Introduction
About a week ago, one of my readers suggested I read something by Dinesh D’Souza. When I got home, looked at my bookshelf, and realized that I have a copy of America: Imagine A World Without Her, I knew I had to read it.
If you take that reader’s advice too, you won’t be disappointed. America: Imagine A World Without Her is an easy to read, interesting book that covers almost every facet of American history and shows why Americans were usually the good guys.
Additionally, D’Souza has a powerful command of his sources, which range from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations to Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. In using such sources when discussing American history and America’s legacy, D’Souza is able to show how the modern left is destroying America and its culture. So, in that respect, it’s similar to Why Liberalism Failed and Who Are We? Challenges to America’s National Identity.
But, by no means is it simply a restatement of either of those books. In my opinion, it’s a fresh and completely new take on why America is and always has been the good guy.
Summary of America: Imagine A World Without Her
As I mentioned in the introduction, D’Souza covers most of America’s history in America: Imagine A World Without Her. From Columbus to the modern-day, D’Souza gives his take on what happened.
However, he doesn’t begin with Columbus. He begins with the far-left. D’Souza shows who the left’s cultural masters are: Saul Alinsky, who wrote Rules for Radicals, Bill Ayers, a domestic terrorist, and Ward Churchill, who thinks that America is the true “evil empire.” Men like those are destroying America by eroding our confidence in our “rightness.” D’Souza is the only one with the courage to say that.
Then, after describing the evil, far-left radicals, D’Souza begins his discussion of American history. Chapter by chapter, he breaks down myths about America being evil.
For example, did Americans steal land from the Indians? If you ask one of those far-left professors and students, they will undoubtedly tell you yes. D’Souza, on the other hand, says no. The Indians didn’t use their land, they migrated around it. We won it from them by force of arms just as all land in history has been carved into countries.
Another example is slavery and reparations. Slavery was evil, everyone recognizes that. But, should whites in the modern-day, whether their ancestors fought for Ulysses Grant, Robert E Lee, or neither side in the War Between the States have to pay reparations to current blacks to atone for that evil?
No. Obviously not. The entire concept is absurd. In fact, as D’Souza points out, the real debt is owed to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought and died in that war, almost all of whom were white.
Finally, D’Souza discusses American capitalism and America in the world today. First, he points out how no true capitalist ever “stole” anything from anybody. Instead, they added value to the world and part of that added value becomes their fortune (that topic is explained further in Free Market Revolution if you’re interested in it). In pointing that out, D’Souza destroys the myth that capitalists exploit society. Far from it, in fact. Actually, in his view, capitalism is a virtuous system that is based on consent.
And, by allowing the great capitalists to become so rich, it adds an incentive system based on how much value you add. That race to add value and become rich is how capitalism helps the poor; it’s a rising tide that lifts all boats. And, of course, it shows why wage inequality isn’t a problem and debates about it are ridiculous.
That ties into America’s foreign policy because, in D’Souza’s words, the essence of America’s foreign policy is “1. Don’t bomb us and 2. Trade freely with us.” At first, I was a bit skeptical of that. But then, I saw that other than our wars with Iraq, which you can read about in The Great War for Civilization or Hunting in the Shadows, that statement is generally true.
Trump is in a trade war with China because they wouldn’t trade freely with us. We invaded Afghanistan because the Taliban helped Al Qaeda with 9/11. And, throughout our history, we’ve never been a colonial power.
Rather, we’ve normally helped build-up countries we’ve invaded. The first section to Douglas MacArthur’s Reminiscences shows how we even maintained a close relationship with the Philippines, our pseudo-colony from the Spanish-American War.
America has remained one of the good guys for all of its history. But, we’ve allowed liberal professors, who are ruining universities, to convince us otherwise. Reading America: Imagine A World Without Her will help you remember why we’re the good guys.
Analysis of America: Imagine A World Without Her
I thought that America: Imagine A World Without Her was a terrific book. D’Souza’s interpretations of American history, the rise of the far-left during the Vietnam War, and why capitalism is good for all were spot-on.
Additionally, it was interesting to read about D’Souza’s view of India, his home country. What he said conflicted quite a bit with what I read in The Billionaire Raj. His view was far more negative. So, I found that fascinating.
Additionally, I was impressed by D’Souza’s command of conservative, libertarian, and liberal sources. In America: Imagine A World Without Her, you’ll find passages from books as diverse as The Wealth of Nations to Rules for Radicals to Atlas Shrugged. Those various, diverse sources help give credence to D’Souza’s argument. Also, Breitbart mentions Rules for Radicals frequently in Righteous Indignation, so it was interesting to see another, similar perspective on it.
Finally, I loved America: Imagine A World Without Her because it is a wholehearted defense of America. In our petty squabbles with our friends on the left about everything from Medicare for All to Trump’s tax cuts, it can be easy to forget that we live in the greatest nation ever. No other nation has consistently stood for the same good causes, championed freedom everywhere, and added so much wealth to the world. It’s important to remember that. Reading America: Imagine A World Without Her will help you remember that salient fact.
American has always been the good guy in foreign affairs. Whenever we fight, whether that’s against the Vietcong and NVA in South Vietnam or the Nazi SS and their Wehrmacht colleagues in Western Europe, we’ve done so for good causes.
Similarly, our political and economic policy is singularly responsible for the level of prosperity now experienced in the world. Without our dedication to free and fair trade, rule of law, republican and democratic governance, and individual liberty, the world as we know it would not exist. It would instead still be a mercantilist hellscape ruled by inbred kings.
That’s the point of America: Imagine A World Without Her. Without America, the world would be miserable. With it, everyone is better off. Don’t let the un-American Democrats or anti-American foreigners convince you otherwise. Instead, read America: Imagine A World Without Her.
Conclusion
America: Imagine A World Without Her ends on a dark note. The surveillance state, which I wrote about yesterday in my post on rule by brute force, has allowed the government to gather “dirt” on just about every citizen. D’Souza shows how they’re using that to target conservatives. The Mueller Investigation and the actions of James Comey are probably just the beginning. They’re coming for us all.
So, in conclusion, America is a great nation and D’Souza points that out excellently in America: Imagine A World Without Her. But, the decadence that the far-left triumphs is tearing us down and ruining our nation. We need to spend more time on innovating and advancing economically, and less time worrying about taxpayer-funded gender transition surgery. In other words, America needs to spend time on what is moral and beneficial, not on meaningless culture wars about a tiny percentage of society.
By: Gen Z Conservative
This book is also a movie, which you can get here:
