Author makes good case for Anglo-Saxon worldview, but doubts linger

"God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World," an intriguing study about the continuing influence of the Anglo-Saxon nations on the modern world, stands in contrast to the many recent predictions about the coming decline of the West.

The author, Walter Russell Mead, reminds readers in his introduction that in the past three centuries of warfare the English-speaking nations have been victorious. Naturally the victors have had much to do with the development of the modern world. Still, some readers may be excused for the reaction that this sounds like a lusty rendition of "Rule Britannia" at a London Proms concert.

However, Mead wisely concedes that the term Anglo-Saxon no longer applies just to the descendants of the invaders of Britannia after the decline and fall of Rome. He notes that WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) "is a state of mind today and most Americans live there."

Mead, a scholar at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, then goes on to review the emergence and superiority of the English-speaking nations in the modern world. He attributes much of their success to their positions as mercantile sea powers. The English usually could align themselves with weaker European allies to oppose the stronger continental threat, whether it was Spain, France or Germany.

The 20-mile English Channel moat and the Royal Navy saved England during the dynastic struggles of the 18th and 19th centuries. Then the United States came to the aid of the British in two world wars. In the Cold War during the latter part of the 20th century the United States took over as the protector of Europe and the free world.

There also is a serious review of the importance of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the modern world. Mead also takes into account the growing influence of secular modernism that he describes as "the youngest member of the family of Abraham" in the West.

There may be some dispute in religious circles about the inclusion of secularism in the Abrahamic tradition. Still, the author turns for inspiration to the "intellectual Protestant clergyman," the Rev. Reinhold Niebuhr, and claims that he "fully and completely articulated and simultaneously critiqued the core elements of the Anglo-American worldview."

Actually, Mead has presented a good case for the defense of the WASP worldview. He concludes that "these values are leading us westward and upward." Still, on reflection, a reader may be excused for some lingering doubt.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops