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{{Short description|American classicist (born 1953)}}
{{Other people}}
'''Bruce S. Thornton''' (born August 2, 1953) is an American [[classicism|classicist]] at [[California State University, Fresno]], and research fellow at [[Stanford University]]'s [[Hoover Institution]].<ref>
'''Bruce S. Thornton''' (born August 2, 1953) is an American [[classicism|classicist]] at [[California State University, Fresno]], and research fellow at [[Stanford University]]'s [[Hoover Institution]].<ref>{{cite web
{{cite web
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|url=http://www.hoover.org/fellows/9018
|title=Hoover Institution Research Fellow: Biography
|title=Hoover Institution Research Fellow: Biography
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|archive-date=2014-04-19
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}}</ref>


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
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Currently Thornton is research fellow and W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow (2009–2010 and 2010–2011) at [[Stanford University]]'s [[Hoover Institution]]. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the [[David Horowitz Freedom Center]].
Currently Thornton is research fellow and W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow (2009–2010 and 2010–2011) at [[Stanford University]]'s [[Hoover Institution]]. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the [[David Horowitz Freedom Center]].


Thornton is a frequent guest on talk radio shows across the United States. He has lectured at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] He also appeared regularly on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Politically Incorrect]]'' with [[Bill Maher]]. Thornton is a regular contributor to the conservative website CaliforniaRepublic.org.<ref name=bio/>
Thornton has lectured at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] He also appeared on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[Politically Incorrect]]'' with [[Bill Maher]], and is a contributor to the conservative website CaliforniaRepublic.org.<ref name=bio/>


Thornton lives in [[Fresno]] with his wife and two sons.<ref name=bio>[http://www.fresnostate.net/Classics/Biographies.htm Biography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814195326/http://www.fresnostate.net/Classics/Biographies.htm |date=August 14, 2006 }}. [[California State University, Fresno]]: [http://www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/mcll/faculty-staff/resident/thornton.html Bruce Thornton's page at Fresno State]. Accessed October 31, 2014.</ref>
Thornton lives in [[Fresno]] with his wife and two sons.<ref name=bio>[http://www.fresnostate.net/Classics/Biographies.htm Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814195326/http://www.fresnostate.net/Classics/Biographies.htm |date=August 14, 2006 }}. [[California State University, Fresno]]: [http://www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/mcll/faculty-staff/resident/thornton.html Bruce Thornton's page at Fresno State] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031085524/http://www.fresnostate.edu/artshum/mcll/faculty-staff/resident/thornton.html |date=2014-10-31 }}. Accessed October 31, 2014.</ref>


== Work ==
== Work ==
===History===
===History===
Thornton has described his opinions as opposed to the dominant, mainstream historical tradition about the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. He is an admirer of historian [[Christopher Dawson]]. He also subscribes to the [[Leo Strauss#Ancients and moderns|'Athens versus Jerusalem' thesis]] of [[Leo Strauss]], in which the interplay between [[Ancient Greece|classical Greek]] ideologies of [[rationality]] and the [[Judaeo-Christian]] spiritual philosophies resulted in the creation of [[Western civilization]].<ref name=hoover>[http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/16782686.html Peter Robinson interviews Fresno State Classicist Bruce Thornton about his new book Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Suicide] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011193127/http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/16782686.html |date=October 11, 2008 }}. [[Hoover Institution]]: ''[[Uncommon Knowledge]]''. Filmed on March 6, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2009.</ref>
Thornton has described his opinions as opposed to the dominant, mainstream historical tradition about the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. He is an admirer of historian [[Christopher Dawson]]. He also subscribes to the [[Leo Strauss#Ancients and moderns|'Athens versus Jerusalem' thesis]] of [[Leo Strauss]], in which the interplay between [[Ancient Greece|classical Greek]] ideologies of [[rationality]] and the [[Judaeo-Christian]] spiritual philosophies resulted in the creation of [[Western philosophy|Western civilization]].<ref name=hoover>[http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/16782686.html Peter Robinson interviews Fresno State Classicist Bruce Thornton about his new book Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Suicide] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011193127/http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/16782686.html |date=October 11, 2008 }}. [[Hoover Institution]]: ''[[Uncommon Knowledge]]''. Filmed on March 6, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2009.</ref>


