Suicide of the West by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

Burnham, a former Trotskyist who became a founding editor of National Review, defined liberalism as the ideology that supplies the rationalizations for Western civilization's retreat. He listed its notes: faith in progress, rationalism, the perfectibility of man, the belief that all problems can be solved by education and reform, pacifism, and an emphasis on equality and freedom for all.

When this outlook is applied abroad, he said, it prompts the West to concede territory and power to hostile or anti-Western forces and to feel guilt in doing so. At home it softens society's capacity to defend itself, to punish crime and to maintain standards. He described a liberal as one who feels guilt on behalf of the West and therefore cannot defend it.

The book is clear, combative and cool in tone, and was written when decolonization and the Cold War were hot.

Why it matters

Whether or not the diagnosis holds, the book is an influential source for the argument that moral confidence is a precondition of security. Readers will note that its themes recur in later works on Europe, immigration and national identity.

About the author

James Burnham (1905-1987) was a philosophy professor at New York University who was active in the Trotskyist movement in the 1930s, then broke with it and wrote The Managerial Revolution, which George Orwell discussed. He became a founding senior editor of National Review in 1955 and wrote its column on foreign policy for two decades.

Who should read it

Readers of Cold War thought and critics of progressive ideology who want a trenchant, readable polemic.