Postmortem Report: Cultural Examinations from Postmodernity

by Tomislav Sunić, Kevin B. MacDonald (Foreword)

Tomislav Sunic is one of the leading scholars and exponents of the European New Right. A prolific writer and accomplished linguist in Croatian, English, French, and German, his thought synthesizes the ideas of Oswald Spengler, Carl Schmitt, Vilfredo Pareto, and Alain de Benoist, among others, exhibiting an elitist, neo-pagan, traditionalist sensibility. A number of themes have emerged in his cultural criticism: religion, cultural pessimism, race and the Third Reich, liberalism and democracy, and multiculturalism and communism. This book collects Dr. Sunic's best essays of the past decade, treating topics that relate to these themes. From the vantage point of a European observer who has experienced the pathology of liberalism and communism on both sides of the Iron Curtain, Dr. Sunic offers incisive insights into Western and post-communist societies and culture. Always erudite and at times humorous, this highly readable postmortem report on the death of the West offers a refreshing, alternative perspective to what is usually found in the cavaderous Freudo-Marxian scholasticism that rots in the dank catacombs of postmodern academia.

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

About the author

Croatian-American writer, translator and a former professor.

He is best known for his books and writings critical of egalitarianism, biblical monotheism and liberal political discourse. His views are often cited as part of the Nouvelle Droite movement in Europe.

Reviews

[Dominik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very interesting essays can be read in the book. Sunic writes about several different topics, but all those topics have one target - liberalism. It is obvious that the New Right does not like the idea of ​​equality and progress. People are not equal, and history is not linear. What distinguishes him from the traditional right and conservatives is that he believes that Christianity is responsible for such ideas, among other things. In his view, Christianity paved the way, in the form of its ideas, for its secular ideologies that emerged as the ultimate consequence of the Christian worldview. Human rights, equality, progress and the like are the buzzwords of globalism. But, according to him, ecumenism was the same then as globalism is today. What's the difference? Both things seek to subject other cultures to one worldview.
The New Right likes to reflect on the benefits of a polytheistic, pagan society as it existed before Christianity became the main religion of the West. Pagan societies valued heroes, honor, and subordination to the community, and pagan man cultivated within himself a feeling of tragic living, but went nonetheless through life bravely and with dignity.
On the one hand, it could be said that Christianity is co-responsible for today’s secular ideologies that act as a kind of parody of Christian compassion. On the other hand, I do not see how a person could live without striving for some progress, both individual and the progress of his community. Man and his community are not static subjects. Belief in progress is inherent to the human being, and for that reason I cannot imagine why a pagan society is better than a Christian one. But also, I’m not a fan of stories about how Christianity is the only thing worthwhile in all of human history, as if all people before Christianity were stupid, and as if our culture and tradition don’t abound in the pagan customs that make up our national and human consciousness. It's a part of us. But it must be said that it was faith in progress, which came from Christianity, that paved the way for scientific progress that brought us material prosperity. Of course, that prosperity has corrupted our souls in the meantime, but we cannot dismiss it just like that, as if that's something irrelevant. Likewise, human rights, as a concept, cannot be devalued just because they have grown into a decadent parody today. Human rights and belief in the equality of all human beings, even if they are not equal in IQ, culture, behavior, etc., is something that has its value and immeasurable benefit for all of us. It would be hypocritical to not recognize that.