===Europe===
===Europe===
⚫
Thornton believes that the declining belief in interpersonal ideals such as [[patriotism|national pride]] and in religious ideals such as Christianity has led non-American [[Western world|Westerners]] to either substitute "political religions" such as [[communism]] and [[fascism]] into their lives or abandon having moral ideals altogether. This, in his opinion, weakens them against pressure from threats such as [[Islam in Europe#Muslim populations in Europe|increasing immigration to Europe by Muslims]] that have higher [[birth rate]]s than native Europeans. He has said, "If all of their goods are material, right, what material good is worth dying for and what material good is worth killing for?"<ref name=hoover/> His book ''Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide'' has been described as part of the "[[Eurabia]] genre".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/01/04/eurabian-follies/|title=Eurabian Follies|date=4 January 2010|work=Foreign Policy}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkcqEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22decline+and+fall%22+bruce+thornton+%22eurabia%22&pg=PA58|page=58|title=White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism|first=Andreas|last=Malm|year=2021|publisher=Verso|isbn=9781839761744}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2CYEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22decline+and+fall%22+bruce+thornton+%22eurabia%22&pg=PT77|title=Muslim Women in Contemporary North America: Controversies, Clichés, and Conversations|first=Meena|last=Sharify-Funk|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2022|isbn=9781000801446}}</ref>
{{see also|Eurabia}}
⚫
Thornton believes that the declining belief in interpersonal ideals such as [[patriotism|national pride]] and in religious ideals such as Christianity has led non-American [[Western world|Westerners]] to either substitute "political religions" such as [[communism]] and [[fascism]] into their lives or abandon having moral ideals altogether. This, in his opinion, weakens them against pressure from threats such as [[Islam in Europe#Muslim populations in Europe|increasing immigration to Europe by Muslims]] that have higher [[birth rate]]s than native Europeans. He has said, "If all of their goods are material, right, what material good is worth dying for and what material good is worth killing for?"<ref name=hoover/>

Thornton is a strong critic of the [[Presidency of Barack Obama|Obama administration]]. He wrote on February 10, 2009:
{{quote|So far, we have heard nothing from the Obama team that suggests they will be any more successful than previous administrations in thwarting the designs of our enemies. Instead, look for more talk, more summits, even more agreements that, in the end, will leave us weaker and our enemies stronger.<ref>{{cite web|title=Foreign Policy as Magical Thinking|first=Bruce|last=Thornton|publisher=''[[FrontPage Magazine]]''|url=http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=33977|date=February 10, 2009|accessdate=August 19, 2009}}</ref></blockquote>}}

In June 2015 Thornton published an article lamenting the takeover of American academia by followers of [[Edward Said]].<ref>[http://www.frontpagemag.com/2015/bruce-thornton/the-postcolonial-rot-spreads-beyond-middle-east-studies/ www.frontpagemag.com]</ref>


== Publications ==
== Publications ==
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* ''Searching for Joaquin: Myth and History in California'' (Encounter Books, 2003)
* ''Searching for Joaquin: Myth and History in California'' (Encounter Books, 2003)
* ''Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide'' (Encounter Books, 2008)
* ''Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide'' (Encounter Books, 2008)
* ''The Wages of Appeasement: Ancient Athens, Munich, and Obama’s America'' (Encounter Books, 2011) ISBN 1-59403-519-9
* ''The Wages of Appeasement: Ancient Athens, Munich, and Obama’s America'' (Encounter Books, 2011) {{ISBN|1-59403-519-9}}
* ''Democracy's Dangers and Discontents: The Tyranny of the Majority From the Greeks to Obama'' (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 2014).<ref>[http://www.hoover.org/research/democracys-dangers-and-discontents-tyranny-majority-greeks-obama Hoover Institutin: Democracy's Dangers and Discontents]</ref>
* ''Democracy's Dangers and Discontents: The Tyranny of the Majority From the Greeks to Obama'' (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 2014).<ref>[http://www.hoover.org/research/democracys-dangers-and-discontents-tyranny-majority-greeks-obama Hoover Institution: Democracy's Dangers and Discontents]</ref>


Thornton has written for numerous publications including [[National Review Online]], ''[[Heterodoxy (magazine)|Heterodoxy]]'', ''The National Herald''{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}, ''[[The Washington Times]]'', ''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'', ''Helios Magazine''{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}, ''[[Arion (journal)|Arion]]'', ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', ''[[The San Francisco Examiner]]'', ''[[The American Enterprise]]'', ''The University Bookman''{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}, ''[[Religious Studies Review]]'', ''[[Intercollegiate Review]]'', ''[[The American Journal of Philology]]'',<ref name=bio/> ''[[City Journal (New York)|City Journal]]'',<ref>{{cite web|publisher=''[[City Journal (New York)|City Journal]]''|url=http://www.city-journal.org/author_index.php?author=584|title=Bruce S. Thornton|accessdate=August 19, 2009}}</ref> and ''[[FrontPage Magazine]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://frontpagemag.com/bioAuthor.aspx?AUTHID=3149|title=Bruce Thornton|publisher=''[[FrontPage Magazine]]''|accessdate=August 19, 2009}}</ref>
Thornton has written for numerous publications including [[National Review Online]], ''[[Heterodoxy (magazine)|Heterodoxy]]'', ''[[The Washington Times]]'', the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', ''[[Arion (journal)|Arion]]'', ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', ''[[The San Francisco Examiner]]'', ''[[The American Enterprise]]'', ''[[Religious Studies Review]]'', ''[[Intercollegiate Review]]'', ''[[The American Journal of Philology]]'',<ref name=bio/> ''[[City Journal (New York)|City Journal]]'',<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[City Journal (New York)|City Journal]]|url=http://www.city-journal.org/author_index.php?author=584|title=Bruce S. Thornton|accessdate=August 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001131127/http://www.city-journal.org/author_index.php?author=584|archivedate=October 1, 2009}}</ref> and ''[[FrontPage Magazine]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linformale.eu/the-weakness-of-the-west-an-interview-with-bruce-thornton/|title=The weakness of the West: An interview with Bruce Thornton|first=Niram|last=Ferretti|work=L'informale|date=June 11, 2017}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
⚫
* {{C-SPAN|9265124}}
* [http://greekodyssey.typepad.com/my_greek_odyssey/2007/03/an_interview_wi.html "An interview with Bruce S. Thornton"]. [http://greekodyssey.typepad.com/my_greek_odyssey/ My Greek Odyssey]. Posted 20 March 2007.
⚫
* {{C-SPAN|brucethornton}}


