprachraum würde man ihn wohl eher als gläubig oder praktizierend bezeichnen, das Wort orthodox weckt hier wohl bei den meisten andere Assoziationen) argumentiert immer von einem Standpunkt der seine Religiosität mit konservativ/freiheitsorientierten Werten verbindet. So auch in diesem Werk: Er sieht zwei Gründungsort des modernen Westens Jerusalem (für die jüdisch-christliche Tradition) und Athen (fü die rational logische Tradition) und untersucht wie von diesen aus „der Westen“ wie wir ihn heute kennen sich entwickelte. In „The right Side of History“ stellt er im Eilmarsch die wichtigsten Denker und Entwicklungen dieser beiden Tradition von ca 3500 vor Christus bis heute vor und argumentiert wo von Shapiros Standpunkt aus Fehler in der heutigen Rezeption und im Umgang mit diesen Werten und Ideen gemacht wurden. Man muss dabei beachten, dass Shapiro ein (intelligenter) politischer Kommentator ist und kein Philosoph oder Forscher. In seiner Darstellung geht es um Verständlichkeit und Lesbarkeit und die Darlegung seiner Sicht auf die Welt, nicht um akribische Offenlegung von Wurzeln und das Verfolgen von Gedankensträngen im Detail. Er bleibt daher meist eher an der Oberfläche, doch seine Ausführungen laden dazu ein sich mit den genannten Denken und Philosophen sowie Gedanken und Ideen näher zu befassen. Aus Sicht des Rezensenten mach dies das Buch zwar auf der einen Seite nicht unbedingt zum tiefschürfensten Werk zu dieser Thematik, aber gleichzeitig den Text extrem gut lesbar und auch für „Einsteiger“ geeignet. Shapiros Werk könnte man durchaus als Einladung zur Disputation sehen oder wohl eher noch zur Auseinandersetzung mit einer konservativ religiös fundierten Sicht auf die Welt wie sie größere Teile der Bevölkerung der USA durchaus noch pflegen. Aus dieser Perspektive mag das Werk auch für Menschen, die mit Shapiros Meinung und Standpunkt nicht übereinstimmen von Interesse sein. Der eine oder andere wird sich aber ohne Zweifel mit der Idee der USA als „der besten und entwickelten Gesellschaft die jemals existierte“, der Vorstellung „City on the hill“ Ausfluss des Gedankens des amerikanischen Exzeptionalismus sicher etwas schwerer anfreunden, da uns diese Art von Denken eher fremd geworden ist.

I liked the clear language, nothing too difficult to comprehend writing style, the historical timeline really put 'meat on the bones' of my social, economic and religious ideology. The author has given gave me fact filled, based knowledge for understanding our society ( I am Canadian, but also follow and am informed by the American news.)

Shapiro makes a compelling case with lucidity and facts to show how Reason and Moral purpose (the Judaeo-Christian Worldview) made the west great.