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America Alone

Not what Europe wants to hear

Mark Steyn
Regnery Publishing, 256pp, £15.99,

Michael Gove

Wednesday, 10th January 2007

Some readers may flinch from the analysis, not because of its bleakness but at what they see as its lack of sophistication, or nuance. But Steyn is very good on the way in which European elites enjoin upon others the need to show understanding towards Islam while themselves betraying very little knowledge of it. There is a great deal of talk from governments about the need to support moderate Muslims without much official effort being extended to ensure that policy makes a proper distinction between those who are genuinely moderate and those who seek to exploit the credulity or ignorance of others.

As Steyn points out, a closer engagement with, for example, what is taught in Saudi school textbooks or preached in Saudi-funded mosques may not always incline a liberal observer to think better of a regime which is still widely portrayed as ‘friendly’ to the West.

Given how chasteningly provocative and bleakly witty Steyn can be, it would be too much to expect him also to provide us with detailed policies to help map a judicious route to a peaceful, multi-ethnic future. And when he does stray into policy detail he sometimes goes off-piste into debates about profligate government spending. But Steyn, like Melanie Phillips in her very different way, has done us all a service by ensuring that questions some would prefer to pass over are posed in a way it is impossible to ignore.

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Kevin White

January 28th, 2008 7:05pm

I think that Mark Steyn's book was brilliant. But I do not accept his point that demography is everything. A war is won with blood and treasure - men and money. So a homogenous country could go into demographic decline and still, if rich, defend its borders: the money - buying better weapons - compensating for the lack of men. Having said that, he is right that demography is everything in a civil war. Combatants in a civil war can steal the weapons. So, I say the West will live on in countries that do not have a large Muslim population that will outbreed them. One thing I would like to know is where he sourced the point that England's nineteenth century population surge was down to it conquering infant mortality. I thought it was more about people being richer, and marrying younger, and thus being more fertile. Buy the book. It's great. Because Steyn writes with clarity, brevity, and style. He's a very funny guy. Kevin