God of the Machine

by Isabel Paterson

Book Overview

The God of the Machine presents an original theory of history and a bold defense of individualism as the source of moral and political progress. When it was published in 1943, Isabel Paterson's work provided fresh intellectual support for the endangered American belief in individual rights, limited government, and economic freedom. The crisis of today's collectivized nations would not have surprised Paterson; in The God of the Machine, she had explored the reasons for collectivism's failure. Her book placed her in the vanguard of the free-enterprise movement now sweeping the world.

Paterson sees the individual creative mind as the dynamo of history, and respect for the individual's God-given rights as the precondition for the enormous release of energy that produced the modern world. She sees capitalist institutions as the machinery through which human energy works, and government as a device properly used merely to cut off power to activities that threaten personal liberty.

Paterson applies her general theory to particular issues in contemporary life, such as education, .social welfare, and the causes of economic distress. She severely criticizes all but minimal application of government, including governmental interventions that most people have long taken for granted. The God of the Machine offers a challenging perspective on the continuing, worldwide debate about the nature of freedom, the uses of power, and the prospects of human betterment.

Stephen Cox's substantial introduction to The God of the Machine is a comprehensive and enlightening account of Paterson's colorful life and work. He describes The God of the Machine as "not just theory, but rhapsody, satire, diatribe, poetic narrative." Paterson's work continues to be relevant because "it exposes the moral and practical failures of collectivism, failures that are now almost universally acknowledged but are still far from universally understood." The book will be essential to students of American history, political theory, and literature.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560006668
• ISBN13: 9781560006664
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Great

Great!! Read it. It's brilliant. The only question is how do we get every one of the braindead yahoos in Washington DC to read this book? Especially the guy in White House. Of course that's assuming those people can read. I seriously doubt that at times. This book should be required reading for every man woman and child on Earth.

The best description of how we got here.

It is a serious look at human energy and how it manifests itself most efficiently. If you are serious about understanding how the U.S. arrived to where it is today then you must get this book. I read this beginning to end. With that in mind, I think the book could be best digested as stand alone chapters as each lesson is timeless. It should be read and placed in a position of importance on every bookshelf. You will find yourself referring to it for the rest of your life.

A work of genius!

For anyone interested in history of political thought this is a must read. A true work of genius. One of my top twenty books.

One of the most important books of the 20th Century!

God of the Machine was my first clue that history could be more than a boring recitation of names and dates. Paterson looks at the whole sweep of history, from ancient to contemporary, and relates it to the ideas and principles of freedom. Her central concern is to discover the political forms which freedom and civilization require. Her central unifying concept of "the long circuit of energy that makes civilization work" is both exhilarating and true: if economic thinking has not yet caught up to Isabel Paterson, so much the worse for it!Written by a friend of Ayn Rand, and a lover of freedom, God of the Machine is a gem!God of the Machine is well up in the top 10 of Random House's poll of most important non-fiction of the 20th Century.

I thought that it was excellant.

It has been many years since I read this book, and I was looking to see if it was still available. I do not recall enough of it at this moment to really give a review, but I do want to read it again.