Saturday, April 18, 2009

Ezra Levant’s new book, “Shakedown”

I just finished Ezra’s new book, "Shakedown". At first I was reluctant to start reading it. I’d read nearly everything he’s written and spoken on the subject of "Human Rights" Commissions and free speech. I religiously follow his web-site along with several others that concentrate on these issues. I’ve written over seventy-five blog posts myself.

But, to my pleasant surprise, once I started reading "Shakedown" I found I couldn’t put it down. There was some new material though, mostly, it was a familiar story. But the familiar stuff was freshly presented, and; the Kafkaesque nightmare that our so-called "human rights" bureaucracy has forced its victims to endure and the threat it poses to our liberty remain endlessly fascinating. Also, reading Ezra’s book has refreshed my contempt for the official "human rights" industry and for its blatant abuses of fundamental rights.

"Shakedown" is an important book that will be instrumental in the fight to force the repeal of Section 13 of the Human Rights Act and the reform of our "human rights" bureaucracies.

One gripe: I expect that I and many, many others will be using "Shakedown" as a reference in the months and years to come. And this is a "book", not a "pamphlet". A useful reference "book" should have an index, which I understand is fairly simple to more or less automatically generate these days. So, Ezra (and/or perhaps your publisher McClelland & Stewart) WHERE THE HELL’S THE INDEX! Or is this just one of those things one comes to expect from Canadian publishers - kinda like crappy sound engineering stands out in Canadian television drama productions.

Update (Apr 19): On his blog today Ezra acknowleged and repeated this review along with a number of others by much more significant reviewers. Thanks for that, Ezra. Your appreciation is appreciated :-)

2 comments:

Mark Mercer said...

That the book lacks an index is a serious hinderance to those who think we might use it in our own research and writing. If anyone discovers that he or she has a free afternoon or two and decides to compile an index rather than wait for the publishers to do so, please post it--and let JR and others know that you've posted it! (I'll buy the compiler of an index a beer if we ever run into each other.)

JR said...

Thanks, Mark. And I'll buy the second round:)