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Summary: Excellent book!
Review: I wished all Americans read this book. Many Americans have turned their backs on the wonderful founding principles of this country because they are being constantly brain washed by the leftist media, thus becoming "useful fools", as described by Stalin. Unwittingly, they are helping to destroy all what have made this country the greatest. This book, if read without prejudice, could awaken them to the realization of how much we might loose in terms of individual rights and freedom if we don't go back to the founding principles and the Rule of Law. For those who have a secret agenda, they don't need to read it: they know that what the book says is true. God Bless America!
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Summary: The finest book of its kind I've read
Review: If only every school child could be stimulated to read Vazsonyi. If the stranglehold of the hard Left on the schools could be broken, what if? Perhaps the new Bush administration will be up to the task. If I were of the faith I would do multiple laps around the beads in the hope my prayers would result in such an outcome. This book is, in a word, outstanding. In response to "who's winning?" I'd say the tide is turning toward the Anglo-American arena of political thought. Self governing criticality in a non linear system suggests that Franco-Germanic political theory will implode of its own weight. Where and when is the question, but I'm certain most of the reviewers on this page will join with me in saying it cannot be too soon.
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Summary: At 61 years of age this book helped focus on the issues!
Review: In his book, "America's 30 Years War", Balint Vazonyi defines the two political philosophies that have been written about and tried over the centuries as the "Franco-Germanic" Way and the "Anglo-American" Way. He has defined them as such, because to call them "Left and Right" or "liberal and Conservative" or "Socialism/Communism and Free Enterprise" causes people to ignore the facts.Thomas Sowell writes about modern liberals ..."What they have that is more important to them than specific knowledge of what they are doing is a vision of the world and a vision of themselves. Their test of a belief is not how it fits the facts but how it fits their vision. That is what makes them so dangerous." ...This in my opinion exactly fits the "Franco-Germanic" way of thinking, which has been proven dangerous by such examples as National Socialism, Soviet Socialism and the People's Republic of China and all have killed millions of people.Now we have the DLC, clinton and most Democrats and even some Republicans, along with their NATO heads of state, promoting "The Third Way" or Global Socialism.In this final year before Election2000 this book will help those interested in the Future of Our Country to focus on important issues ...rto
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Summary: This Book Is Important
Review: Most folks won't get past the title. But, Vazsonyi's book is really, really good. Why? Well for starters, Mr. Vazsonyi has chosen to be an American. He was not born here. He didn't have to come here. He didn't have to stay. Mr. Vazsonyi is a talented musician who could live pretty much anywhere on the planet. This book explains his choice. Second, and more important, Mr. Vazsonyi does a very good job of putting what has been happening in the United States since the middle of the last century into a coherent, relevant and easily understood political perspective. He traces the American political debate back to its origens in Europe and puts what we are and have been experiencing into context. The book describes the history of our competing political worldviews and makes that history relavant. Finally, and most important, the book does a good job of pointing out what is at stake in this debate by clearly defining the worst case scenario. Mr. Vazsonyi does a great job of crafting that definition because the worst case scenario is one in which he came of age in Eastern Europe. But, Mr. Vazsonyi's English is his second language and the prospective reader should be advised that his prose isn't as slick or easy to read as that written by someone like Michael Moore. Of course the difference is that Moore is wrong and Vazsonyi is right. So, this book is worth the effort.
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Summary: Vazsonyi is just like his enemies
Review: Mr. Vazsonyi is an extremely charming man as anyone who saw him on Booknotes will recognize. His book is interesting and provocative. The main thesis is that the Nazis and the Communists were essentially the same because they divided people into two groups: the aryans or the proletariat vs. the racial or class enemy. Unfortunately, Mr. Vazsonyi does exactly the same thing. If you agree with him you are true to America's founding principles. If you disagree on current policies or see a more active role for government then you are really a socialist and all socialists are commmunists. This is ridiculous! I don't assume that someone who opposes affirmative action or environmental regulation secretly wants to restore absolute monarchy.
