SteynOnline

The latest selection of reader reactions to  America Alone.

REMOVE THE OIL AND THE REST FOLLOWS
I just finished reading your book, America Alone , and it is, in my view, a fabulous look at what is happening here and now between the Muslims and the rest of us.  I know many people who are in complete denial about the threat we face from the radical Islamists and I don't hear word one from the Muslim street saying "you don't talk for us, knock it off!"  Although what is happening in Somalia is quite interesting.  But I digress....

On pages 205 & 206 you provide a  list of ten items, things we can do that can reform Islam.  My favorite is number 8, that being the transformation of the energy industry.  This is a critical issue for the following reason.  The published total GDP of the entire 22 nations the Arab League in 2005 went to 1.05 trillion dollars and it only got to that point as a result of 60 plus dollar a barrel oil prices.  Iran is not a member of the Arab League and their GDP was 352 Billion dollars so for all of these 23 nations, the total is well under 1 1/ 2 trillion dollars!  Interestingly, to put that into perspective, Italy's total GDP for the same period was 1.765 trillion dollars.  Now they have a nice agricultural background and a little bit of manufacturing and they are still way ahead of the entire Arab League. 

Having said all of this, it occurs to me that the most horrific weapon we could possible devise against the Arab nations that fund this war (yes, I think we are in WW III) would be for the president of the United States to go before congress and ask for the funding for the Manhattan Project II, that being the research to find an energy source to replace crude oil and the immediate development and implementation of the outcome of that research to put the program into place. 

When I read about Iranian "petro dollars" funding Hezbollah, and the Saudis, as you have also pointed out, funding the exportation of their brand of Islam all being made possible by the sale of crude oil it simply drives me nuts.  From the time this technology is discovered (and it will be as soon as it becomes an idea whose time has come) that entire sector of the planet will have 3, maybe 4 years before it completely unravels.  The scenes of the fat Saudi prices sitting in their palaces and the goose stepping Iranian soldiers the news agencies love to trot out would become nothing more than pictures of history.   The Saudi princes would be running for their lives when the entire population rose up looking for scraps of food and what do you think would happen in Iran when all of those soldiers no longer had 3 squares and reliable drinking water much less weapons?  Well the Ayatollahs would be begging for a spot on the runners of the helicopters lifting off right behind the Saudis. 

Bernard Lewis mentioned it as well in his book, "What Went Wrong" when he said the world would probably do this when they got sick of putting up with these capricious autocrats. 

I'm not too sure I'd feel all that badly for Putin or Chavez either but they could all eat a little crow together as they beg us to buy what they have for $5.00 a barrel. 

Anyway, as you may have noticed by now, I'm a little passionate about this and it's people like you and O'Reilly that need to talk this up and make it that idea whose time has come.  I will be making a gift of your book to several friends, both those that agree with you an d those that don't.  Please keep putting these ideas out there and keeping it a real point of view I think people need to hear.

Jack Goldman
Long Island,  New York

SUNBATHING AS THE TSUNAMI ROLLS IN
I just finished reading America Alone and I wanted to say thanks for having the balls to publish that book.  I am a well-educated and well-traveled individual with some time in the Middle East in my past.  I use a wide variety of resources to keep abreast of world events, and I am pretty good at synthesizing wide-ranging concepts and spotting trends (Within days of Bill Clinton’s first election win, I predicted that his wife would be running for president one day, and that she would be far more harmful to our nation than her husband.  Hopefully only the first part of my 12 year old prediction comes true.)

But I totally missed the demographic angle on all this.  I am pissed at myself for missing it, but glad that someone who is a much better writer than I figured it out.  We could be screwed.  There is a tsunami coming and we are just sitting on the beach sunning our fat asses.  Meanwhile our political leaders and media mouthpieces are spouting all the same PC Bullshit you quote in the book: “That giant tidal wave is a wave of peace, and the majority of waves mean you no harm…”  What a bunch of wimps.  Is there anyone on the US political scene with any balls?

Keep up the great work and keep your head down.  This redneck owns guns and will have your back if you need the help!

