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10 Books that Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn't Help

This book delves into the content and influence of various books, analyzing how some have had detrimental effects on society and culture, while others have not. more

Author

Benjamin Wiker
Benjamin Wiker

Benjamin Wiker is an active scholar whose specific professional category is not yet clear. Born in 1960, he has had several decades of academic research experience. more

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“«Vedi, in ogni Stato si possono incontrare persone che sono ciecamente fanatiche dell’idea dell’ordine sociale. Devote a questa idea, sono pronte a tutto pur di affermarla. Anche al crimine, giacché sono convinte che il fine giustifichi i mezzi e muti il significato dei concetti. Loro non assassinano, loro salvano l’ordine. Loro non torturano, non ricattano: loro proteggono la ragion di Stato e combattono per l’ordine. La vita di un individuo, qualora l’individuo infranga il dogma dell’ordine stabilito, per queste persone non significa nulla, non vale un soldo. Queste persone non si rendono conto che la società che servono è costituita appunto d’individui. Hanno il cosiddetto sguardo ad ampio raggio... e avere uno sguardo del genere è il modo più sicuro per non vedere gli altri.»”

SocietàStatoCriminaliIndividui
Book:The Tower of the Swallow
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“All sciences have their mysteries and at certain points the apparently most obvious theory will be found in contradiction with experience. Politics, for example, offers several proofs of this truth. In theory, is anything more absurd than hereditary monarchy? We judge it by experience, but if government had never been heard of and we had to choose one, whoever would deliberate between hereditary and elective monarchy would be taken for a fool. Yet we know by experience that the first is, all things considered, the best that can be imagined, while the second is the worst. What arguments could not be amassed to establish that sovereignty comes from the people? However they all amount to nothing. Sovereignty is always taken, never given, and a second more profound theory subsequently discovers why this must be so. Who would not say the best political constitution is that which has been debated and drafted by statesmen perfectly acquainted with the national character, and who have foreseen every circumstance? Nevertheless nothing is more false. The best constituted people is the one that has the fewest written constitutional laws, and every written constitution is WORTHLESS.”

ExperienceSovereigntyMonarchyConstitutions
Book:St Petersburg Dialogues: Or Conversations on the Temporal Government of Providence
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“Hey, non dispera! There is a way out. Come to beautiful Oasis. No crime, no madness, no bad stuff of any kind, a brand new home, home on the range, no or antelope but hey, accentuate the positive, there never is a discouraging word, nobody rapes you or tries to reminisce about Paris in the springtime, no sense sniffing that old vomit, right? Cut the strings, blank the slate, let go of Auschwitz and the Alamo and the ... the fucking Egyptians for God’s sake, who needs it, who cares, focus on tomorrow. Onward and upward. Come to beautiful Oasis.”

ParadiseAuschwitzOasisAlamo
Book:The Book of Strange New Things
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“Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, which affected the Anglo-American settlers' quest for wealth in building plantations worked by enslaved Africans. They lobbied the Mexican government for a reversal of the ban and gained only a one-year extension to settle their affairs and free their bonded workers - the government refused to legalize slavery. The settlers decided to secede from Mexico, initiating the famous and mythologized 1836 Battle of the Alamo, where the mercenaries James Bowie and Davy Crockett and slave owner William Travis were killed.”

SlaveryMexicoAlamoWhite History
Book:An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
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