Book Reviews

A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK THE POLITICS OF POWER by John Chamberlain T he Greeks had a word for it: "Nothing in excess." Centuries later, Edmund Burke used the word prudence. He believed in a conciliatory approach to Britain's rela tions with America on the one hand and Ireland on the other. Thus it could be seen that Russell Kirk has had good literary forebears for his book, The Politics ofPower (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Bryn Mawr, Pa., 304 pp., $19.95 cloth; $8.95 paperback) . Kirk has a genuine passion for order: He has orderly listings of ten conservative principles, ten conservative events, and ten conservative books. It would have offended his sense of order to have had to settle for nine or eleven books, or six or twelve events. Kirk is against the Behemoth State in any form whatever. It forces centralization in decision-making. Variety disappears. As a disciple of the Swiss-German economist Wilhelm Roepke, Kirk is an enemy of the "cult of the colossaL" Roepke says we must find our way back to the humane scale in both economics and politics.

A Michigander, Russell Kirk is well ac quainted with the gigantism of the automo bile industry. Henry Ford thought that his Model T would restore the humane scale. It would allow a worker to go to work in the morning and return home to raise soybeans or whatever in the afternoon. But the Model T failed in its·mission. The great set piece of Kirk's book turns out to be what happened in Detroit, Kirk's hometown before he moved to Piety Hill in a rural area. He grew up near the railroad tracks leading out of Detroit. All his life he has had to go in and out of the automobile city. The decline of the automobile business had its reflex: the city, struggling with job lessness, became a mugging center with murders common every corner. Only the foolhardy dared to go out. Kirk has a scunner on the word "ideolo gy." To become an ideologue is to him, equivalent to making a pact with the devil.

It may be admitted that ideology is not a pretty word. But most people use it loosely, as an object of search. To have settled with a philosophy, putting ideas together in a bundle does not mean that one can never change one's mind. Luckily, Kirk is a prime storyteller. He recreates the atmosphere of Tennessee agrarianism with a beautiful character por trait of Donald Davidson, who refused to go through New York City on his way to his summer home in Vermont. His picture of Detroit in decay is hereby recommended to Jack Kemp, the man who wants to bring business to the inner city. One can forget the semantics of Kirk's approach while delightingin his storytelling power. So read him for this and the searing section on Detroit's collapse. Don't worry about the book's title. D 40 Green Delusions: An Environmentalist Critique of Radical Environmentalism by Martin Lewis Duke University Press, Durham, N.C .• 1992 • 288 pages. $24.95 Reviewed by Doug Bandow G eorge Bush wanted to be.the environ mental president, but even his heavy handed regulatory policies did not satisfy the environmental lobby. Now we have the environmental vice president, for whom conservation seems to be a religious duty, and a bevy of left-wing Clinton appointees, for whom cost appears to be no object. The result is likely to be a concerted attack not only on business, but on the entire market system.

Indeed, what makes future prospects so frightening is the fact that an important segment of the environmental movement is fundamentally antagonistic to modern soci ety. These eco-radicals, as Martin Lewis, a professor at George Washington Univer sity, calls them, "concur in one central proposition: that human society, as it is now constituted, is utterly unsustainable and must be reconstructed according to an en tirely different socioeconomic logic." Lewis, a mainstream environmentalist, doesn't much like "anti-environmentalists" like Julian Simon and Dixy Lee Ray, who "present a comforting vision to those who shudder at the thought of the sacrifices that will be necessary to ensure the ecological health of the planet." But he also recognizes the existence of "a much less visible ideo logical threat at work as well, one that masquerades under the mantle of environ mentalism itself." Thus, Lewis devotes Green Delusions to explaining and debunk ing several important strains of radical en vironmentalism.