Matt Sobolewski
Greenwood, Arkansas

UNWORTHY OF YOU
I’m a huge fan of your work, and appreciated the opportunity to read so many great Steyn snippets in the year-end spectacular on your website. I was surprised, though, that you included this paragraph:

“Two books have just hit the shelves - While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying The West From Within by Bruce Bawer, and Menace In Europe: Why The Continent’s Crisis Is America’s, Too by Claire Berlinski… Neither is a xenophobic yahoo: Miss Berlinski “divides her time” – as the book jackets say – between Paris and Instanbul; she has a doctorate in international relations from Oxford. Bawer is a homosexual who moved to the Continent because he was weary of the theocratic oppressiveness of redneck America and wanted to live his life in the gay utopia of the Netherlands. Alas, when he got there he found the gay scene had gone belly up and, theocratic oppressor-wise, Pat Robertson has nothing on some of the livelier Amsterdam madrassahs… Bruce Bawer is reluctant to give up on the idea that a bisexual pothead hedonist utopia is a viable concept rather than, as it’s proving in the Netherlands, a mere novelty interlude; his book might have been better called While Europe Slept Around.”

I thought Bawer’s book was quite good.  To me, the fact that he began his journey in Europe as a leftist sympathizer only makes the book that much stronger.  My reading of the book didn’t leave me with the impression that he is yearning for a new utopia, but rather than he is yearning for more people in the world to wake up to the threat of Islamic fascism, just as you are. 

Maybe you painted a clearer picture in the full piece, but the way this excerpt comes across, it seems like you are trying to discredit Bawer simply because he is gay.  That seems quite unworthy of you.

Sarah Rolph
Carlisle, Massachusetts

MARK REPLIES: No, I’m not getting at Bruce Bawer because he’s gay: My little joke about While Europe Slept Around is aimed at Eurohedonists not passing strangers from the United States. And I agree that the fact that he comes at the Continent’s problems from a gay-left perspective makes the book rather useful. However, Bruce’s journey is not yet complete: he persists in his belief that a secular “rationalist” relativist multicultural multisexual boundlessly tolerant Europe is the solution to the Continent’s woes rather than (at least partly) the cause of them – a modish nullity in whose vacuum Islamism incubated and spread. I know the Netherlands well – my mother’s family is Belgian – and I remember, even at the age of 20, wandering the streets of Amsterdam and thinking, well, this is all grand, but for as long as it lasts. It’s not an organizational basis for an enduring society.   

EQUIVALENCE NATION
Mark, I received a copy of America Alone from my son and I was unable to put it down. I finished it and a half hour later I was surprised, or perhaps not surprised to see that “The Globe and Mail” had named Maher Arar and Sgt. Patrick Tower as Nation Builders of 2006. While I can appreciate handing the title to one of our brave soldiers, albeit a token title in my opinion considering that Sgt. Towers is simply following orders and really has no skills or credentials in so called “nation building”. However, to put this Arar character is the same light as the good infantryman is another example of pacifying Islam. Awe darn. This poor Muslim was treated unfairly, so let’s build a mosque. Then, I was reading some letters on a local website regarding the hanging of Saddam . One letter writer said that anyone who thought that hanging Saddam would bring peace to the region was fooling themselves and that we outta hang George Dubya beside him. Then we’d be on the “road to peace”. So I replied to his letter questioning how the hanging of George Dubya could help etc. I closed my letter by suggesting that the author of that letter change his name to Mohammed and join Islam. The website published my letter, but edited the last part about his name and joining Islam. I guess we wouldn’t want to offend any Muslims. Anyway, your book hits the nail on the head and should be mandatory reading in all high schools as well as Ottawa.

J Watson
Westbank, British Columbia

WHERE ARE ALL THE HATCHET JOBS?
I have read most of the reviews of your book. They seem all to be positive except from a provincial paper in British Columbia. The most comprehensive one is that which you have just posted from Albion’s Seedlings, and I would have preferred to see more such which are positive while containing impartial criticism.

My question is this - have there been any negative reviews, and if so, have you posted them? I find it hard to believe that the left would not have “had a go” at you, but maybe they are intimidated.  And what about the MSM - New York Times, Globe & Mail, and any UK paper you can think of? Where are their reviewers in the face of this best-seller?

It seems unlikely that they would have retired with a lick and a whimper, so to what do you attribute this grand silence? Are they just leaving it to the booksellers to bury you and hope you will just go away?

