Bill Bryson's new book, Notes from a Big Country,
has only been on the market in Britain for a few weeks, and already
it has vaulted to the top of The Sunday Times' best seller
list. This travelogue about America makes for generally very pleasant,
entertaining reading.
Certainly millions around the
world will undoubtedly buy and read Bill Bryson's new book, but in
stark contrast only a relatively few thousand have purchased When
Nations Die, an important work about the darker side of American
life. But to ignore the unpleasant and to pretend that bad things
are not happening would be fatal to our civilization.
In recent years a number of useful
books have been published about the gradual weakening of traditional
standards and values in the Western world. When Nations Die is
one of the best on the subject-perhaps mainly because it is anchored
historically to the common problems of past civilizations and the
American author's fundamental principles are basically under-girded
by biblical teachings.
Jim Nelson Black has had 25 years
experience in several facets of the publishing field. He has conducted
research at the University of Paris and received an award from a
noted French academy. The book itself is well written and reader
friendly, with many quotable statements.
For instance, Jim Black observed
that "The entire nation must pay the price for the arrogant defiance
of Divine Authority. The law of the land is no longer an inviolable
standard. American justice is often unjust, and too many judges no
longer subscribe to even common sense principles."
The author also points out that
every single one of the ten reasons for the decline and fall of past
civilizations is "alive and well" on the contemporary American (and
Western) scene. The ten warning signs are:
