Civilization and Its Enemies

He begins by proposing that all of the new wave historians proposing an end to history, based on an end of the need for war are either sadly mistaken or at least premature in their analysis. His premise is that the rise of civilized and tolerant people ultimately rewards the ruthlessness of other groups. We can see this play out throughout history in the way the Greeks allowed the Macedonians to run roughshod over them; how the Romans, softened by civilization eventually succumbed to Barbarian invasion, and even the way 1930s Europe allowed the Nazis and the Communists to aggrandize to the point of over-reaching.

It seems "civilized" society becomes so fond of the idea of tolerance, which works so well with other cultures not violently opposed to them, that they believe they can even befriend those who are determined to be their enemy. Unfortunately, the "enemy" always sees this tolerance as weakness and attempts to exploit it. This is why the policy of appeasement was such a disaster for Great Britain under Chamberlain in the late 1930s.

Our enemies are not opposed to us for rational reasons that can be assuaged by logic or bribery.

To understand why this is the case, Lee Harris delves deep to make an anthropologic/philosophic study of individual and group behavior associated with our current situation. He hypothesizes that there are two tendencies undergirding society. One is the family and the other is the "boy's gang". He sees both good and evil emanating from both forces. Too much emphasis on the family creates nepotism and a patriarch centered organization that can be too rigid to adapt to circumstances. Its exclusiveness does not allow it to take full advantage of all its available human resources. Meanwhile the "boy's gang" is ephemeral, violent, callous and destructive.

Lee Harris sees the first real institutionalizing of the "boys gang" in the ancient city state of Sparta. When we view this force as manifested in Spartan history we see its power unleashed. The small city states of Greece were able to fend off the seemingly irresistible power of Xerxes' Persian forces in the 4th century B.C. and were ultimately able to spread their culture and ideas across the Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern worlds.

So, what does all of this have to do with us? We are one of the inheritors of this "boy's gang" phenomena. It is tempered in the extreme by civilizing influences. But we are also faced by other gangs, and these gangs can be ruthless. Their ruthlessness makes them successful because of our civilized tolerance. Lee Harris makes the point that we too are capable of exhibiting the ruthlessness necessary to deal with these gangs of thugs out to destroy us. For western gang society, as it has come down to us from the Romans and filtered through Christianity and Anglo-American Capitalism, has devised a system that allows us to retain our civilized behavior within, while projecting the necessary power without.

In fact it is our civilized manifestation of the gang that makes America the only nation on Earth capable of dealing with the deadly gangs ruthlessly, relentlessly and inevitably (inevitable because their behavior is rewarded by our tolerance) rising up to challenge us. We are one of the few nations capable of destroying evil regimes and evil groups (such as Al-Qaeda) without ourselves succumbing to the temptation to aggrandizement manifested in military operations conducted on a grand scale.

Harris is undoubtedly correct in his analysis. The U.S. has had experience in destroying ruthless gangs in the past and liberating whole peoples and asking pretty much nothing in return. The entire history of the 20th century can certainly be viewed in this light. The First World War (the first war to put an end to history - "the war to end all wars") we entered to stabilize Europe and the world. World War Two was perhaps the most necessary war civilization ever undertook. The Cold War and now the War on Terror are two more struggles to defend civilization.

"Civilization and Its Enemies" reveals Lee Harris to be a consummate historian and philosopher. His work is written in a colloquial style that clearly and entertainingly expresses important ideas. These ideas go far deeper than the brief outline put forth in this review. Lee Harris has presented the most devastating counter-argument yet against the "end-of-history" thesis. For good or ill we will always be faced with the struggle between good and evil, tolerance and ruthlessness. Ed Harris' book is essential to understanding the nature of this struggle.