West Analyzes The Situation In The US, The Meaning Of Jan 6, and Our over 900 Tortured Political prisoners, In A Way That Eclipses Every Political Commentator I Have Heard
“The historical parallels to The Great Terror in The French Revolution, I am very afraid, are quite strong.”
—Diana West
Once I had found it, I could not stop listening.
From start to finish, I virtually stood stock still next to the laptop listening to this recent, stunning interview with historian, scholar, writer, and new friend Diana West, talking about what is happening in the US.
The interview is here. It should go “viral.”
Terms like “national treasure” come up right alongside West’s name. But she bothers the conservative In Crowd, she is a thorn in their side, somehow.
I think it’s because she is both correct, brilliant, and non abrasive. Feminine, articulate, and lapidary.
Another rub: This I know from my father, being an “anti-communist—” it just was not something the American conservative movement could quite stomach.
(Big subject)
Diana West likely also perturbs the conservative star machine because she brings the actual bear into the living room. The bear is the truth.
What West documented about the true story of what we called communism placed her, I think, in a category of historians who are too exacting for their own good. I owe a debt to my friend Peter Barry Chowka for reminding me of Diana West’s importance and work, a few years ago. I hope we can get Peter over here too.
Three quotes about Diana West’s American Betrayal:
"It is not simply a good book about history. It is one of those books which makes history. ... "
-- Vladimir Bukovsky, co-founder of the Soviet dissident movement and author of Judgment in Moscow, and Pavel Stroilov, author of Behind the Desert Storm.
"Diana West is distinguished from almost all political commentators because she seeks less to defend ideas and proposals than to investigate and understand what happens and what has happened. This gives her modest and unpretentious books and articles the status of true scientific inquiry, shifting the debate from the field of liking and disliking to being and non-being."
-- Olavo de Carvalho
If you're looking for something to read, this is the most dazzling, mind-warping book I have read in a long time. It has been criticized by the folks at Front Page, but they don't quite get what Ms. West has set out to do and accomplished. I have a whole library of books on communism, but -- "Witness" excepted -- this may be the best.
-- Jack Cashill, author of Deconstructing Obama: The Lives, Loves and Letters of America's First Postmodern President and First Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America
"Every once in a while, something happens that turns a whole structure of preconceived ideas upside down, shattering tales and narratives long taken for granted, destroying prejudice, clearing space for new understanding to grow. Diana West's latest book, American Betrayal, is such an event."
-- Henrik Raeder Clausen, Europe News
Those who never tackled the blight of “communism” (quotation marks explained later) but are now heroes of the post Covid resistance to tyranny, can they ever truly weave it all together the way Diana West can?
She is also very funny.
Diana emailed me this earlier today, following my Berenson post.
”But maybe it’s because he shills for Pfizer!!
Signed,
Another gal with a couple hundred paid subscribers.”
Hearkening back to our earlier conversations today…why is Glenn Greenwald on Tucker Carlson Tonight talking about the death of democracy (from Brazil,) and not… Diana West?
By the way, Diana is here, is a subscriber, so she can read any comments you may have after listening.
(Diana, my friend, you have to get on Substack.)
I will call this interview “required listening.” It reframes the entire national conversation, which tends to get stuck in old ruts and ideas.
Diana West sees what many of us can’t, or won’t. We are in a very, very dangerous moment in history and the playbook is soaked in the blood of those who didn’t think it could happen in their country.
"What one has dismissed will become one's downfall."
--John Stirling Walker
Note: Diana mentions Bukovsky. Here is a link to my two part article and interview with Bukovsky, in Epoch Times.
https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/diana-west-america-has-unraveledi