Mona Charen

Charon’s account of the twentieth century is strictly written from the right-hand side of the left-right spectrum. She recaps history from the big wars to Grenada, giving the title (the useful idiots) as the theme of her criticism of the left. As she winds her way through the cold war, Asia, Latin America, the fall of the iron curtain and Soviet collapse, she points to the unthinking support the left always seems to give the anti-American side. She illustrates the same for the war with Islamo-Facism and gives brief looks at internationalism and environmentalism.

While the viewpoint is constant, the analysis is limited, and I don’t expect it to change any minds. She seems to have published a long detailed set of quotations rather than any new opinion. I’ll keep the book as a reference due to its many extended quotations, but expect only the extreme right to enjoy it.… (mer)