Douglas Sheard
Eastern Townships, Québec

MARK REPLIES: As it happens, I would love to see a great liberal takedown of my book, but I’m still waiting. So far all the criticisms and disagreements are from the right. The New York Times contented itself with the capsule summation on its Bestseller List:

America Alone, by Mark Steyn. (Regnery, $27.95.) A conservative columnist argues that America should spread its influence around the world.

The first four words of that précis translate to: “You don’t need to bother with this.” As for The Globe & Mail, the book hit Number One on Amazon Canada and a few other bestseller charts and they felt they couldn’t simply ignore it, so they gave it to some reviewer. He stated the book’s argument reasonably fairly and then sniffed that this was “quite possibly the most crass and vulgar book about the West’s relationship with the Islamic world I have ever encountered.”

And that’s that. He didn’t say what was wrong about my argument, only that he found it aesthetically distasteful. Had I been the literary editor, I’d have sent back the review saying: c’mon, man, you gotta do better than that; if you think it’s crapola, you gotta explain why. But he didn’t, which suggests to me he couldn’t. As it happens, the Globe has been making some fitful overtures to me in recent months and seemed surprised when I took a modified Groucho Marx line that I didn’t care to write for any paper that couldn’t do a decent hatchet job on my book.

BROTHERLY HATE
I just read America Alone . Intriguing, hilarious, disturbing. Like Mark, after traveling throughout much of Europe and Asia on business, I remember thinking, “Thank God for the English.” In 1982 as students at the University of Missouri-Columbia my wife and I took a neighbor to church. He was from Pakistan. After church he said, “I like your songs. They are about brotherhood, love and peace.” Then he said, “Do you know what we sing about in the mosque?” I said no. He said, “Killing Christians and Jews.” That was 25 years ago. Now I live in a border state with half a million illegal immigrants each year. That’s very far from ideal, but at least most of those immigrants have a Catholic Christian heritage, work hard and would rather eat at McDonald’s than blow it up. The next 40 years will be very interesting, to say the least.

Frank Pierce

ATTORNEY OVERLOAD
I started my engineering career as a mining engineer. Now I am an environmental engineer, though I did do work recently in Okinawa renovating building for the Army.

In a strange twist of fate North Korea's missile launched saved several building from demolition and are now being renovated for the Army's patriot missile system. But I digress.
 
Instead of working on making this country energy independent, and reducing to flow of money to people who hate, I have been cleaning waste sites. Much of the work has been a lot of money, effort and time on sites that actually posed little threat.
 
Being an engineer has not been easy for the last 25 years. I have also noted that this country produces fewer engineers, and many spend a good part of their careers unemployed.
 
I have enjoyed your book, America Alone , but isn't the vast increase of lawyers and the reduced number of engineers also of concern.
 
Please do not use my name as my employer would not like to hear that I stated that much of the work I do is quite frankly stupid.

Name withheld

BLAIR OFFERS HOPE
Mr. Steyn,  my son gave me America Alone for Christmas yesterday and I could not put it down until finishing it moments ago. It is a brilliant book and should be made a compulsory read by all politicians in Canada and the USA.  I found the book both frightening and hopeful.  Could it be that the first sign of recognition of the problem in Europe was Tony Blair's speech recently wherein he essentially stated that multi-culturalism was a mistake and that immigrants to the UK should adopt British ways?   A hope, perhaps.

Terrence G Murphy
Furry Creek, British Columbia

MARK REPLIES: Could be. But what does Tony Blair mean by “adopt British ways”? For the first half of his premiership, he gave the impression that any British “tradition” – from hunting to the national anthem – was discredited by the very fact of its antiquity. He embraced every silly foolish fashion. After the Tube bombings, he pledged that the perpetrators would never “change the British way of life”. As I commented at the time, “Of course not. That’s his job.” He is a remarkably brave man in foreign policy, who has taken huge political risks to align himself with a just cause, the antipathy of his party and his citizenry notwithstanding. But the domestic policy picture is very different and trying to follow his speeches from one week to the next can give you whiplash.

