Call From the Cave: Our Cruel Nature and Quest for Power

by Jon Huer

Overview

This book explores the nature of power in persons, groups, and nations by asking a question that we can understand in contemporary terms: what would Bill Gates do if he had Hitler’s absolute power? It is a sociological question that exposes power as a tool of control over the powerless, not as a psychological trait or manners of personal interactions. With Hitler’s power, any individual, group, or nation could become as crazy as Hitler or as cruel as the Nazis. Call from the Cave argues that the savage struggle for power, exemplified in the free market system of America—history’s first and purest “natural” society—is in our very human nature. In the footsteps of the ancient Romans and the recent Nazis, we push on in every waking moment of our lives to expand our power and to control the souls and minds of other human beings to do our bidding. The book concludes that this is the very destiny of humanity we cannot escape.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761860150
Publisher:	Hamilton Books
Publication date:	10/26/2012
Pages:	530
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 5.90(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Jon Huer received his Ph.D. in sociology from UCLA and is the author of a dozen books on social criticism. One of his earlier books, The Dead End: The Psychology and Survival of the American Creed, was hailed by Time magazine’s Lance Morrow as “an important and often brilliant book.” Huer is currently professor of sociology at the University of Maryland University College.

Table of Contents

PREFACE: WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

SYNOPSIS

PART ONE. NAZIS, JEWS, AND OUR WORST ENEMY
Chapter 1: “Know Thyself:” An Introduction
Chapter 2: Between Kings and Things
Chapter 3: “Hitler, We Love You!”
Chapter 4: What Absolute Power Has Wrought
Chapter 5: The Three Utopian Models (I)
Chapter 6: The Three Utopian Models (II)

PART TWO. THE HOLOCAUST ALL OVER AGAIN
Chapter 7: The Holocaust for the Living
Chapter 8: The “Jewish Question”
Chapter 9: A Day’s Work of Absolute Power
Chapter 10: When Power Calls
Chapter 11: Nazi Power, Jewish Death

PART THREE. THE CURIOUS CASE OF ADOLF HITLER
Chapter 12: Hitler’s Psychology, Germany’s National Character
Chapter 13: Hitler and the Legitimate Government
Chapter 14: Hitler and the Constitution
Chapter 15: Hitler’s Image Issues
Chapter 16: Hitler’s Democracy
Chapter 17: Hitler’s Phantom Power
Chapter 18: The Insignificance of Adolf Hitler
Chapter 19: The God-Fuhrer Meets Mr. Daniel Dravot
Chapter 20: Hitler is Dead, Long Live the Good Guys!
Chapter 21: To Hitler with Love from the West

PART FOUR. METHOD TO NAZI MADNESS
Chapter 22: Have Power—Will Use It
Chapter 23: The Secret Career of the “Final Solution”
Chapter 24: Obedient to the Master’s Voice
Chapter 25: Our Crimes against Humanity
Chapter 26: Professionals at Power’s Service
Chapter 27: Rules of Power, Nazi or American
Chapter 28: The Hitler Youth Made in the USA

PART FIVE. THE REIGN OF POWER
Chapter 29: Power, Pure and Simple
Chapter 30: The Ultimate Terror
Chapter 31: Power and Civilization
Chapter 32: Good, Evil, and Power
Chapter 33: Humanity and Power
Chapter 34: The Incredible Pleasure of Being Nazi

PART SIX. CALL FROM THE CAVE: THE “FINAL SOLUTION,” OUR OWN
Chapter 35: Saint Francis and Human Nature
Chapter 36: The Natural Root of Human Evil (I)
Chapter 37: The Natural Root of Human Evil (II)
Chapter 38: The Natural Root of Human Evil (III)
Chapter 39: The Natural Root of Human Evil (IV)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX