Out of the Ashes

Anthony M. Esolen

What do you do when an entire civilization is crumbling around you? You do everything. This is a book about how to get started. Providence College professor Anthony Esolen, blunt and prophetic, makes the case that the decay of Western civilization is alarmingly advanced. Our sickly, sub-pagan state resembles a bombed-out city. We have to assess the damage, but merely lamenting it does no good. There is work to be done. The first step is the restoration of truth. America’s most powerful institutions—including the government—are mass producers of deceit. We have to recognize the lies and clear our minds of cant. Our culture produces only the drab or the garish. We must restore beauty—in art, architecture, music, and worship. There are two things wrong with our schools—everything our children don’t learn in them, and everything they do learn. Public schools are beyond...