The Death of the West

***The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization*** is a 2001 book by paleoconservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan. In the book, Buchanan argues that Western culture is under threat and may soon be in decline.

## Summary

The book's title references Oswald Spengler's _Decline of the West_. Buchanan claims that the culture that created western civilization is in danger in the United States. He predicts that by 2050, the United States will no longer be a western country. He uses United Nations population statistics to analyze trends, noting declines in European populations and growth in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Buchanan describes the United States as having a "nation within a nation," with 30 million foreign-born people, including 11 million undocumented immigrants, which he says is larger than the populations of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut combined.

He criticizes the "counterculture" of the 1960s, claiming it has become dominant and aims to rewrite American history and dismantle traditional heritage. Buchanan argues this culture is hostile to western civilization, asserting that a new generation sees the cultural revolution as normal and seeks to impose political correctness.

Buchanan writes that since the 1960s, an "adversary culture" has tried to damage America's history and its heroes. He claims that through media support, the counterculture has left few institutions and figures untouched, while Americans fail to resist this influence.

He devotes a chapter to Columbus, arguing that the discovery of America, once celebrated, is now criticized as the beginning of slavery, racism, and genocide. Buchanan notes that the UN canceled Columbus Day celebrations and some institutions replaced it with Indigenous Peoples Day.

Buchanan also criticizes new history textbooks for omitting traditional achievements like the Wright brothers and the moon landing and instead highlighting African and pre-Columbian civilizations. He disputes the portrayal of European colonizers as purely genocidal, noting that indigenous peoples practiced practices like cannibalism and lacked technologies like the wheel.

Regarding slavery, Buchanan argues that European involvement ended African rulers' slave trade: "Had it not been for the West, African rulers would still be trafficking in the flesh of their kinsmen."

Buchanan claims the "war on America's past" and the "dumbing down of American children" has succeeded, undermining defenders of western history while promoting those who criticize it.

He references critics like John H. Wallace, who attacked Huckleberry Finn, and Susan Sontag, who he quotes as calling the "white race the cancer of human history."

Buchanan also links the decline of Christianity in the West to low birth rates, hopelessness, and political utopianism. He argues that secularism and anti-Christian sentiment have caused Western culture to lose traditional values, leaving people searching for meaning.

## Reception

_Kirkus Reviews_ described the book as "[s]hameless, embarrassing rantings" and criticized Buchanan's historical claims, such as his statement on African slavery, as dishonest.

Jonah Goldberg of the _National Review_ commented that Buchanan "brilliantly manages to do with one language what Yassir Arafat does with two," appealing to extremists while keeping plausible deniability.

Historians like Niall Ferguson have retrospectively linked the book's premise to the concept of Eurabia. Buchanan's follow-up book _State of Emergency_ explicitly linked his ideas to the Eurabia concept.

## Related pages

- _America Alone_
- _Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War_
- Criticism of multiculturalism
- Eurabia
- Frankfurt School
- _Germany Abolishes Itself_
- Great Replacement
- _Le Suicide français_
- Opposition to immigration
- _We Are Doomed_
- White genocide conspiracy theory

## Other websites

- _The Death of the West_ at Archive.org
- "Reviving the West" Review by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- "'The Death of the West'" Review by Paul Gottfried
- "Buchanan and Market" Economics Review by Jeffrey A. Tucker
- _The Death of the West_ Review by Thomas Dunne

## Infobox (book)

- **name**: The Death of the West
- **border**: yes
- **author**: Pat Buchanan, Patrick J. Buchanan
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **publisher**: St. Martin's Griffin
- **release date**: 2001
- **media type**: Print (hardcover and paperback)
- **pages**: 320