SECOND FAVORITE
I just finished reading your book America Alone . I must admit I have never heard of you but now you are my 2nd favorite author behind Thomas Sowell. I look forward to reading more from you. Hopefully, the naive people in the United States who refuse to face the many truths that you point out will someday see your point of view. Great job on the book!

Mike Jacobs

LIFE MIRRORS TV
I just finished your book.  Thank you!  I have been a fan of your column for a while.  I am a veteran of OIF and am now a student at Harvard Business School (which is why I had to wait until break to read your book).  You might not be surprised at how often I get into discussions where the topics covered in your book are a central theme.  I feel much more armed and prepared for these debates.

As a funny aside, I was reading your book while my wife was watching a movie. 

The movie was “American Dreamz” where the premise is that an idiot president goes on an American Idol show where an Islamic suicide bomber is going to blow him up.  In the end the bomber was unable to do so but a purple hearted Iraq war veteran picks up the suicide belt and blows himself up.  After the movie, she turned on the news and John Edwards was discussing his run for the presidency, poverty, universal healthcare, and immediate reduction in troops in Iraq.

I couldn’t help but shake my head as I read the final pages of your book and the need for us to strengthen our Will.

Mark Cuthbert
Harvard Business Schoo

l

ISLAMOPHOBES MAKE ME SICK

”If, say, Britain was the kind of country willing to entertain mass deportation, it wouldn't be in this fix in the first place.”

I found this remark a bit of “black” humor. The British have done good jobs messing up other countries. This comment reminded me of what British did to the Irish over many centuries of occupation-denial of language, at times religion, harassment, stealing of best land and transplanting colonists from Britain. And then during the Great famine when the potato crop failed, starvation - food sent from country. The poor were driven from their hovels for nonpayment of rent and the hovels demolished - no Caterpillars needed and whole families died of starvation in ditches at side of road. The lucky ones emigrated-my great great grandparents among them suffering greatly on Famine ships but happy to make new life in Canada. The population of Ireland through deaths and emigration was halved.

Another question to ask is why does Britain have varied population - occupation and power at one time?

And as to nasty people - do a study of USA’s School of Americas-training of death squads. And it was not Muslims who killed so many good people in South America. The other country involved in the violence there as well as USA was Israel mainly through arms’ sales to increase the violence. How did they escape censure for role there and why were they on that continent?

Those who worry so much about Muslims make me ill.

K Bride

l

ENCOURAGED BY YOUR AIR TIME
I'm reading "America Alone" for the second time....I finished it, and simply turned back to the front page and started all over again.

This book should be placed on top the desk of every MSM person in the world today. It should also be mandatory reading material for every kid in America.

I know, I know....I'm just dreaming. I have no other comment except I hope to see you more and more on TV and hear you more and more on talk radio. I missed your appearance on Hannity and Colmes...saw the last few minutes only. But am extremely excited that YOU and your MESSAGE are getting more air time.

You are the clarity of thought that everyone needs to have whenever postulating over various political, social, and economical thoughts....we all so desperately NEED!

Ed Enos
Honolulu, Hawaii

SUNNI BOY
I am halfway through you book. My happy holidays are completely ruined. The very least that you could do is include a packet of anti-depressants inside the back leaf.

But lets get to the important question: Sunni or Shiite? When you revert, presumably, you can pick your preferred flavor. Which to you favor? I am leaning towards the Shiites, because I can't stomach those Saudi SOBs.

 Peter Gil

l

MARK REPLIES: If I had to choose, I’d probably agree with you: as the Iranians say, “We’re heah, we’re Shia, get used to it.”

YOU’RE TOO NEGATIVE
I just finished reading your book, America Alone , and I agree with your basic opinions, especially with regard to the decay of European civilization and the nature of Islam.

I do disagree with your prophetic predictions, however as I believe you have overlooked some crucial factors in your emphasis on the details of current statecraft and the current prevailing attitudes among those who adhere to the Islamic faith.

1. You do not address at all the likelihood, that as the nascent Islamic Caliphate grows, competing interests within Islam will tend to look for new alliances, including an alliance with the remaining Western Powers to get a leg up on other Islamic interests. Some countries which come to mind include Kazakhstan, Morocco, Turkey, Kurdistan and Malaysia.

