Review
The New Man-Molders
The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies
by Ryszard Legutko
reviewed by Arthur W. Hunt III
The dust was still settling in Europe in the aftermath of World War II when C. S. Lewis wrote, "The man-moulders of the new age will be armed with the powers of an omnicompetent state and an irresistible scientific technique." In The Abolition of Man he warned of the new "Conditioners," who would "cut out all posterity in what shape they pleased." In 1947 Lewis did not identify whether the levers of this controlling materialism would come from the Soviet East or the Free West; instead he seemed to be looking toward a rising shadow on the wall of modernity, one that had dismissed any notions of the Tao, that is, of traditional morality.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Arthur W. Hunt III is a former professor of public speaking at the University of Tennesse at Martin. He is now preparing to transition to ministry-related service and lives in the greater Memphis area.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on book reviews from the online archives
more from the online archives
33.1—January/February 2020
on the Consequences of One Birth Before Roe v. Wade by Craig Kellogg Galer
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