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Summary: Please Read This Book
Review: Mr. Vazsonyi, a Hungarian-born historian and world-famous pianist, fled his native country after the unsuccessful revolt against the Soviet Union in 1956. He experienced first hand the evils of communism. He shows how we are heading down the same path that lead to the disastrous events of the twentieth century caused by socialism and communism. He warns that our freedoms are becoming imperiled and we need to return to our founding principles. This is one of those books that needs to be read by all high school and college students. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Best book ever written on America's Founding Principles
Review: The most concise, well thought out book ever written on the founding principles of American Society. Mr. Vazsonyi provides THE thorough overview of the foundations that make America, the product of over 3000 years of Monotheism and Western Civilization, unique among all nations. A must read for all immigrants who want to know how to be American, for those who feel something is not quite right with America but can't put it in concrete terms, and all students in courses titled "Government," "Civics," and "American History.". With the personal perspective and clarity only an immigrant is likely to have, Mr. Vazsonyi effectively demonstrates the two dominant concepts of government - Anglo American principles clearly delineated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and the French German Welfare State founded in the blood of the French Revolution and refined in Bismark's Germany. Mr. Vazsonyi shows how Communism, socialism, liberalism, and all the other "ism's" that have developed in the last two hundred years are manifestations of a very old concept of governance which tries to create the perfect society envisioned by a self-appointed elite using a centralized government administering a command economy. American Society, by contrast, created a set of principles designed to enable each individual to develop himself according to the advantages his circumstances allowed. Adoption of these principles produced a society of responsible and moral individuals, who built a great nation from the grass roots, without the help of any central authority. America's 30 Year's War asks: In light of the prosperity and freedom the system created by our founders provided us, do we really want to adopt the statist European model that, in its various forms, has lead to the elimination of entire populations and the destruction of private property, capital, and individual freedom? By its existence, America has prevented the ultimate triumph of the European Welfare State and its approach to governance. Impossible to defeat externally, American Founding Principles are being attacked internally; primarily by those in government, entertainment, academia, and media who want her to be just as equal as all other nations. The approach is to use feel good words and concepts such as multiculturualism, regulation, social justice (what exactly does that term mean, who defines it and when will we know when we've achieved it?) assaults on property rights, group identity and class warfare, to make people feel warm, fuzzy, and receptive about various causes and movements that pound away at America's Constitutional Foundations. These same methods, used in the author's native Hungry by both German and Russian occupiers in the 40's and 50's, are used to produce passionate, caring "Useful Idiots." Mr. Vazsonyi suggests a return to Constitutional Principles will ensure the rebirth of the Original American Revolution started in 1776 and stopped dead in its tracks by the political developments of the 1960s.
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Summary: The perspective is intriguing
Review: The premise of this book is that the America as we know it is slowly ceasing to be; America is slowly transforming into a socialist state. From most writers, I would immediately stop taking the book seriously. Instead, I found myself becoming more interested in the story because of the author's background. He grew up in Eastern Europe before the Soviet Empire began to change his country. This is the experience from which he draws his information. Many movements that he sees acting in America today are doing the same things that the communists did to his country years ago. History was rewritten to take away any prestige his country had or pride he had in is country. He sees this today in the rewriting of many of our textbooks. Although I wish he had given more specific examples for some of his claims, I do respect his perspective and find myself reading the news more closely. This is an interesting book, and I would recommend reading it.
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Summary: roots
Review: This book does a good job defining the differences between the political thought that spawned the American Revolution and the thought that spawned the French Revolution. Not only are the differences in thought defined, but the outworking of that thought in process is also well demonstrated.
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Summary: This taught me a lot about socialist thought.
Review: This book is an education on the patterns of thought found in the Communist agenda throughout history. It convinced me that the theories of socialism are just a prelude to Communism. This book is intelligent, witty, and informative. Mr. Vazsonyi, who passed away in January 2003, describes his experience of coming to America from Hungary during the Soviet occupation of his country. He comments on the changes he has seen in America since the 1960s, including the abandonment of the basic principles upon which the U.S. was founded.
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