2. Just today, the New York Post reported that Germany is offering a “basket” of benefits amounting to $31,000 per newborn child. .Fertility rates can be cyclical and we do not have a sufficient historical model in modern times to rule out a dramatic increase in the European birthrate and, at the same time, a drastic reduction in an increasingly modernized and affluent Islamic European population which will be faced with the same temptations as led to the decrease in the native born European birthrate.

3 .Western culture is epitomized by joy and happiness as these qualities are reflected in its religious and secular holidays, its music (for the most part) and its family life and values and its emphasis on life. Islamic cultures, on the other hand, promote doleful music, restrict common activities which are considered joyful (including ingesting wine, beer and scotch) and celebrate death or the afterlife in lieu of, and not in addition to, life. There is no reason to believe that Islamic youth will not ultimately choose the Western culture of joy over a morbid and hopeless alternative.

Benjamin P Eisenberger
New York, New York

MARK REPLIES: To take your points in order:

1) How many “remaining Western Powers” will there be and how important will it be to form an “alliance” with them when Russia and western Europe are Islamified? The countries you name have far more reason to cosy up to the west today than they will in 20 years’ time, yet Turkey has been drifting toward Islamism and its last-minute backtrack on Iraq caused many of the problems in the Sunni Triangle that plague us today. Malaysia is one of the least worst Muslim countries, yet giving more vent to the most clichéd pathologies every day. And Kurdistan is not a state: the Kurds are America’s best friends in the Muslim world, and a lot of their leaders are asking right now where that’s got them.

2) As I say in the book, truly natalist policies require not just putting more money back into the citizen’s pockets, but more responsibility. And the reason we don’t have “sufficient historical models in modern times” for reversing population is because it’s never been done. But, simply as a matter of arithmetic, the longer you leave it the harder it is to have any “dramatic increase” because with every passing year you’re trying to start that increase from a smaller and smaller base. And, while it’s true that European Muslims breed at roughly half the rate of Yemeni Muslims, that reduced rate is still over twice that of ethnic Europeans. Their fertility rate will decline but decline later and by the time it does they will have changed the sociopolitical character of Europe.

3) You say “there is no reason to believe” that Islamic youth will not ultimately choose western culture. Actually, there’s quite a lot of reasons to believe the opposite, not least the compelling evidence that Islamic youth in Europe is less assimilated than their parents and grandparents. You can bet on a long shot but don’t kid yourself it’s a certainty.

THRILLS AND CHILLS
I enjoy your columns. When my new NR comes, yours is the first article I read. Funny stuff, and yet, not so much.

Your book America Alone is very good, and frightening. It reminded of The West's Last Chance , which is also a good, frightening book- though a bit mor e hopeful than yours.

I lent your book to a couple of people and it was returned with either no comment, or a shrug. I'm afraid people don't really want to hear the truth a bout what's happening in the world- let alone in Michigan, USA. (and Dearbornistan is right next to me.).

Anyway, keep it up! The truth will eventually penetrate the fog of American apathy. Thank you so much for so much of my reading pleasure,

Mary Ann

CAN’T WE TALK ABOUT IT?
I just finished reading America Alone , my wish is that every one of our elected officials read your book.  Your point about the radical muslin movement is so true, a little bit of basic human nature.  The bully yells I am going to beat you up (Iran saying they are going to kill us) so we tremble and say what can we do to make you not do this (can we talk?)  You made this point so well all through out your book.  Thank you again, I am looking forward to reading your other publications.

Linda

ALARMED FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN
I am a retired Army officer, enjoying a great life in the Hill Country of Texas.  I am very satisfied and content with my life, but I am alarmed by the prospect that my children and grandchildren will not have the opportunity to live out their lives with satisfaction and contentment.  I have come to believe, reluctantly, that the future of Western civilization is very grim, for the reasons you explain so well in your book, "America Alone."  Thank you for all you do to try to warn this country, and the non-Muslim world, of the terrifying reality of the Muslim Menace.
 
I want to become involved in some meaningful way in spreading the word and helping Americans understand that the threat is real, that sticking our heads in the sand and engaging in wistful hoping is the path to doom and destruction.  Do you have any suggestions as to how I might achieve that objective?  Do you know of any organizations and/or Websites that I could join or utilize to be a foot soldier in defense of Western values and culture against the Islamic onslaught?
 
