Alexander Boot Books

Alexander Boot was born and grew up in the Soviet Union. Unable to conform to the warped requirements of Soviet socialism he became 'ne-nash'. a non-person. At the age of 25 the KGB came to visit, telling him to leave the country or face exile to Siberia. In this book Alexander describes by means of vivid anecdotes what is was like to grow up in Moscow under the Communists.The picture of poverty, oppression, violence, drunkeness, promiscuity, corruption and hopelessness he paints of Soviet life is as nasty and brutish as anything described by Dickens or drawn by Hogarth.

What made the West western ? And has Western civilisation found modernity but lost itself? This provocative and stimulating polemic argues that western culture and civilisation have been destroyed not only in, but indeed by, modernity. How the West Was Lost argues that all modern upheavals the Reformation, the English, American, French and Russian Revolutions, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, both World Wars can only be understood if seen as resulting in an assault on the core values of the West. At its heart lies the belief that the central conflict of our time is cultural and that traditional culture and civilised society have been under attack ever since the Enlightenment. The author traces the development of Western civilisation from its origins paradoxically in the East and examines what he sees as its inexorable decline in all forms of art and all walks of life. He asks uncomfortable questions about politics, philosophy, psychology and religion and suggests answers which are provocative and unorthodox. This book is a bold and challenging attempt to present a new concept of modern history for our complacent times. The results are often unexpected but always original and invigorating."