The State of the Union: Essays in Social Criticism

Albert J. Nock (c.1870-1945)was one of the few Americans who expressed intelligent, honest opinions and had the courage to do so when many were too timid or apprehensively conventional to write anything intelligent. Nock was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His family lived in New York State and then in Michigan. Nock was mostly self educated and was encouraged to learn Greek and Latin, study the Classics, and learn advanced mathematics. Nock was convinced this was all he needed to know to make intelligent discourse. Nock began his career as an Anglican clergyman in Titusville, Pennsylvania which is approxomately 20 miles from where this reviewer resided when a teenager. As an aside, if anyone suggested that students seriously study the Classics today, the "Education Experts" would try to have that person shot. The collection of essays in this anthology consist of essays re religion, the State, War, and teaching/learning. These essays should make thoughtful men and women think about ultimate questions and provide good reasons for solitude to read the Great Books and to think for themselves. As mentioned above, Nock was an Anglican pastor. He viewed religion in the U.S. in a state of decline. Nock viewed religion as something uplifting and condusive to humane life and compasssion. Nock well argued that religion in American at the turn of the 20th. century and during/after World War I as vicious, dismal, hypocritical, and depressing. Nock contrasted religion in the U.S. with Rabelais'(1494-1553) PANTAGRUEL. Rabelais's work was full of humor, parady, and fun. Readers should note that Rabelais was a Catholic monk. Nock was concerned that U.S. Puritanism led to nativism, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and mean spiritedness. Nock cited examples of religious do-gooders having men arrested because they were at their place of business on Sunday. Nock excoriated clergy for their inability to mind their own damned business. Nock could have cited H.L. Mencken's quotes re the Puritan spirit. One quote was, "Show me a Puritan, and I will show you an SOB." Another of Mencken's quotes was, "A Puritan is someone who goes to be at night and worries that someone somewhere is happy." Mencken's last quote is priceless when he wrote, "John Calvin was the father of Puritanism which is to say the worst obscenity ever hoisted on Western Civilization." One of the essays in this book summarizes Nock's concern about religion. The essay was titled "Isaiah's Job." Nock noted that Isaiah was commanded to severely critisize the people of Israel. Isaiah was told that all of his criticism would mostly fall on deaf years. Isaish condemned the elite for their greediness, cruelty, concern over religious forms without any sense of conviction, etc. Isaiah was also told that that the dull, mean spirited masses would not heed his warnings, but Isaiah's job was to appeal to the Remnant who would survive future catasrophies to help rebuild a better society. Isaiah was not very popular,

Albert Jay Nock was perhaps one of the only three truly enduring bellettrists 20th century American letters yielded up. He deployed a truly lyric and insinuating prose style of uncommon grace and oddly puckish wit, and it served to unfurl one of the rarest of American minds - a shamelessly recalcitrant individualist whose intellectual evolution never obstructed or abrogated the core of the man: that the individual deserved his long-stolen propers; that the lowest common denominator should be tolerated but not consecrated or canonised; and, above all, that the State was an organism worthy of that which its crimes ever deserves: the fear and loathing of any and every man and woman who cares a whack about his or her fellows. To read him is a singular joy. And you will find no more sensible or beautifully-balanced introduction to the man and his singularity of writing than in this volume which Mr. Hamilton has composed with uncommon brilliance.

This is a wonderful collection of some of Nock's finest essays. It offers a great insight into one of the most brilliant (and overlooked) minds of the 20th century. He is a very gifted writer and a truly dedicated lover of liberty. If you enjoyed "Our Enemy The State" you will surely cherish this book.