I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you might have.  I urge you to continue to tell it like it is and not be discouraged by those people and organizations who must know in their hearts that you are right, but who are too intent on political correctness and sappy multiculturalism to admit it.  Thank you again.

Charles Gentry
Kerrville, Texas

MARK REPLIES: I don’t know of any think-tanks or whatnot that are specifically dedicated to the defense of western values, but you’re right: perhaps it’s time to start one.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
Thank you sincerely for making many things clearer and for putting certain developments into perspective.

I am very much aware of what happens in the world today and wonder how to DO anything about it besides all the TALK? I am from Europe and have moved to the US shortly after 9-11. I cannot help but feeling useless in this situation where I either preach to the local choir of a few interesting Conservatives or piss off a local Liberal.

I wish you a Happy New Year!

Ralph Hassenpflug
Maine

THE ONLY COPY IN CANBERRA
Happy New Year from the Antipodes
 
For months I considered ordering America Alone online, but no, I thought, I will have a much more extended and personalised good time trying to buy it over the shelf in a Peoples' Republic of Canberra (Australia) bookstore. 
 
I was partially right.  For several months, I had been asking at several “leading” booksellers about America Alone.  No-one had heard of it. 
 
Recently a large new Borders store opened in Canberra (coffee shop, child care centre, gymnasium,  Free Tibet Collective, et al).  I don't know if it is affiliated with a major American chain, but I expect so.  From the start, they had America Alone listed on their database, but never on the shelves.  Was this the new Flying Dutchman?  I was repeatedly proffered the "Sorry, it hasn't come in yet, that's the central computer listing" or some other excuse.  Hope faded.  Was I being tracked?  Did this tome exist in the southern hemisphere, or was my desire to read dissent again being suppressed?
 
Two days ago (31 December 2006), hoping against hope, I again entered the maw of Borders.  New releases (non-fiction) - zip.  Politics - nix.  I eventually located a single copy, on the bottom-most assorted shelf near the philosophy section, where presumably browsers had put it prior to it being re-shelved.  I trembled when I saw the red cover, so reminiscent of the obese Woodward heresy.  Could this be it?  After months of slavering anticipation, it was.  I looked around, fearful of being mugged by unwashed Green Party lurkers or similarly deprived conservatives.  I raced to the checkout with my tome pressed under my tweed jacket.  I glanced at the price tag.  AUD$60.95 - WTF!!!  Nevertheless, like a crack addict in deep withdrawal, I was prepared to pay whatever it took to satiate me.
 
En route, somewhere along the furlong of my covert withdrawal, my unaccompanied teenage son, killing time in the sci-fi section, en route to commence his shift at a transnational oppressive burger emporium (above award rates paid), accosted me.  "Hi Dad, what's the book?"  Reluctantly I revealed it.  "That's the book you've been talking about for months, isn't it?.  May I read it when you're finished (he was always well brought up)?"  "Sure son, let's just get out of here alive.  It was the last copy.  You lead with your latest $17.95 Matthew Reilly opus - it'll keep the heat off us, despite my tweed jacket."
 
I fronted the checkout guy.  He said "$27.95".  I could have hugged him.  Why would the last copy of the first run of such an in-demand book be so heavily discounted?  I didn't ask. 
 
I drove home, checking my rear view mirrors and conducting counter-surveillance.  Once there, I triple-locked the door, placed my trusty blued Smith & Wesson .38 Model 36 (five shot) on my lap, and started reading.  Later I had a glass of wine and read some more.  I had to move my trusty Model 36 to a nearby table to avoid an unauthorised discharge, due to excessive laughter. 
 
God bless you, Mr Steyn.

D Ryan
Canberra, Australia

THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BIG BOYS (AND GIRLS)
I think you failed to fully comprehend Lionel Albert's letter. 

Mr. Albert: "Pleasing moment around the tree on Chri stmas Day in Toronto as no. 1 grandson curled up with his present, The Dangerous Book for Boys, I notice son reading his copy of America Alone and daughter's brother-in-law absorbed in her copy."
 
Mr. Steyn: "Okay, but America Alone isn’t  just for boys. Next year, give the daughter a copy, too."

