Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations

Western Self-Contempt gets to the heart of perhaps the most salient cultural and political phenomenon among Western elites in the last half century.

The American Mind

Western Self-Contempt is a seminal study that will have a special appeal to students of European political philosophy and cultural anthropology. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Western Self-Contempt is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college, and university library Political Theory & Philosophy collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

The Midwest Book Review

Beckeld dares to write what intelligent Americans think.

Chronicles Magazine

Western Self-Contempt is an encouraging book. Its historical overview of each civilization's rise and fall and its chapters on relativism, positivism, and cyclical and progressive theory have philosophical depth. Interspersed throughout the argument are pithy aphorisms about the contemporary political scene that are a delightful bonus and inspiring alternative to the dismal orthodoxies of the present day.

National Association of Scholars

Western Self-Contempt discusses big picture ideas that often get lost in the abundance of detail one discovers when embarking on a study of the modern cultural revolution. Philosopher Benedict Beckeld examines a curious pattern seen throughout history where prosperous states, at the height of their success, become overwhelmed with self-contempt rooted in a belief that the prosperity and material abundance they enjoy, is merely a result of historical injustice.

Woke Watch Canada

By tracing the idea of intellectuals' self-contempt back to the beginning of Western civilisation, Beckeld shows how the phenomenon recurs cyclically: from ancient Greece and the Roman Empire to early modern France and England, up to today's United States in its role as world hegemon. Beckeld's analysis of oikophobia - and tragic view of history - enables a new foundation on which we can formulate what the intellectual's responsibility is.

The Critic Magazine

Western Self-Contempt is extremely important and timely, has amazing historical detail, and demonstrates an astonishing knowledge of the history of civilizations.

Peter Boghossian