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Revision as of 13:54, 16 June 2024

Bruce S. Thornton (born August 2, 1953) is an American classicist at California State University, Fresno, and research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.[1]

Biography

Thornton received a Bachelor of Arts in Latin from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1975, and a PhD in Comparative Literature in 1983. He had studied Greek, Latin, and English literature for his doctorate.[2]

Currently Thornton is research fellow and W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow (2009–2010 and 2010–2011) at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Thornton has lectured at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He also appeared on ABC's Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and is a contributor to the conservative website CaliforniaRepublic.org.[2]

Thornton lives in Fresno with his wife and two sons.[2]

Work

History

Thornton has described his opinions as opposed to the dominant, mainstream historical tradition about the Enlightenment. He is an admirer of historian Christopher Dawson. He also subscribes to the 'Athens versus Jerusalem' thesis of Leo Strauss, in which the interplay between classical Greek ideologies of rationality and the Judaeo-Christian spiritual philosophies resulted in the creation of Western civilization.[3]

Europe

Thornton believes that the declining belief in interpersonal ideals such as national pride and in religious ideals such as Christianity has led non-American Westerners to either substitute "political religions" such as communism and fascism into their lives or abandon having moral ideals altogether. This, in his opinion, weakens them against pressure from threats such as increasing immigration to Europe by Muslims that have higher birth rates than native Europeans. He has said, "If all of their goods are material, right, what material good is worth dying for and what material good is worth killing for?"[3] His book Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide has been described as part of the "Eurabia genre".[4][5][6]

Publications

Thornton has published several well-received books.[2]

  • Eros: The Myth of Ancient Greek Sexuality (Westview Press, 1997)
  • Plagues of the Mind: The New Epidemic of False Knowledge (ISI Books, 1999)
  • Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization (Encounter Books, 2000)
  • Humanities Handbook (Prentice-Hall, 2000)
  • Bonfire of the Humanities. Rescuing the Classics in an Impoverished Age, with John Heath and Victor Davis Hanson (ISI Books, 2001)
  • Searching for Joaquin: Myth and History in California (Encounter Books, 2003)
  • Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide (Encounter Books, 2008)
  • The Wages of Appeasement: Ancient Athens, Munich, and Obama’s America (Encounter Books, 2011) ISBN 1-59403-519-9
  • Democracy's Dangers and Discontents: The Tyranny of the Majority From the Greeks to Obama (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 2014).[7]

Thornton has written for numerous publications including National Review Online, Heterodoxy, The Washington Times, the Los Angeles Times, Arion, The Jewish Press, The San Francisco Examiner, The American Enterprise, Religious Studies Review, Intercollegiate Review, The American Journal of Philology,[2] City Journal,[8] and FrontPage Magazine.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Hoover Institution Research Fellow: Biography". Hoover Institution. Archived from the original on 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  2. ^ a b c d e Biography Archived August 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. California State University, Fresno: Bruce Thornton's page at Fresno State Archived 2014-10-31 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed October 31, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Peter Robinson interviews Fresno State Classicist Bruce Thornton about his new book Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Suicide Archived October 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Hoover Institution: Uncommon Knowledge. Filmed on March 6, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2009.
  4. ^ "Eurabian Follies". Foreign Policy. 4 January 2010.
  5. ^ Malm, Andreas (2021). White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism. Verso. p. 58. ISBN 9781839761744.
  6. ^ Sharify-Funk, Meena (2022). Muslim Women in Contemporary North America: Controversies, Clichés, and Conversations. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000801446.
  7. ^ Hoover Institution: Democracy's Dangers and Discontents
  8. ^ "Bruce S. Thornton". City Journal. Archived from the original on October 1, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  9. ^ Ferretti, Niram (June 11, 2017). "The weakness of the West: An interview with Bruce Thornton". L'informale.
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