The last two words in Mr. Albert's statement are "her copy."  The daughter did receive her own copy.  Her brother-in-law swooped in and started reading it.
 
Incidentally, I did some bookstore browsing during the Christmas shopping season.  The Barnes & Noble in Bloomingdale, Illinois, had one copy.  B&N in Geneva, Illinois, had two copies.&n bsp; Borders in St. Charles, Illinois, had six (or maybe just four - I forget).  But Costco in Bloomingdale (where I bought my copy) had a least a couple stacks of them upon initial release, and had apparently sold out before Thanksgiving.

Paul Hempel
Carol Stream, Illinois

PS. I wanted to mention that my wife gave me the best Christmas present I have received since... I don't know when.  I already own America Alone, so that wasn't it.  Instead, she got me something I never would have thought to buy for myself, but which perfectly suits my interests: a "Viva Steyn" t-shirt from The Western Standard .  Somehow, this gift has given me a new admiration for my wife.

PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED
Loved your new book, but I can't help thinking it's only being read by people who are already predisposed to agree with it. I have come to conclude that most people believe what they want to believe and will bend the facts to support their preconceived views. The Left's response to the threat posed to its cherished dogmas by September 11 is a perfect example: re-frame it (wrongly) as a Marxist-style class struggle between the developed and third world; blame it on America as a predictable response to it's allegedly 'blood soaked' foreign policy; or (better yet) declare the whole affair a Bush-led right wing conspiracy to usher in a worldwide Republican reign of terror. I am inclined to believe Indigo when they say that their poli-sci book selection merely reflects what sells. People have bought into what the Left is selling and they are usually merely looking to congratulate themselves on their choice. 

Up here in Soviet Canuckistan, the Left - with its dream-team of the nanny state, the mainstream media, pop culture, and academia - has so completely won the battle for the hearts and minds of the masses that even nominally Conservative politicians must kneel before its absurdities. So...umm...any ideas as to what an ordinary schmuck like me can do about this? 

Intellectually speaking, I feel like a starving guerilla hiding in the jungle whiles the metaphorical armies of the Left reign triumphant. Is there anything at all that can be done here - even if it's just the allegorical raid here or hand-to-hand combat there? Michael Moore had a chapter in his book Dude, Where's My Country on how to talk to (i.e. win over) your conservative relatives. I'd be interested in seeing something similar from you. In a democracy, the truth will only make you free if you can sell it. Being able to say "I told you so" in 20, 30, 40 years time is pretty cold comfort. 

Rob MacKenzie
Sherwood PK, Alberta 
 

MARK REPLIES: I agree that being proven right about the apocalypse is no consolation. If we all set ourselves a target of bringing round one complacenik every three months, it would make a huge difference. I’ve been giving a bit of thought to this. 

Steve Wang
New York

MARK REPLIES: I’ve written about The Children Of Men – the novel and the movie – in the new edition of Maclean’s.

ROAST TURKI
I just got done reading your book, and I have several questions and comments.  On the dust cover is a quote from the Saudi Ambassador to the United States: “The arrogance of Mark Steyn knows no bounds”.  Does that mean that you are almost as arrogant as he is?  Also, I think you should take Regnery to task for their spelling of his name.  The correct spelling is T-U-R-K-E-Y.  By the way have you considered running with Victor Davis Hanson on the Republican Ticket for 2008?

Bill Olmsted
Hammondsport, New York

MARK REPLIES: I have, but it would take a constitutional amendment. Alternatively, I could just run and win and then the Chief Justice could say, “Well, clearly we need immigrants to come here to do the jobs that Americans won’t do” and administer the oath. But, to be honest, I’d rather it didn’t come to that. Of the 2008 candidates, Mitt Romney has read “America Alone”. I wonder who else will.

STEYN IN 'O8
Just finished "America Alone" and suggest you run for US President in '08.  I don't care you're not native born; you've got my vote.

Garry
Grass Valley, California

HEALTHCARE HORROR
Information is power. Thanks for the demographic information. Your insights are right on. Please write more on healthcare. It appears that the Democrats are attempting to nationalize healthcare again. It would be a disaster. Please address the facts on how government control of healthcare would be a downward spiral.

