The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

55A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOKJOHN CHAMBERLAINThe Genius oftheWestWE, in the West, are supposed tohang our heads in shame thesedays. The bill of complaints broughtagainst us is long. We are "imperialists."We are "materialists."We have used the "Third World"as a quarrying ground for raw materialswithout giving adequatecompensation for what we havetaken. We indulge ourselves in raceprejudice. Weare enemies of freedom,and we oppose the revolutionof the masses. Our sons and daughters,listening to the vindictivechorus, begin to go over to the sideof our detractors. Susan Sontag, ayoung literary critic, even goes sofar as to say that the white race(meaning the nations of the West)is the cancer of humanity.The whole bill of alleged particularsis, of course, the sheerestmoonshine. So it is good to comeupon Louis Rougier's The Gen.iusof the West (Nash, $8.50), with itsdiscerning introduction by F. A.Hayek. As one in a series of publicationsissued by the Principles ofFreedom Committee this bookturns to the historic record of threemillennia to prove that Westerncivilization, alone among twentytwodistinctive civilizations recognizedby Arnold Toynbee, has managedto avoid the quagmires of fatalism.It is the only civilizationthat has been moved by a beliefthat man can improve his conditionby understanding and masteringthe forces of nature. And, far from"oppressing" the "Third World"and the "colored races" by its "imperialistic"urges, it is the Westthat has brought the hope of progressto many a land that now joinsin thoughtless excoriation of thevery spirit that has created all thethings that are now claimed as auniversal birthright.