[bookshare-discuss] just submitted
- From: "duane iverson" <diverson@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2007 17:31:58 -0500
America Alone by Mark Steyn.
I filled out all the form but the b ook would not go up.
I started again and the book went, but I fear without my Synopsis or my notes
to the validator. So I will send my short synopsis, my long synopsis, and my
comments to the validator. I would apreciate it if someone could either post
this on the volenteer list or makes sure it gets on the sight somehow.
I appologise for the trouble.
In any case here goes.
Short Synopsis.
To see off the new Dark Ages will be tough and demanding. The alternative will
be worse.
Long Synopsis.
It's the end of the world!! Head for the hills!!!
No, wait. Don't head for the hills--they're full of Islamist terrorist camps.
Let me put it in a slightly bigger nutshell: much of what we loosely call the
Western world will not survive the twenty-first century, and much of it will
effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most European
countries. There'll probably still be a geographical area on the map marked as
Italy or the Netherlands--probably--just as in Istanbul there's still a
building known as Hagia Sophia, or St. Sophia's Cathedral. But it's not a
cathedral; it's merely a designation for a piece of real estate. Likewise,
Italy and the Netherlands will merely be designations for real estate.
That's just for starters. And, unlike the ecochondriacs' obsession with rising
sea levels, this isn't something that might possibly conceivably hypothetically
threaten the Maldive Islands circa the year 2500; the process is already well
advanced as we speak. With respect to Francis Fukuyama, it's not the end of
history; it's the end of the world as we know it. Whether we like what replaces
it depends on whether America can summon the will to shape at least part of the
emerging world. If not, then it's also the end of the American moment, and the
dawn of the new Dark Ages. much went on during the last third of the twentieth
century. between 1970 and 2000: in that period, the developed world declined
from just under 30 percent of the global population to just over 20 percent,
and the Muslim nations increased from about 15 percent to 20 percent.
The geopolitical scene is never stable; it's always dynamic. If the Western
world decides in 2005 that it can "contain" President Sy Kottik of Wackistan
indefinitely, that doesn't mean the relationship between the two parties is set
in aspic. Wackistan has a higher birth rate than the West, so after forty years
of "stability" there are a lot more Wackistanis and a lot fewer Frenchmen. And
Wackistan has immense oil reserves, and President Kottik has used the wealth of
those oil reserves to fund radical schools and mosques in hitherto moderate
parts of the Muslim world. And large numbers of Wackis anis have emigrated to
the European Union, obliging opportunist politicians in marginal constituencies
to pitch for their vote. And cheap air travel and the Internet and bank
machines that take every card on the planet and the freelancing of nuclear
technology mean that Wackistan's problems are no longer confined to Wackistan;
for a few hundred bucks, they can be outside the Empire State Building within
eight or nine hours.
"Stability" is a surface illusion, like a frozen river; underneath, the
currents are moving, and to the casual observer the ice looks equally "stable"
whether there's a foot of it or just two inches. To see off the new Dark Ages
will be tough and demanding. The alternative will be worse.
Notes to the validator.
I red this entire book making corrections as necessary and calling sighted help
when I wasn't sure of something.. However Mr. Steyn has a quite interesting
style of writing. For example he refers to the President of Iran as President
Ahmadinejad, President Ahmaddamatree, and President Ahmageddonouttahere and
this is just on the bottom of page 174 and the top of page 175. There were one
or two places where I corrected misprints in the book. One of the chapter
titles is THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE EUPOCALYPSE. However on one page the word
EUPOCALYPSE was totally misspelled. I corrected that. However in another place
or too I couldn't be sure what the correct word should be or even if this isn't
exactly what the auther intended. For example on page 90 the sentence The Left
talked up sappy Benettonad one-worldism, while the pan-Islamists got on with
their own particular strain of one-worldism-strong, unyielding, and slipping
across borders with ease." is the word Benettonad a misprint or what should be
there. not knowing I left it alone. The book has 257 pages and 84017 words
according to Kurzweil. I have the Kurzweil file if you require it. You can
contact me on the bookshare list or at diverson@xxxxxxxxxxx Duane Iverson
September 8, 2007.
Sincerely Yours:
Duane Iverson
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