From Plato to NATO: The Idea of the West and Its Opponents

Gress' book is intensively researched and well formulated. It somewhat overstates the case "against" Greece as an ancestor of the modern West, but this really amounts to the author being very vigorous in deconstructing the "Grand Narrative" (the post-WWI narrative concocted by mostly American scholars and public intellectuals that celebrated Greece as the cradle of Western "democratic" civilization). I would suggest, as someone who was an undergrad in the 1970s, that the "Grand Narrative" no longer needs quite so much deconstructing. It was much criticized in the 1970s, and I don't think it's taught at all today. The 19th century German penchant for locating the source of all political enlightenment in Ancient Greece is just no longer a problem for us. Moreover, any modern Westerner surveying the history and literature of the ancient world will find his political sympathies lying with that of Greece, and specifically and definitely NOT with that of China, India, Persia, or Egypt. Gress' thesis that the modern West arose from a synthesis of Roman, Christian, and Germanic philosophies and practices is useful in highlighting the undoubted contributions of those influences. Certainly the American ideas of individual liberty and self-government did not spring unmediated from Ancient Greece. But there is a reason why a modern American can read Thucydides' account of the political bickering in ancient Athens and see himself -- and why he doesn't have a like sensation when encountering ancient texts from other parts of the world. Athenian Greece, alone among ancient civilizations, had an idea of citizenship and self-government that has survived into the modern era -- modified over time with ideas on individual worth and equality before law, as well as limited government and checks and balances, that came from Rome, Christianity, and the Germans of late antiquity and the Middle Ages. If Gress were to write this book again, in later life, I think he might tone down his argument AGAINST Western ideas having Greek origins, and rather emphasize that although some key Western ideas were indeed found in Ancient Greece, others derived from separate or more recent sources. Considered in this way, his contribution in identifying the other sources, and their importance in creating all of what the West is today, is outstanding.

David Gress certainly does have a habit of burying into the some of the overlooked or uncomfortable aspects of our history and dragging his findings out into the sunlight, evidenced by this substantial work as well as his regular articles for the Danish newspaper Politiken. He is also, above all, a true academic (I use that term in its most positive connotation), who has little time for pretentious pseudo-intellectuals who clutter libraries with their scribblings and demean the currency of academia. His work is careful and penetrating, while frequently revealing the subtle humour and flourishes of someone who clearly enjoys practicing his art. In this book, he examines the heretofore seemingly settled question of the "real" West, arguing that our involvement in two world wars forced us to see the history of the West through lenses significantly biased against recognizing the myriad Germanic influences which so profoundly affected Western culture. [Those interested in the topic of German influences on the US public school curriculum may wish to read "The Underground History of American Education" by award-winning author John Taylor Gatto (New York City Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1990 and 1991).]Particularly interesting to me was his effort to provide the reader not only with an overview of history but also a view to how history is portrayed and debated in the current day. Allan Bloom's philosophical handwringing in The Closing of the American Mind and Francis Fukuyama's famous and fabulously absurd End of History essay are placed into a perspective which is familiar yet unique and thought-provoking. Gress provides exceptionally well-reasoned and well-crafted arguments to support his positions. He does an exceedingly good job of anticipating attacks, pre-emptively establishing and reinforcing his defenses against potential detractors.While the author's writing style always is logical, frank and uncontrived, one gets the feeling there is much in David Gress' thinking that he does not reveal. Nevertheless, unlike some other "historians" with thinly-veiled agendas, in Gress' case it probably stems more from the scope of the subject matter and constraints of writing a single book, contrasted against the obvious ease with which he moves through the centuries and millenia, addressing vast areas of history and historical themes with ease, enthusiasm and obvious affection. Clearly, in many areas there is much he would like to say, but does not.This comprehensive, enjoyable and valuable work - a trip to the candystore for the history buff - clearly required substantial time and effort to compile, and the author is to be commended for his substantial devotion and contribution to advancing our understanding of the Western heritage, and perhaps also implying suggestions for the path forward.

