Fareed Zakaria in an online Aug. 21
New York Times book review —
" Most intellectuals think ideas matter.
In one of his most famous and oft-quoted lines,
John Maynard Keynes declared, 'Practical men
who believe themselves to be quite exempt from
any intellectual influence are usually the slaves
of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority,
who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy
from some academic scribbler of a few years back.'
Scott L. Montgomery and Daniel Chirot concur,
arguing that ideas 'do not merely matter; they matter
immensely, as they have been the source for decisions
and actions that have structured the modern world.'
In The Shape of the New: Four Big Ideas and How
They Made the Modern World , Montgomery and
Chirot make the case for the importance of four
powerful ideas, rooted in the European Enlightenment,
that have created the world as we know it.
'Invading armies can be resisted,' they quote
Victor Hugo. 'Invading ideas cannot be.' "
* Related material: Point Omega , a book
by Don DeLillo, in this journal.