There are, for instance, the Deep Ecolo gists. The "moderates" merely want to radically downsize human activity; the true radicals, whom Lewis calls "primitivists," are characterized by "blatant misanthropy and glorification of violence." A bit more BOOKS 41 positive towards humanity are quasi-classi cal leftists-the eco-anarchists and eco Marxists. They differfrom traditional Marx ists in believing that economic growth cannot continue forever even under Com munism, but still focus more on economic than environmental issues. Then there are the eco-feminists, many of whom, writes Lewis, "are actively reviving the goddess centered cults that they believe once al lowed humans to live in harmony with nature." Despite the presence of Marxists, many members of this odd amalgam are neither left nor right, but instead are simple authoritarians who are notjust unconcerned about human freedom, but actively oppose it.

Lewis ably dissects the logical fallacies behind all of these philosophies. The radical position that primal peoples exemplified the proper harmony with nature, Lewis writes, is "so exaggerated as to verge on intellectual fraud." Moreover, he argues, small can be ugly as well as beautiful. Even more impor tant, he recognizes the virtues of free choice. For instance, although he doesn't care for urban living, he acknowledges that "there is nothing intrinsically wrong with such a personal decision." Similarly, Lewis is no technophobe, pointing out that scientific advances can help better protect the environment. Nor does he see population growth in the Third World as an unmitigated disaster. And he dismisses environmentalist tirades against capitalism by pointing to the environmental devastation in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. "As is now abundantly clear, Marxism's record is dismal on almost every score, be it economic, social, or environmental. These failures cannot be dismissed as errant quirks; Marxian regimes have come to power in numerous countries, and everywhere the results have been dis heartening. ' , For all of the strength of Lewis' analysis, he remains committed to an activist state to combat what he believes to be very serious environmental problems. What he wants is "guided capitalism," where "a new alliance of moderates from both the left and the 42 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1994 right" press for "the environmental reforms necessary to ensure planetary survival. " Of course, government's past guidance has seldom proved to be fiscally or environmen tally sound.

Still, Green Delusions offers an important call for ecological sanity. And Lewis, com ing from the moderate left, has more cred ibility than, say, Julian Simon in debunking the nostrums of the eco-radicals. Given the threat to liberty posed by the current admin istration and the more extreme environmen talists, people likeLewis could end up proving to be important allies of those who believe in individual liberty and fiscal responsibility as well as environmental protection. 0 Doug Bandow, a contributing editor of The Freeman and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Insti tute, is the editor of Protecting the Environment: A Free Market Strategy (Heritage Foundation). On Liberty, Society, and Politics: The Essential Essays of William Graham Sumner edited by Robert C. Bannister Liberty Fund, Indianapolis, Ind.• 1992 424 + xiii pages •.$30.00 cloth $7.50 paperback Reviewed by John Attarian F ew thinkers suffer more at the hands of leftist statists than William Graham Sumner, routinely depicted as a heartless Social Darwinist and a reactionary bigot opposing social reform. Now that the activ ist government his critics craved has bogged in deficits and failures, Sumner deserves reconsideration.

This collection of 33 of Sumner's essays, some previously unpublished, facilitates that reappraisal, handily drawing together such important pieces as "The Forgotten Man," "Republican Government," "TheAr gument Against Protective Taxes," "Liber ty, " and "The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over." Unbiased reading of Sumner dispels the left's caricature. In "The Forgotten Man" he does not oppose helping the unfortunate. What he does oppose is glossing over the fact that all aid comes at the expense of the "forgotten man" -the ordinary, thrifty, in dustrious, virtuous, law-abiding citizen. "Socialism" firmly defends private proper ty-but sharply distinguishes liberty married to responsibility, which Sumner vigorously upholds, from license, which he condemns. Some essays are especially timely. "Re publican Government" warns that in assum ing "a high state of intelligence,political sense, and public virtue" in the citizens, republican government demands too much of human nature. "The citizen must know how to obey before he can command, and the only man who is fit to help govern the com munity is the man who can govern himself."