~From Plato To Nato : The Idea Of The West And Its Opponents~ tackles a most complex and ambigious subject, the Idea of the West. Danish author David Gress offers a sweeping overview and defense of the both the "Western Idea and a "Western Identity." The West has been under attack for last century by universalism, multiculturalism, nihilism, relativism and cultural Marxism. In the 1960s, the cultural Marxism of Gramsci's "long march," which seeks to take over Western institutions and transform their Western character into something altogether different, began to make an aggressive march forward. The West is beseiged from within. Gress chronicles the Idea of the West and its opponents in this remarkable intellectual and philosophical history. Though, the West is not really one big idea, but a culmination of ideas in flux. As Richard Weaver said, "ideas have consequences." What have been the consequences of these grand ideas in light of history? That is the focus of Gress' thesis. Gress' chapter on Germanic Freedom and the Old Western Synthesis breaks with the New Liberal interpretation, which sees "an imaginary direct line connecting the modern West to the ancient Greeks... in which everything in between formed an orderly sequence culminating in liberal modernity. This version descended from the romantic and nineteenth-century cult of Greece and misunderstood both the Greeks and the West. It creating an idealized vision of Greece seen through the lens of a West defined as the heir of that idealized Greece." Historians like Will Durant play a role in shaping this myth. The intervening history is sometimes treated as the dark ages, an aberration or a period of disenlightenment. Two World Wars with Germany as the aggressor helped reinforce this progressive myth of Hellenic enlightenment. Gress challenges this absurd school of historical interpretation and shows how the West is a unique culmination of Roman, Christian and Germanic culture. Thus, modern Western concepts to freedom are very much indebted to Germanic influence more so than classical Greek influence. Two Germanic tribes, namely the Angles and Saxons, brought the Germanic culture and its concepts of freedom to the front. One lingering question emerges about the idea of the West? Is it merely an abstract proposition of human liberty or community? Is there something more substantive that defines the West like the interplay of its vibrant cultures with Christianity? Gress offers an astute analysis of the cultural crisis beseiging the West. First, in the twentieth-century, the West was overwhelmed with totalitarian threats, which Gress covers in the chapter entitled 'The Totalitarian Trap.' Secondly, the West is under attack for elitism and exclusivism by post-modernism, nihilism and relativism. Thirdly, in the aftermath of that crisis, a new secular universalism has emerged which seeks to supplant the West and create an altogether new civilization. The final chapters 'Battle in the Heartla

I read this book over a year ago and I am still telling people about it. I have not read very much non-fiction for leisure, and I really felt that my background in history was lacking. And even though I had to crack out the dictionary a few times to get some of the bigger words, this was one of best books I have ever read and in some ways changed the way I look at things. The best thing about the book is that it is a hybrid of philosophy and history. Recognizing almost all of the names of the key thinkers that he talks about in the book, I really did not know how they related to each other until reading the book. Reading a history not of a country or people but of an idea was just a really interesting concept. And even as a completely ignorant person as it pertains to the study of history, I found the concept really exciting. The almost by proxy education in history and philosophy I received was the tremedous bonus, as it opened me up to a whole new world of intellectual curiosity. I felt the strength of the book was in the analysis of the past and the motivations and rationale behind the decisions made by the cultures and leaders of western civilizations through history. The best chapter is "The Totalitarian Trap" where David Gress pulls us through the seductive mistakes that were made by the originators of the communist and fascist regimes. You can almost follow their rationale, and it serves as a good warning to us today. The last chapter of the book in all honesty is a weak conjecture of the future of western thought in the world. It falls away from the strength of the rest of the book, which is using the historical perspective. Other than this the book is a terrific read and will give you a new-found or greater respect for the authors of the American constitution and of the philosophers through time that affected them.

Gress's 'Plato to Nato' is an amazing text. Espically exciting is his wonderful commentary on the Cold War and the nature of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the West. Once you start this text it is impossible to put down, or look at the world quite the same way again.