The Devil’s Pleasure Palace
The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $14.61
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Michael Walsh
-
By:
-
Michael Walsh
About this listen
In the aftermath of World War II, America stood alone as the world's premier military power. Yet its martial confidence contrasted vividly with its sense of cultural inferiority. Still looking to a defeated and dispirited Europe for intellectual and artistic guidance, burgeoning transnational elite in New York and Washington embraced not only the war's refugees but many of their ideas as well, and nothing has proven more pernicious than those of the Frankfurt School and its reactionary philosophy of "critical theory". At once overly intellectualized and emotionally juvenile, critical theory - like Pandora's box - released a horde of demons into the American psyche. When everything could be questioned, nothing could be real, and the muscular, confident empiricism that had just won the war gave way, in less than a generation, to a Central European nihilism celebrated on college campuses across the United States. In The Devil's Pleasure Palace, Michael Walsh looks at how critical theory took root in America and came to affect nearly every aspect of American life and society - and what can be done to stop it.
©2015 Michael Walsh (P)2015 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Fiery Angel
- Art, Culture, Sex, Politics, and the Struggle for the Soul of the West
- By: Michael Walsh
- Narrated by: Michael Walsh
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Without an understanding and appreciation of the culture we seek to preserve and protect, the defense of Western civilization is fundamentally futile; a culture that believes in nothing cannot defend itself, because it has nothing to defend. In this profound and wide-ranging historical survey, Michael Walsh illuminates the ways that the narrative and visual arts both reflect and affect the course of political history, outlining the way forward by arguing for the restoration of the heroic narrative that forms the basis of all Western cultural and religious traditions.
-
-
Great cultural criticism
- By miasarx on 08-06-18
By: Michael Walsh
-
Unwoke
- How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America
- By: Ted Cruz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a book both articulate and desperately needed, bestselling author Senator Ted Cruz provides a long overdue argument against the woke takeover of education, big business, the media, and Hollywood.
-
-
This is one of top listens
- By chas on 12-12-23
By: Ted Cruz
-
The War on the West
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric. After all, if we must discard the ideas of Kant, Hume, and Mill for their opinions on race, shouldn’t we discard Marx, whose work is peppered with racial slurs and anti-Semitism? Embers of racism remain to be stamped out in America, but what about the raging racist inferno in the Middle East and Asia?
-
-
Every Human (seriously, everyone) Read This!
- By aaron on 04-27-22
By: Douglas Murray
-
The Democrat Party Hates America
- By: Mark R. Levin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell, Mark R. Levin
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In American Marxism, Mark Levin explained how Marxist ideology has invaded our society and culture. In doing so, he exposed the institutions, scholars, and activists leading the revolution. Now, he picks up where he left off: to hold responsible the true malefactors steering our country down the wrong path. Insightful and hard-hitting as ever, Levin proves that since its establishment, the Democrat Party has set out to rewrite history and destroy the foundation of freedom in America.
-
-
As always thank you Mr. Levin for your Insight.
- By Yukonwill on 09-24-23
By: Mark R. Levin
-
Last Stands
- Why Men Fight When All Is Lost
- By: Michael Walsh
- Narrated by: Michael Walsh
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is heroism? What are its moral components - altruism, love, self-sacrifice? Why was it once celebrated, and now often dismissed as anachronistic? In this dramatic and readable account of last stands in history - famous or otherwise - Walsh explores the stakes that led men at very different times and places to face overwhelming odds and certain death for the sake of family, home and country.
-
-
Excellent historical facts
- By Mark Twain on 02-18-21
By: Michael Walsh
-
Cynical Theories
- How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody
- By: Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay
- Narrated by: Helen Pluckrose
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Have you read that certain people shouldn't practice yoga? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only White people can be racist? Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed to challenge the logic of Western society? In this probing volume, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma that informs these ideas, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields.
-
-
Vast Amount of Jargon Lost Me
- By P. Jackson on 10-23-20
By: Helen Pluckrose, and others
-
The Fiery Angel
- Art, Culture, Sex, Politics, and the Struggle for the Soul of the West
- By: Michael Walsh
- Narrated by: Michael Walsh
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Without an understanding and appreciation of the culture we seek to preserve and protect, the defense of Western civilization is fundamentally futile; a culture that believes in nothing cannot defend itself, because it has nothing to defend. In this profound and wide-ranging historical survey, Michael Walsh illuminates the ways that the narrative and visual arts both reflect and affect the course of political history, outlining the way forward by arguing for the restoration of the heroic narrative that forms the basis of all Western cultural and religious traditions.
-
-
Great cultural criticism
- By miasarx on 08-06-18
By: Michael Walsh
-
Unwoke
- How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America
- By: Ted Cruz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a book both articulate and desperately needed, bestselling author Senator Ted Cruz provides a long overdue argument against the woke takeover of education, big business, the media, and Hollywood.
-
-
This is one of top listens
- By chas on 12-12-23
By: Ted Cruz
-
The War on the West
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric. After all, if we must discard the ideas of Kant, Hume, and Mill for their opinions on race, shouldn’t we discard Marx, whose work is peppered with racial slurs and anti-Semitism? Embers of racism remain to be stamped out in America, but what about the raging racist inferno in the Middle East and Asia?
-
-
Every Human (seriously, everyone) Read This!
- By aaron on 04-27-22
By: Douglas Murray
-
The Democrat Party Hates America
- By: Mark R. Levin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell, Mark R. Levin
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In American Marxism, Mark Levin explained how Marxist ideology has invaded our society and culture. In doing so, he exposed the institutions, scholars, and activists leading the revolution. Now, he picks up where he left off: to hold responsible the true malefactors steering our country down the wrong path. Insightful and hard-hitting as ever, Levin proves that since its establishment, the Democrat Party has set out to rewrite history and destroy the foundation of freedom in America.
-
-
As always thank you Mr. Levin for your Insight.
- By Yukonwill on 09-24-23
By: Mark R. Levin
-
Last Stands
- Why Men Fight When All Is Lost
- By: Michael Walsh
- Narrated by: Michael Walsh
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is heroism? What are its moral components - altruism, love, self-sacrifice? Why was it once celebrated, and now often dismissed as anachronistic? In this dramatic and readable account of last stands in history - famous or otherwise - Walsh explores the stakes that led men at very different times and places to face overwhelming odds and certain death for the sake of family, home and country.
-
-
Excellent historical facts
- By Mark Twain on 02-18-21
By: Michael Walsh
-
Cynical Theories
- How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody
- By: Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay
- Narrated by: Helen Pluckrose
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Have you read that certain people shouldn't practice yoga? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only White people can be racist? Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed to challenge the logic of Western society? In this probing volume, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma that informs these ideas, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields.
-
-
Vast Amount of Jargon Lost Me
- By P. Jackson on 10-23-20
By: Helen Pluckrose, and others
-
Social Justice Fallacies
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The quest for social justice is a powerful crusade of our time, with an appeal to many different people, for many different reasons. But those who use the same words do not always present the same meanings. Clarifying those meanings is the first step toward finding out what we agree on and disagree on. From there, it is largely a question of what the facts are. Social Justice Fallacies reveals how many things that are thought to be true simply cannot stand up to documented facts, which are often the opposite of what is widely believed.
-
-
Timely book by 93 year old Thomas Sowell
- By Wayne on 09-27-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
The Psychology of Totalitarianism
- By: Mattias Desmet
- Narrated by: Dan Crue
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Totalitarianism is not a coincidence and does not form in a vacuum. It arises from a collective psychosis that has followed a predictable script throughout history. In The Psychology of Totalitarianism, world-renowned Professor of Clinical Psychology Mattias Desmet deconstructs the societal conditions that allow this collective psychosis to take hold. By looking at our current situation and identifying the phenomenon of “mass formation”—a type of collective hypnosis—he clearly illustrates how close we are to surrendering to totalitarian regimes.
-
-
Is this the best book every written?
- By Susan M on 07-18-22
By: Mattias Desmet
-
The Bodies of Others
- The New Authoritarians, COVID-19 and the War Against the Human
- By: Naomi Wolf
- Narrated by: Chris Gaubatz
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bodies of Others is about how we came to the harrowing civilizational crossroads at which we find ourselves—engaged in a war against vast impersonal forces with limitless power over our lives and which threaten the freedoms we have always taken for granted. In her most provocative book yet, Dr. Naomi Wolf shows how these forces—from Big Tech and Big Pharma to the CCP and our oligarchical elites—seized upon two years of COVID-19 panic in sinister new ways, to not only undermine our republic but to fundamentally reorient human relations.