Our "greatest danger," though, is from spe cial interests: They are organized and highly motivated, whilethe people are' 'ill-informed, unorganized, and more or less indifferent. There is no wonder that victory remains with the interests. Government by interests pro duces no statesmen, but only attorneys." Hence, he warns in "Democracy and Plutoc racy," government intervention against busi ness is unwise. Reformers will not wield government power forever; business willseek that power in self-defense, and resort to "all the vices of plutocracy," corrupting both business and government. All too true. Repeatedly, Sumner argues that capital accumulation makes civilization possible. What harms capital drags down civilization. Our· overregulation and tax-borrow-and spend dissipation of capital and their harm ful impact on our national life make Sumner again look far wiser than his critics.

"The Argument Against Protective Taxes" demolishes arguments for tariffs and ex poses the heart of protectionism-indeed, of all redistribution: A wants protection, that is, he wants B's money. B does not want to let him have it. A talks sentiment and metaphysics ... all there is in it is that he wants B's money. . . . He is then moved to scorn at B's sordid love of money.... For him to ·want D's money is patriotic. It is "developing our resources." It is noble. For B to want to keep the same money is mean. I insist upon the matter being stated in the most crass and vulgarway,just because that is allthere is of it when the humbug is all eliminated. Indeed one suspects that the real reasons for the left's animosity toward Sumner are his intolerance of humbug and sloppy think ing and his commonsensical, tough-minded insistence on hard truths: "There is no such thing on this earth as something for noth ing"; "advantages are won at the cost of limitations"; imaginations must submit to facts. For Sumner, "the social order is fixed by laws of nature"; attempts to evade them are doomed and harmful. The schemes of socialists and other reformers are actually revolts against a reality unmindful of their yearnings. "They say that political econ omy is a dismal science and that its doctrines are dark and cruel. I think the hardest fact in life is that two and two cannot make five."

Unfortunately, Sumner's realism is rooted in philosophical materialism: an eco nomic determinism as relentless as that of Marx and Engels. Drawing on Malthus, he argues that all social life derives from the ratio of population to land. A sparse popu lation makes for democracy, peace, and prosperity; a dense population breeds land hunger, war, inequality, and aristocracy. In his materialism he sometimes manifests contempt for ideas; doctrines are "Nothing but rhetoric and phantasms"; ideals are "phantasms" with "no basis in fact." And, having exploded the facile doctrine of inev itable progress, and lapsed from his early Christianity, the materialist Sumner has no where left to go except into pessimism; and the last, prophetic essays ooze gloom. But if Sumner misses the Christian hope that Parson Malthus held out in his much misunderstood theory of population, he has tremendous merits nonetheless. His hard headed realism is an all-too-rare antidote to the half-baked wishful thinking pervading liberal and socialist discourse. His unbend ing integrity makes him brave enough to denounce the wildly popular Spanish-AmerBOOKS 43 ican War ("The Conquest of the United States by Spain' ') and to uphold liberty against the tide of statism. This volume is an excellent introduction to a keen, vigorous, and courageous mind. Its valuable foreword, judicious selection of essays, and reasonable price make it ideal for reaching the large audience Sumner deserves. D lohnAttarian is a/reelance writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a Ph.D. in economics.

The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Michael Novak The Free Press. 334 pages. $24.95 Reviewed by Ronald Nash M ichael Novak's name is familiar to most readers of The Freeman. For both old friends and new acquaintances, this newly published collection of recent Novak essays is worth reading. Novak's title is an intentional play on the title of Max Weber's 1904 book, The Prot estant Ethic and the Spirit 0/ Capitalism. According to Weber, capitalism has impor tant religious foundations, derived in large part from what Weber believed to be essen tial characteristics of Calvinism or Protes tantism. Novak's version of capitalism is different from Weber's. Where Weber saw primarily individualism and calculation, N0 vak offers a vision marked by opportunity, cooperative effort, social initiative, creativ ity, and invention. Novak insists he is using the word "catholic" in two senses: (1) with a capital "C," where the word refers to Roman Catholic in opposition to Weber's "Protestant"; and (2) with a small "c,"

where the word refers to a broader definition of Christianity than Weber's. When Novak talks about a Catholic ethic (capital "C"), he has three distinct things in mind: (1) The Roman Catholic approach to social ethics to be found in the thought of Pope Leo XIII and Pope Pius XI. Novak covers this material in part one of his book, examining in the process the years between 44 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1994 1891, when Leon XIII issued his Rerum Novarum, to 1931. (2) The significant work of John Paul II from 1978 to the present, but with special emphasis on his 1991 encycli cal, Centesimus Annus, issued on the cen tennial of Rerum Novarum. Novak's expo sition and analysis of the 1991 encyclical constitutes part two of his book. (3) The third aspect to Novak's "Catholic Ethic," though he is too polite to say so, is his own considerable contributions to Roman Cath olic social thought, especially in the last ten to fifteen years. Part three of his book contains three chapters that show off some of Novak's reflections on such issues as poverty, ethnicity, race, and other social problems in contemporary American life.

Novak's book succeeds in spite of a possible problem that sinks many similar projects. Because most of the chapters are previously published essays, the trick is fitting them together in a way that produces a unifiedtheme. The careful reader willdetect a few cracks in the project; but to make something of this fact would be uncharitable quibbling. One final observation is in order: Novak's "catholic ethic" (small "c") con tains nothing that would exclude Protestant and Jewish defenders of capitalism. 0 Ronald Nash, a contributing editor ofThe Free man, is Professor of Philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando) and the author 0/25 books. The Market, Competition and Democracy: A Critique of Neo-Austrian Economics by Stavros Ioannides Edward Elgar Publishing Company, Aldershot, . Hants, England. 1992. xiii + 194 pages $59.95 Reviewed by Israel, M. Kirzner T houghtful Marxist economists have of ten, it appears, been fascinated by Aus trian economics. Some 70 years ago Nikolai Bukharin (the eminent Marxist economist, who had attended Bohm-Bawerk's famous Seminar, and who was later to be executed by Stalin) perceptively pronounced Aus trian economics (among all the schools of economic theory then on the stage) to be the principal intellectual enemy of Marxism. In the present volume we find a thoroughgoing exposition of modern Austrian economics together with a searching critique of it from the vantage point of "democratic social ism" (p. xi), reflecting the author's explicit acceptance of the Marxist perspective on the market system (see pp. 9-10). As such the volume will be of considerable interest to Austrian economists on several counts.

One source of interest will be that an obviously highly intelligent Marxist scholar has taken note of the developments in Aus trian economics during recent decades, and has judged them to be of sufficient impor tance to warrant a careful and lengthy anal ysis and critique. This reflects, one may surmise, the judgment that the Austrian criticisms of neoclassical orthodoxy and the newer articulations of the Austrian under standing of markets and market processes, offer fresh threats to the older socialist criticisms of the market. A second source of interest for Austrian economists will be the author's substantive exposition of modern Austrian economics (i.e., those late twentieth-century develop ments in the Austrian tradition which have sought to elucidate and elaborate the con tributions of Mises and Hayek-:-whose por traits appear on this book's dust-jacket.) Dr. Ioannides has carefully examined a wide (if not quite exhaustive) range of Austrian writings. He has provided a lucid and largely accurate account of Austrian positions on perhaps the entire span of economists' con cerns. Austrian economists would do well to read his exposition, not only for the clarity and sensitivity with which he so often ac curately lays out Austrian arguments, but also for an appreciation for those points in his exposition where he unaccountably ap pears to have gone astray.

A third-but admittedly bafflingand frus trating-source of interest for Austrian eco nomics consists in the Marxist-inspired critiques of the Austrian positions, with which loannides concludes each chapter. It is as if, two-thirds of the way through each chapter, the author suddenly donned Marxist spec tacles and henceforward sees only fog where, up until that moment, he had clearly seen and understood the Austrian concerns and insights. Certainly these Marxist inspired critiques, frustrating though they certainly must be for Austrians, offer valu able material for anyone desiring to identify the presumptions which permit the Marxist perspective to "see" economic facts and relationships so differently from the way those same facts and relationships appear to others. The brief review will not seek to cover all points upon which an Austrian must be inclined to pronounce loannides' exposi tions inaccurate and his critiques unfair (or, at any rate, incomprehensible to a non Marxist). We choose one example-but a centrally important example--of a puzzling interpretation of the Austrian position on one issue, and one example-again, a cen trally important one-of what seems an unfair critique by the author of the Austrian position on a second issue.

Throughout the volume the impression is conveyed that the Austrian critique of gov ernment interventionism rests primarily on an Austrian "conception of economic phe nomena as being fundamentally indetermi nate" (p. 7). Because of this "fundamental indeterminateness" assumption held by Austrians, the author maintains, an "ob server of economic phenomena can never predict the outcome of market processes and, consequently, the results of ... inter vention upon them" (p. 8). It is this conse quence of the Austrian view, we are given to understand, which undergirds Austrian condemnations of interventionism. Now, if loannides meant by "fundamental indeter minateness" merely the unpredictability of market outcomes, as a practical matter, an Austrian might accept this as indeed one element-but certainly not the only or even primary element-in the Austrian critique of government intervention. But loannides rather clearly seems to be attributing to BOOKS 45 Austrians not only the view that market phenomena are unpredictable, but also that these phenomena are inherently and intrin sically indeterminate. For loannides the term "fundamental indeterminateness" is used (p. 80) to describe the position of the late Professor Ludwig Lachmann in his denial of any overriding stabilizing forces in markets (due to the fundamental subjectiv ism of individual expectations which drive the decisions taken during the market pro cess). Since loannides recognizes (pp. 78 79) that Lachmann' s position is by no means the dominant position among modern Aus trians (since both Mises and Hayek emphat ically recognized powerful stabilizing ten dencies within markets), it is puzzling to read his assertions linking Austrian con cerns about intervention to their alleged commitment to the doctrine of "fundamen tal indeterminateness." Certainly Austrians could marshal arguments quite distinct from those advanced by neoclassical theorists, against government intervention, which ar guments do not rest on any "fundamental indeterminateness" premise-or even upon any de facto unpredictability of market out comes.

As our example of what appears an unfair criticism of Austrian economics, we take loannides' insistence that Austrian econom ics suffers from a serious weakness in that it cannot provide what loannides considers to be a truly "dynamic" economics. This is a theme which recurs in the critical portions of chapters throughout the book. It is a theme which underlies loannides' assertion (p. 174)-forming a central conclusion of his book-that Austrian theory must, because of its alleged "static" character, fail to perceive how the true dynamics of the market tend to produce predictable results (in regard to property ownership distribu tion) which are sharply at variance with the Austrian view of the market as a system free of coercion. It is this theme, in fact, which permits Ioannides to satisfy himself con cerning the "authoritarian" (!) "character of neo-Austrian theory." This bizarre conclusion is reached by emphasizing the role of capital in the dy46 THE FREEMAN • JANUARY 1994 namics of the market process: "the process which is of paramount importance for the understanding of social dynamics is the reproduction of capital, which in turn de termines the reproduction of society itself' (p. 172). The ultimate "failure" of Austrian economics for Ioannides rests, it is thus apparent, on his question-begging assump tion of the validity of a Marxist "objective"

dynamics of capital-using processes of mar ket production (i.e., a dynamics which ar bitrarily rejects Austrian insights concern ing the subjectivism of the decisions made by consumers in regard to the possibilities of saving and consumption). Only on the basis of this assumption is he able to identify as a weakness what he terms the "static" character of Austrian economics. Nowhere, except by assertion, does Dr. Ioannides establish the possibility of dynamic regular ities, in regard to the capital structure of the market system, that might operate regard less of the subjective time-preferences of market participants. These deeply disturbing aspects of Ioan nides' critique of Austrian economics cer tainly underscore the ideological motivation which drives the entire book. If, in spite (or, as suggested earlier, partly because) of this, the volume retains substantial interest for Austrian economists, this must be judged a tribute to the quality of those passages in each chapter in which Ioannides has en deavored honestly to set forth the central ideas of Austrian economicswithinits own rather than the Marxist-framework. D Dr. Kirzner is a professor of economics at New York University, New York City.

The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination by Daniel J. Boorstin Random House. 1992 • 811 pages. $30.00 Reviewed by Raymond J. Keating I n The Creators historian and former Li brarian of Congress Daniel J. Boorstin celebrates the individual's power of creation and imagination, literally across the span of human history. Boorstin' s fine writing and intriguing insights-devoid of any ideolog ical hyperbole-refresh the reader. Boorstin illustrates how the creative na ture of man often has had to overcome substantial obstacles, while being bolstered under alternative circumstances. For ex ample, theological teachings have long in fluenced views about and incentives for creativity. Boorstin observes about Bud dhisim: "If there was a creator, it was he who had created the need for the extinction of the self, the need to escape rebirth, the need to struggle toward Nirvana. The Lord of the Buddhists was the Master of Extinc tion. And no model for man the Creator. " In a chapter entitled "The Uncreated Koran,"

the author concludes, "For a believingMus lim, to create is a rash and dangerous act.' , Other beliefs nurtured man's creative na ture. Boorstin states: "Across the world, the urge to create needed no express reason and conquered all obstacles. Still the West, whose unusual hospitality to the new was rooted in many causes and many mysteries, found added incentives in the vision of a Creator-God and a creator man." Through out The Creators, Boorstin masterfully communicates the awe-inspiring creativity of man-in such realms as architecture, painting, sculpture, music, and, of course, the written word-whether reinforced or un dermined by theologicalor cultural beliefs. The author presents a wide variety of innovators and innovations. For example, in terms of architecture and building, Boorstin notes how the ancient Egyptians have sur vived through "their indestructible original works"-the pyramids. Meanwhile, the "Greeks survive through styles and mo tifs." Boorstin touches upon major archi tectural developments from these ancients to the "Gothic architecture of light" all the way up to the present day skyscraper.

In the world of music, Boorstin intro duces the reader to Gregorian chants, and from there moves forward to touch upon the great composers, including Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, Wagner, and Stravinsky. The chapters covering Verdi and Wagner are representative of much of the book. Not only are the respective con tributions of these great composers ex plored' but so are the personal lives, con trasts, and competition between these two contemporaries. To say that Boorstin explores innovations in the written word fails to do justice. Theologians, historians, philosophers, es sayists, biographers, novelists, poets Boorstin reflects upon numerous literary arenas and developments. Again, he deftly ties together the personal lives, philoso phies, and writings of great literary figures, such as Augustine, Dante, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Dickens, Whitman, Melville, and T. S. Eliot-naming but a few.

Seeking to write a history of heroes of the imagination is an epic undertaking. In· the end, what Daniel Boorstin has achieved is an epic history of man's ability to create and innovate in the arts. Whether they were exploring the world around them, the self within, or both, these individuals examined in The Creators somehow influenced the world through their work. Some did so immediately, such as Dickens as reflected by his great popularity in his time. Others posthumously, like Melville, whose Moby Dick "twentieth-century readers would pour their own frustrations and ambiguities, making it one of the most popular vehicles for the modern self." BOOKS 47 Still others influenced both their contem poraries and all posterity, with Shakespeare being among the most prominent. Boorstin notes what many in the so-called arts com munity today would deem a dichotomy: "For Shakespeare the claims of immortality were not pressing, it was more urgent to please contemporary London playgoers.

... Within his twenty-year London career he had produced the poems and plays that made him the idol of English literature. The English-speaking community in all future centuries would be united by familiarity with 'the Bible and Shakespeare.' " Interestingly, Boorstin's "Epilogue" touches upon the modern art of filmmak ing. He makes a fundamental point that Shakespeare understood, but still many modern-day artists do not: "[T]he public had become the patron and had to be pleased." There seem to be few historians today poised to meet the arduous criteria of both current "popularity" or respect, combined with the scholarship and writing abilities that withstand the tests of time. It is clear, however, that with such an auspicious effort as The Creators, in addition to a long list of previous triumphs, Daniel J. Boorstin shall prove to be more than just a temporal success. [] Mr. Keating is New York director ofCitizens for a Sound Economy.