The Dragons of Expectation: Reality and Delusion in the Course of History

by RobertConquest (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $6.53

  In The Dragons of Expectations , Robert Conquest returns to damn the terrible delusions and pernicious optimism that have caused so much bloodshed in the last century. His is a landmark defence of civilisation that illuminates the political degradations and intellectual fetishes of our current era. Conquest has devoted a lifetime to exposing the political and mental distortions that spawn and appease tyranny, leading all too often to death and destruction. Whether discussing the political thinking of ancient Greece, the corrosive effect of ideological socialism, or the inanities of the European Union, Conquest assesses the ravages of our past, the absurdities of our present, and the pitfalls that lie in our future. In and analysis that ranges from the failures of the Enlightenment to the nature of Democracy, Stalinism and Liberalism, Conquest masterfully shows how false nostrums have affected academe, politicians and the public, and how our weakness for ideological certainty has caught us in a ruinous cycle of totalitarianism and war. Conquest remains an astute and keenly critical observer of contemporary culture and politics. Devoting more than half of the Dragons of Expectation to an assessment of the world situation at the beginning of the 21st century, Conquest explores a possible future for Britain and the Unites States and the likely fate of civilisation itself.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2005

  $3.27

  THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION is an urgent call for society to examine the 'brain-blindfolds' that have consistently stifled debate and prevented painful self-examination. It is a landmark defence of civilisation that illuminates the political degradations and intellectual fetishisms of our current world. From the author of The Great Terror and The Harvest of Sorrow comes this long-awaited work of history and philosophy. Aware of the 'primitive delusions' that have attracted people to rogue ideologies over the past century, Robert Conquest, with a deep and consistently compassionate gaze, has devoted a lifetime to exposing the political and mental distortions that have spawned or appeased implacable regimes and led, all too often, to death and destruction. Here, in THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION, whether discussing the political thinking of ancient Greece, the corrosive effect of ideological socialism, or the inanities of the European Union, Conquest assesses the ravages of our past, the absurdities of our present, and the pitfalls that lie in our future. Whether discussing the failures of the Enlightenment or the nature of Democracy, Stalinism, and Liberalism, Conquest masterfully examines how false nostrums have affected academe, politicians and the public, showing how their reliance on 'isms' and the destructive concepts of 'People, Nation, and Masses' have resulted in a ruinous cycle of totalitarianism and war. Conquest remains an astute and keenly critical observer of contemporary culture and politics. Devoting more than half of THE DRAGONS OF EXPECTATION to an assessment of the world situation at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Conquest ponders the future of the human race and the future, in fact, of civilisation.