-
-
Excellent book despite the narrator
- By Memoree Joelle on 06-08-22
By: Naomi Wolf
-
The Naked Communist
- Exposing Communism and Restoring Freedom
- By: W. Cleon Skousen
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Naked Communist has sold almost two million copies. It found its way into the libraries of the CIA, the FBI, the White House, and homes all across America and the world. The Naked Communist contains a distillation of more than a hundred books and treatises on communism, many written by Marxist authors. We see the communist the way he sees himself - stripped of propaganda and pretense. Explained here is the amazing appeal of communism, its history, and its basic and unchanging concepts.
-
-
The History of Communism
- By Freedom on 11-16-15
By: W. Cleon Skousen
-
America's Cultural Revolution
- How the Radical Left Conquered Everything
- By: Christopher F. Rufo
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1960s, Mao launched China’s Cultural Revolution. Cities grew overcrowded. Technocrats demanded progress from above. Anyone opposed was sent to be “re-educated.” China’s revolution was bloody, fast, and a failure, but what if America started a revolution at the same time, based on the same bad ideas, and it’s just been slower, calmer, and more effective?
-
-
Outstanding Analysis
- By Roman on 07-22-23
-
The Dying Citizen
- How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: James Edward Thomas
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Human history is full of the stories of peasants, subjects, and tribes. Yet the concept of the “citizen” is historically rare — and was among America’s most valued ideals for over two centuries. But without shock treatment, warns historian Victor Davis Hanson, American citizenship as we have known it may soon vanish.
-
-
From an uneducated reader;
- By wbc on 10-12-21
-
The Madness of Crowds
- Gender, Race and Identity
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray investigates the dangers of ‘woke’ culture and the rise of identity politics. In lively, razor-sharp prose he examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of ‘wokeness’, the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.
-
-
An Urgent Read for Our Over-woke Times
- By Justin J. Norman on 09-26-19
By: Douglas Murray
-
Battle for the American Mind
- Uprooting a Century of Miseducation
- By: Pete Hegseth, David Goodwin
- Narrated by: Pete Hegseth, David Goodwin
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind a smokescreen of “preparing students for the new industrial economy,” early progressives had political control in mind. America’s original schools didn’t just make kids memorize facts or learn skills; they taught them to think freely and arrive at wisdom. They assigned the classics, inspired love of God and country, and raised future citizens that changed the world forever.
-
-
Academically sound
- By Rick Townsend on 07-21-22
By: Pete Hegseth, and others
-
The Man Behind the Curtain
- Inside the Secret Network of George Soros
- By: Matt Palumbo
- Narrated by: Richard Cefalos
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
George Soros’ web of influence is documented and exposed. No one else in modern politics has the power and influence of George Soros, both domestically and internationally. Backed by the tens of billions of dollars he’s accumulated throughout his career, Soros has his hand in influencing the media, activist groups, colleges, presidential elections, global elections, local US politics, and much more. Soros has earned himself a reputation as a “boogeyman” character on the right, and nowhere else will you find such an extensive documentation of his influence as in this audiobook.
-
-
Knowledge is power, let's shut him down
- By Shoe Queen on 01-02-22
By: Matt Palumbo
-
Race Marxism
- The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis
- By: James Lindsay
- Narrated by: James Lindsay
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Critical race theory is one of the hottest and most controversial topics in the world today, but what is it, really? Rightly understood, critical race theory is a reinvention of an older, terrible idea, Marxism, using race "as the central construct for understanding inequality" in place of economic class. That is, critical race theory is race Marxism. The evidence of this claim is so overwhelming upon even casual examination that it is a shock that it isn't immediately plain to everyone who encounters it.
-
-
Lindsay has done the work
- By Ashley King on 08-02-22
By: James Lindsay
-
Get Trump
- The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law
- By: Alan Dershowitz
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alan Dershowitz has been called “one of the most prominent and consistent defenders of civil liberties in America” by Politico and “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights” by Newsweek. Get Trump makes clear that unconstitutional efforts to stop Trump from retaking the presidency challenge the very foundations of our liberty: due process, right to counsel, and free speech.
-
-
Good Book
- By Ron on 05-12-23
By: Alan Dershowitz
-
The Lessons of History
- By: Will, Ariel Durant
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The authors devoted five decades to the study of world history and philosophy, culminating in the masterful 11-volume Story of Civilization. In this compact summation of their work, Will and Ariel Durant share the vital and profound lessons of our collective past. Their perspective, gained after a lifetime of thinking and writing about the history of humankind, is an invaluable resource for us today.
-
-
This is a must for every Educated Person
- By BradleyBurr on 10-29-07
By: Will, and others
Related to this topic
-
The Cave and the Light
- Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 25 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.
-
-
All of Western Philosphy Leads to Ayn Rand?!?
- By Leslie on 06-22-15
By: Arthur Herman
-
The Year of Our Lord 1943
- Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis
- By: Alan Jacobs
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear the Allies would win the Second World War. Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic thought the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. These Christian intellectuals - Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others - sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.
-
-
The Audible is a Train Wreck
- By John on 09-04-18
By: Alan Jacobs
-
The Long March
- How the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s Changed America
- By: Roger Kimball
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The architects of America's cultural revolution of the 1960s were Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and celebrated figures like Norman Mailer, Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, and Susan Sontag. In examining the lives and works of those who spoke for the 1960s, Roger Kimball conceives a series of cautionary tales, an annotated guidebook of wrong turns, dead-ends, and blind alleys.
-
-
The Long March
- By Suzanne on 05-16-06
By: Roger Kimball
-
The Western Canon
- The Books and School of the Ages
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: James Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon. He argues against ideology in literary criticism; he laments the loss of intellectual and aesthetic standards; he deplores multiculturalism, Marxism, feminism, neoconservatism, Afrocentrism, and the New Historicism. Insisting instead upon "the autonomy of aesthetic," Bloom places Shakespeare at the center of the Western Canon.....
-
-
A personal and opinionated book on the Canon
- By Steffen on 07-23-12
By: Harold Bloom
-
Angels and Ages
- A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written 200 years after Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln shared a birthday on February 12, 1809, this insightful account sheds new light on two men who changed the way we think about the meaning of life and death. Award-winning journalist Adam Gopnik's unique perspective, combined with previously unexplored stories and figures, reveals two men planted firmly at the roots of modern views and liberal values.
-
-
Connecting Darwin and Lincoln
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: Adam Gopnik
-
Seven Types of Atheism
- By: John Gray
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood “science.” John Gray’s stimulating and enjoyable new book, Seven Types of Atheism, describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself.
By: John Gray
-
The Cave and the Light
- Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 25 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Cave and the Light reveals how two Greek philosophers became the twin fountainheads of Western culture, and how their rivalry gave Western civilization its unique dynamism down to the present.
-
-
All of Western Philosphy Leads to Ayn Rand?!?
- By Leslie on 06-22-15
By: Arthur Herman
-
The Year of Our Lord 1943
- Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis
- By: Alan Jacobs
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By early 1943, it had become increasingly clear the Allies would win the Second World War. Christian intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic thought the soon-to-be-victorious nations were not culturally or morally prepared for their success. These Christian intellectuals - Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil, among others - sought both to articulate a sober and reflective critique of their own culture and to outline a plan for the moral and spiritual regeneration of their countries in the post-war world.
-
-
The Audible is a Train Wreck
- By John on 09-04-18
By: Alan Jacobs
-
The Long March
- How the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s Changed America
- By: Roger Kimball
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The architects of America's cultural revolution of the 1960s were Beat authors like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and celebrated figures like Norman Mailer, Timothy Leary, Eldridge Cleaver, and Susan Sontag. In examining the lives and works of those who spoke for the 1960s, Roger Kimball conceives a series of cautionary tales, an annotated guidebook of wrong turns, dead-ends, and blind alleys.
-
-
The Long March
- By Suzanne on 05-16-06
By: Roger Kimball
-
The Western Canon
- The Books and School of the Ages
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: James Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harold Bloom explores our Western literary tradition by concentrating on the works of twenty-six authors central to the Canon. He argues against ideology in literary criticism; he laments the loss of intellectual and aesthetic standards; he deplores multiculturalism, Marxism, feminism, neoconservatism, Afrocentrism, and the New Historicism. Insisting instead upon "the autonomy of aesthetic," Bloom places Shakespeare at the center of the Western Canon.....
-
-
A personal and opinionated book on the Canon
- By Steffen on 07-23-12
By: Harold Bloom
-
Angels and Ages
- A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written 200 years after Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln shared a birthday on February 12, 1809, this insightful account sheds new light on two men who changed the way we think about the meaning of life and death. Award-winning journalist Adam Gopnik's unique perspective, combined with previously unexplored stories and figures, reveals two men planted firmly at the roots of modern views and liberal values.
-
-
Connecting Darwin and Lincoln
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: Adam Gopnik
-
Seven Types of Atheism
- By: John Gray
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood “science.” John Gray’s stimulating and enjoyable new book, Seven Types of Atheism, describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself.
By: John Gray
-
Not in God's Name
- Confronting Religious Violence
- By: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Sacks
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this powerful and timely book, one of the most admired and authoritative religious leaders of our time tackles the phenomenon of religious extremism and violence committed in the name of God. If religion is perceived as being part of the problem, Rabbi Sacks argues, then it must also form part of the solution. When religion becomes a zero-sum conceit and individuals are motivated by what Rabbi Sacks calls "altruistic evil", violence between peoples of different beliefs appears to be the only natural outcome.
-
-
excellent book
- By Trejac on 07-26-21
-
Socrates
- A Man for Our Times
- By: Paul Johnson
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed historian and best-selling author Paul Johnson’s books have been translated into dozens of languages. In Socrates: A Man for Our Times, Johnson draws from little-known resources to construct a fascinating account of one of history’s greatest thinkers. Socrates transcended class limitations in Athens during the fifth century B.C. to develop ideas that still shape the way we think about the human body and soul, including the workings of the human mind.
-
-
Plat-Soc-Paul
- By Megasaurus on 11-17-12
By: Paul Johnson
-
The Story of Philosophy
- The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.
-
-
Fantastic and insightful book
- By ESK on 01-25-13
By: Will Durant
-
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization
- By: Anthony Esolen
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Western civilization is under attack. At universities and in the media, professors and pundits decry Western civilization as exploitative, destructive, and without value. But fear not: coming to its defense is this "P.I." guide to Western civilization.
-
-
Holy Neo-Nazism Batman!
- By Douglas on 12-03-11
By: Anthony Esolen
-
The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History
- By: Jeffrey Burton Russell
- Narrated by: Gordon Greenhill
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Devil, Satan, Lucifer, Mephistopheles - throughout history the Prince of Darkness, the Western world's most powerful symbol of evil, has taken many names and shapes. Jeffrey Burton Russell here chronicles the remarkable story of the Devil from antiquity to the present. While recounting how past generations have personified evil, he deepens our understanding of the ways in which people have dealt with the enduring problem of radical evil. Russell uncovers the origins of the concept of the Devil in various early cultures and then traces its evolution in Western thought from the time of the ancient Hebrews through the first centuries of the Christian era. Next he turns to the medieval view of the Devil, focusing on images found in folklore, scholastic thought, art, literature, mysticism, and witchcraft.
-
-
Wonderfully engaging
- By Anonymous User on 04-26-23
-
Cultural Amnesia
- Notes in the Margin of My Time
- By: Clive James
- Narrated by: Clive James
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Anna Akhmatova to Stefan Zweig, via Charles de Gaulle, Hitler, Thomas Mann and Charlie Chaplin, this varied and unfailingly absorbing book is both story and history, both public memoir and personal record - and provides an essential field-guide to the vast movements of taste, intellect, politics and delusion that helped to prepare the times we live in now.
-
-
Very enjoyable and well narrated
- By Larbi on 05-18-08
By: Clive James
-
Stay
- A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It
- By: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Narrated by: Jennifer Michael Hecht
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Worldwide, more people die by suicide than by murder, and many more are left behind to grieve. Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness.
-
-
Informative but oddly dispassionate
- By Scott on 01-07-14
-
The Story Paradox
- How Our Love of Storytelling Builds Societies and Tears Them Down
- By: Jonathan Gottschall
- Narrated by: Joshua Kane
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it.
-
-
A bit of a mixed bag with some amazing discussion
- By Justin on 04-27-22
-
The Tyranny of Clichés
- How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to Goldberg, if the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, the greatest trick liberals ever pulled was convincing themselves they’re not ideological. Today “objective” journalists and academics and “moderate” politicians peddle some of the most radical arguments by hiding them in homespun aphorisms.
-
-
I enjoyed it...and I'm a Democrat!!
- By Private. on 05-14-12
By: Jonah Goldberg
-
The Rebel
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human nature, manifested in man's timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he reveals how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny.
-
-
This book is amazing
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-19
By: Albert Camus
-
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea
- Why the Greeks Matter
- By: Thomas Cahill
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best selling history writer Thomas Cahill continues his series on the roots of Western civilization with this volume about the contributions of ancient Greece to the development of contemporary culture. Tracing the origin of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European horsemen into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, he follows their progress into the creation of the Greek city-states, the refinement of their machinery of war, and the flowering of intellectual and artistic culture.
-
-
Super super
- By Richard on 12-28-03
By: Thomas Cahill
-
Looking for the Good War
- American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness
- By: Elizabeth D. Samet
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that emerged after World War II, bringing her expertise as a professor of English at West Point to bear on the complexity of the postwar period in national life. She exposes the confusion about American identity that was expressed during and immediately after the war, and the deep national ambivalence toward war, violence, and veterans - all of which were suppressed in subsequent decades by a dangerously sentimental attitude toward the United States' "exceptional" history and destiny.
-
-
Essential reading for military officers and political decision makers.
- By Arlene S. Burke on 02-23-22
What listeners say about The Devil’s Pleasure Palace
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Erika
- 01-03-20
Excellent, provocative and informative.
I was hoping to find a book like this that took an art critics approach to critical theory and it’s dogma giving us a primer for dismantling it. Excellent read with plenty of references that just added to my reading list.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shamgar
- 09-10-21
Should be read by everyone!
This would have 5 stars if it weren't for the knee-jerk reaction of trolls who rate it low without reading it simply because it doesn't appear to align with their worldview. It's tough to argue with the facts and history presented here--no, it's impossible--because they're facts. If you are at all interested in how America got itself into such a cultural quagmire--read this. But only if you're willing to see just how far down the rabbit hole goes!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christopher S. Hamilton
- 04-06-23
Wordy, but worthy
It was a book that one can get lost in the weeds as it jumps around from everything from Milton, to movies, to opera, and everything in-between. However, the content is more relevant than ever and the overall themes and message is very good.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Story
- Mac
- 11-17-16
Great book on why the left always want to destroy
Think of the weird relationship between Islam and the political left. Ever wonder why? This book takes you to the root of the problem.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 07-25-16
good prose with narration by author.
author fails to delve, but by way of offhand references, into the Jewish question. also be prepared for a lot of classical especially Christian citations and allusions. author also forgoes chronological or linear systematic descriptions of the various Frankfurt intellectuals, in contradistinction to e.g. <<intellectuals>> by p. Johnson, in favor of a more freeform essay-like approach, which actually works better in this case.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-02-17
A technical read, rich in history!!
I cannot recommend this book enough! rich in history, and eye opening. Prepare to think!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bin
- 11-07-23
America in cold civil war
This book gave a deep analysis on the true nature of the ‘progressives’. It pointed out, in 2015, America is in cold civil war, fighting on the ideas this time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alexander
- 06-14-16
Sweeping analysis of academic and cultural decay
Walsh has done an important service to the Western world through this wide-ranging work. Surveying the influence of the Frankfurt school on Western culture through academia, politics, literature, and music, one sees a deep, multi-generational movement aimed at nothing less than the overthrow of liberty and virtue. In some ways, Walsh didn't tell me anything I didn't know - at least in pieces. But he puts everything together by connecting it to the "unholy left's" obsession with Eros and Thanatos.
If you've gotten to the point of reading reviews on this book, stop what you're doing and get it. It will easily be the most significant book you'll read this year.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel Powell
- 10-04-16
Very well done
An essential read for everyone in Western culture. This book clearly leads one to question the origins and implications of the social justice movement, and provides an extremely well developed examination of its birth from nihilism and dialectical materialism. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking an intellectual and rational approach to the subject, as opposed to an emotional one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael
- 10-21-15
The Most Intelligent Book You'll Hear This Year
Brilliant! The writing, history, and artistic structure are masterful; the thesis is spot on; and the performance is pitch perfect. Mr. Walsh has written a robust defense of Western Culture and supported it with art, music, history, and philosophy. Structuring the defense around Faust is masterful in itself and the performance just rounds out that mastery. Having thus far listened just once, but planning to begin a second listen on tomorrow's morning commute, I can only imagine this will be one of those staples one returns to; like The Lessons of History, A Christmas Carol, Good Omens, or The Everlasting Man. Thank you, Mr. Walsh, for gloriously defending our culture and being willing to identify the logical, nihilistic end of today's post-modern cynicism that masquerades as culture... (from an admitted Kahaniac).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful