THE BLACK BOOK OF THE AMERICAN LEFT: THE COLLECTED CONSERVATIVE WRITINGS OF DAVID HOROWITZ, by David Horowitz

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

By Benjamin Montoya

 

Editor’s Note:  Today we offer another “Bonus Book Summary” to our readers with a culture-related book that has received wide acclaim for its analysis of the agenda of “the left.”

 

About the Author

David Horowitz is a noted conservative commentator and New York Times bestselling author. He is the founder and CEO of the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Los Angeles

 

Introduction  

Have you ever wondered what the American Left is up to and how they intend to advance their politics? Writing from the perspective of someone who used to be part of that group, David Horowitz reveals shocking pages from their black book as he has come to deal with them firsthand.

 

Table of Contents

Part I  Reflections from My Life

Chapter 1  Left Illusions
Chapter 2  Why I Am No Longer a Leftist
Chapter 3  Reality and Dream
Chapter 4  My Conservatism
Chapter 5  Black Murder Inc.
Chapter 6  Treason of the Heart
Chapter 7  Political Romance
Chapter 8  Reflections on the Road Taken and Not
Chapter 9  Letter to the Past
Chapter 10  Think Twice before You Bring War Home
Chapter 11  The End of Time
Chapter 12  Getting This Conservative Wrong
Chapter 13  What My Daughter Taught Me about Compassion
Chapter 14  Something We Did
Chapter 15  Who I Am
Chapter 16  Peter and Me

Part II  Reflections on the Left

Chapter 1  Goodbye to All That
Chapter 2  My Vietnam Lessons
Chapter 3  Semper Fidel
Chapter 4  A Decade Overrated and Unmourned
Chapter 5  Keepers of the Flame
Chapter 6  Carl Bernstein’s Communist Problem & Mine
Chapter 7  Political Cross-Dresser
Chapter 8  Still Lying after All These Years
Chapter 9  Repressed Memory Syndrome
Chapter 10  Fidel, Pinochet & Me
Chapter 11  Marginalizing Conservative Ideas
Chapter 12  Can There Be a Decent Left?
Chapter 13  The Left and the Constitution
Chapter 14  Neo-Communism I
Chapter 15  Neo-Communism II
Chapter 16  Neo-Communism III
Chapter 17  Discover the Networks
Chapter 18  Keeping an Eye on the Domestic Threat

Part III  Slander as Political Discourse

Chapter 1  Paul Berman’s Demented Lunacy
Chapter 2  In Defense of Matt Drudge
Chapter 3  Target of a Witch-Hunt
Chapter 4  The Serial Distortions of Sid Vicious
Chapter 5  The Surreal World of Progressive Left

Part IV  Two Talks on Autobiographical Themes

Chapter 1  Plus Ça Change: Fifty Years Gone by
Chapter 2  Reflections of a Diaspora Jew on Zionism, Israel and America

 

Summary

Part I: Reflections from My Life

Chapter 1: Left Illusions

The political left in America has been and currently is a movement that seeks to push America in the direction of socialism. That is no secret. They see their vision as one of progress. But what they continue to fail to account for is the problems that socialism has caused in other countries in the past and present. Socialism fails as a system for so many reasons. These reasons include “own: inefficiency, lack of economic incentives and, above all, the unrestricted role of the omnipotent bureaucracy, a concentration of power never known before in human history.” The government goes unchecked for many reasons in this system, not the least of which is that this system does not allow for a free press to keep the government accountable. Noam Chomsky, a linguist, has even pointed this out in his writings. The left in America needs to own up to the illusions tied to their perspective.

 

Chapter 2: Why I Am No Longer a Leftist

One of the main reasons why the author of this book abandoned the left is because he finally began to notice the evil that this side has done. It had been there all along, but he had previously chosen to focus on the good. What finally caught his attention is when a woman was murdered by the Black Panther Party, he met the woman’s daughter, she denied any involvement on their part, but this author knew better. That experience was enough to remove the veil from his eyes to see why he could no longer be a leftist.

 

Chapter 3: Reality and Dream

Many people in the past thought that they would see their life dreams fulfilled in a socialist system. They thought the societal injustices faced in non-socialistic countries would vanish in a socialistic country. The real sobering question is this: does that happen? No—absolutely not. What happens in a socialist country is that the socialist economy consumes itself and, thus, does not work. It turns into suffering and tyranny wherever it is found. Socialism ends up crushing people’s dreams in life—never fulfilling its promises because it is incapable.

 

Chapter 4: My Conservatism

This author’s conservatism is based on a view of politics that is similar to those of the founders of this country. That is really what marks the conservative movement altogether. The left, however, looks to the future and believes that “fixing” the social injustices by removing freedoms is the answer that people can make happen themselves. It is a religion in itself. The conservative side is not that. In fact, and surprising to many people, the current conservative position is the same as what used to be known as the classic liberal position of. . .

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