Review: "The Right Side of History"

            I enjoy listening to Ben Shapiro – even when I don’t wholly buy what he is saying.

When he announced his latest book:  The Right Side of History:  How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great, I knew I had to read it.

Shapiro argues that the foundation of the existence of the United States is Judeo-Christian ethics and Greek reason – American happiness is founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and Greek reason. And, in order to be happy, we need four things: “individual moral purpose, individual capacity to pursue that purpose, communal moral purpose, and communal capacity to pursue that purpose” (9).

In the ensuing chapters, Shapiro makes the case that the United States is based in and could only come from Judeo-Christian ethic and Greek philosophy.  From Moses on Sinai to the present day, Shapiro draws a compelling parallel to his thesis.  And the shows that failures to achieve the goal of happiness – such as the Holocaust – are due to straying from these foundations and the individual and communal purpose and capacity.  He diagnoses the current state of America as “a return to paganism” (183ff).

The book ends with a call to rebuild.  The way to do this is to understand that “your life has purpose,” “you can do it” – achieve your purpose, recognize that “your civilization is unique,” (215) and that “we are all brothers and sisters” (216).

Shapiro writes, “It is our job to carry on the tradition.  It is our job to push the task forward.

“If we do, then we will be truly deserving of God’s blessing, and fit to proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.  We will choose life, so that we and our children may life” (218).

Shapiro presents a compelling case for learning and retaining our founding principles.  It is a sobering book, yet a hopeful one.

I do have some questions about some of his comments about the Reformation (I am a Calvinist), nevertheless, I recommend this book to any concerned about the United States.

            [This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]