R Muckerman

MARK REPLIES: I’ve written on health care a lot over the years, but the core argument is this. It’s such a vast annexation of the economy in a modern state that it transforms the relationship between the citizen and government. Britain’s National Health Service is decrepit and failing, but it’s the biggest employer in Europe and so it squats like a dying toad over British politics.

FOX HUNTING IN CANADA
Enjoyed your recent interview by Hugh Hewitt Mark. We too bought multiple copies as oh my gaud America Alone stocking stuffers. We managed to do so in a rare moment of time when Indigo (North Vancouver) actually had a few copies in stock. We had been pestering their staff by phone and email for quite some time which we hope had some effect in stocking your great book. Of course we also failed to see you hosting on Hannity's show because as you are familiar, Canada's communication/cultural gatekeeper, the CRTC will not allow Canadians to be insulted by the likes of Fox News. Now Al-Jazeera for Canadians that is worthy of great debate..right up there with the MotherCorp. Peter the Red Mansbridge surely must be breathing a sigh of relief that Fox won't be gracing our airwaves any time soon. After all he and the CBC wouldn't want the ignominy of being widely relegated to fourth in the ratings.

Keep up the great commentary in Western Standard, MacLeans (er er The Post is it coming again?) and of course everywhere elsewhere.

R Morris
N Vancouve

r

WELFARE JUNKIES WE AIN'T
I've been living in Japan for over a year now, and I can't tell you how many times we get confused for our physically similar cousins on the continent.  The stereotype is that Japanese work hard and the lazier, more affluent Euros and Yanks don't.  We are unfortunately lumped into the same socialist pile.  We may be fat and well-fed, but it's on junk food, not on a buffet of welfare and leisure hours.  Your old topical take was entirely on point with the way Americans take a holiday: we get the day off, and we go back to work the next day.
 
On a separate issue, I had a question about your statements on the Eastern birthrate problem.  To be sure, the Japanese are not breeding, but is this really due to a lack of religion or permanence as you suggest?  Japan has never had a religious population that was fervent in their belief.  Buddhism, Shintoism, Seicho-no-Ie, Tenrikyo, you look at all of the major denominations and nearly every one has a concept of reincarnation involved.
 
Also, South Korea is a secular but Christian nation, and not in the Euro sense: they are among the most devout Christians on the planet.  And yet they have even worse birthrates now than the Japanese.  I just don't think the atheistic argument applies here, but maybe you could give me your thoughts.

Bryan Hartzheim

MARK REPLIES: I mention the South Koreans in the book and specifically say that you can’t correlate directly between religious observance and fertility: after all, the wholly secular Scandinavian societies have less unhealthy birth rates than the residually Catholic Mediterranean ones. But it’s clear that the idea of a “life without purpose” is hard to sustain. Pre-World War Two Japan was not “fervent” in worship but its people were certainly not so self-absorbed.

BEST BOOK
Outstanding book!  The best book I have read in years.  Keep up the fight.

Rob
Atlanta, Georgia

WHO EXACTLY IS IN CHARGE HERE?
Great book, just a few short notes to ponder, having fought in the Vietnam war, Danang ‘66, 311 air commando sq. It has always puzzled me why we fight wars like we do. My first example is when we were at Danang in I corp we tried but not very effectively to cut off supplies coming into the country down the Ho Chi Min trail. If we had done this from the very beginning we would have denied the gooks the fire power to wage a successful insurgency. I believe your point, cutting off the Syrian border is spot on as this is why we are in the trouble now. We are supposed to have the most brilliant minds going, it seems a no-brainer. In North Korea we have 37,000 troops on the border along with South Korean troops, when a re we going to ask our leaders what the hell we are paying them for? If we sealed the border with Syria - nothing in, nothing out - it may work but having witnessed the mess on our southern border here in the USA I can see why, we have the same mentality working once again. I am glad that I don't rely on the government to protect me, I go every two weeks to my local gun club to sharpen my skills, even though I am a senior citzen. I am not one of those Euro weenies, who are hiding under their beds, I'll be at the front door when things get ugly.  Keep up the good work, I always like a good laugh,

A fellow Canadian who didn't run but stayed and fought proud to be an American. 

J W Wilson
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina