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The Entangled Civilization Democracy, Equality, and Freedom at a Loss By Michio Kitahara Lanham, MD: University Press of America 380 pages. January, 1995.

Why are democracy, equality, and freedom currently in such turmoil? The author discusses the confusion and pessimism in Western civilization today. He presents his theory of civilization and suggests how the enormous problems within Western civilization can be addressed by pursuing the original basis of Western civilization --- individualism. The three key values of democracy, equality, and freedom are then reinterpreted from the perspective of individualism, and possibilities for dealing with the problems of Western civilization are suggested.

CONTENTS:

• Part I: PROBLEMS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
  • Western Civilization in Confusion
  • Democracy
  • Equality
  • Freedom
  • Ideology, Bureaucracy, and Technology
  • Culture and Biology
  • Culture and the Individual

• PART II: A THEORY OF CIVILIZATION
  • The Self in the Life Space
  • The Manipulatory Drive
  • Identification and Variation
  • The Conditions for Civilization
  • The Maintenance of Civilization
  • The Failure of Civilization

• PART III: REFLECTIONS ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION
  • The Contradictions
  • Individualism and Democracy
  • Individualism and Equality
  • Individualism and Freedom
  • Epilogue

REVIEWS:

"While reading this book, it became evident, that the author has read many good books on economy, political philosophy, history, socialism, statism, science, and psychology, while he lived in Japan, Europe, and America. This book shows how vulnerable the Western civilization got through socialism, how the self as an object in a collective setting is manipulated, that the cause for people's violent protest against nuclear power plants is based on egoist human thought. When explaining how collectivism is emphasized at the expense of individualism, he writes on page 230:

'But the ironic point here is that collectivism is carried out on the basis of the individualistic perception of human behaviour without knowing or realizing this. This is another very important point in this book, and I would like to ask you to read the above sentence once again.'

"Explosive content without any journalistic hype: Must read!" --- (The ModulaTor)

"Often outsiders can provide thoughtful perspective. This is the case here as Japanese-born Kitahara analyzes forces promoting the rise and decline of the West. He reviews voluminous writings by classic critics of capitalism, including Christopher Lasch, Herbert Marcuse, Karl Marx, David Reisman, Joseph Schumpeter, Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee and Alan Wolfe. He talks about such defenders of capitalism as F. A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. He wrestles with a wide range of issues, including technology, bureaucracy, equality and culture....The questions he raises need to be addressed by all who care about the future of our civilization." --- Jim Powell (Laissez Faire Books)

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