Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

Rating:
Summary: A goldmine of first rate ideas, memorable quotes
Review: If you have not read any of the books by Thomas Szasz, you have missed out on one of the most influential and widely quoted writers of the past 50 years. An Internet search of his name brings up thousands of pages that bear his quotations.

This is remarkable since Dr. Szasz is not a get-rich promoter, a self-help hustler, or any other brand of panderer. Though he will never appear on "Celebrities Uncensored," he obviously touches many people with his mix of witty and profound observations on the condition of life and liberty. As an American who emigrated from Hungary, his view of the culture is especially sharp. Perhaps, like Tocqueville, it takes someone with Szasz's fresh vision to capture the essence that most of us miss.

And capture it he does superbly in this richly interesting and readily accessible dictionary of quotes. Many of the quotes zero in on what Szasz anticipated decades ago, the rise of what he named the "therapeutic state." He is the Paul Revere who warned us that we were trading our freedom and responsibility for the illusion of safety under the tutelage of physicians, especially psychiatrists.

The growth of medical power may have exceeded his wildest dreams, as each day brings new and tighter controls in the name of mental and corporal health. So much of what Americans formerly viewed as good or evil has now been transformed into well or sick. Among the first to see this coming, Szasz has been wrestling to keep the stethoscopic noose from tightening around our necks. He has steadfastly fought the transformation of morality into medicine, law into therapy, and autonomy into "pharmacracy." This book is the many parts of Szasz's insights woven into a stylish sum.

"Words to the Wise" is, at once, a testimony to Szasz's perspicacity and a status report on Western culture. He is burdened with none of the baggage of Left or Right, having much more in common with Jefferson and Madison than William Bennett or Michael Moore. Despite his unrelenting civility, Szasz frequently applies his rapier keyboard to sacred cows. It is unlikely that he is fearless, so it is all the more impressive that he so courageously and publicly identifies naked emperors.

Take this:
"Americans are the world's most successful manufacturers of trade names, such as Coca Cola, Marlboro, and Prozac. They are also the world's most avid consumers of social and political quackery, from Prohibition and Affirmative Action, to the War on Drugs."

And this:
"In the United States, the most important social function of the war on drugs is to convert a potentially violent race war into a presumably therapeutic war on drugs. It accomplishes this goal, in part, by providing bread and circuses for uneducated, unemployed, and unwanted urban youths."

Szasz's writing is not the timid, predictable stuff of editorial pages. It is tough, penetrating, and elegant. Szasz is the best quote-maker since Mencken. And, as much as I appreciate Mencken, Szasz has the advantage of being a more careful, and often more thoughtful writer. But, as two firebrand libertarians and gifted authors, they nicely complement each other and belong on the same bookshelf.

"Words to the Wise" contains hundreds of original, often funny, always brilliant observations you will not soon forget.