Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage

As I read TAKEDOWN I was reminded of a sentence from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's unforgettable 1978 Harvard Commencement Address: "Without any censorship, fashionable trends of thought and ideas in the West are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable;nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges." In the wake of the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling -- anticipated, though not yet handed down at the time of publication -- TAKEDOWN will hardly be considered fashionable. (Solzhenitsyn did not say that such things would never appear.) Perhaps our ability to consider and discuss the exhaustive caseDr. Kengor presents will be a good test of whether or not this is a better country than Solzhenitsyn described in 1978.TAKEDOWN takes us through the role cultural Marxists played in helping create the atmosphere in which marriage is considered and defined in the media, colleges and the circles of elite opinion. He traces the development of cultural Marxism that went beyond the largely, but not exclusively,economic writings of Marx and Engels, by their ideological heirs at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt in the1920s. Scholars from that Institute brought their doctrines to the United States when they fled Hitler in the 1930s and found a welcoming home onAmerican campuses, most prominently at Columbia University. Dr. Kengor follows the train of their teaching and writings down to very recognizable names today. Again, the documentation in the book is exhaustive, as will not surprise anyone familiar with any of Dr. Kengor's other works.The link between all that is presented and Orbegefell v. Hodges may be highly debatable. That is a debate one might think many of those applauding Orbegefell would like to declare over. But if it is not, if, as the author Colin Wilson once wrote, "In history, no one has the last word,"then one can only hope that everyone will come to the debate as thoroughly and thoughtfully prepared as Dr. Kengor has shown himself to be.Although it must be noted that Dr. Kengor sets no such aim for himself in the book. He writes: Readers will wonder if I am looking to halt the redefinition and transformation, if I am endeavoring to help change the mind of American culture on gay marriage with this book, to which I respond: Are you kidding? America has entered a protracted phase of post-Christian thinking and ethics, a dismal state where individualism and a dictatorship of relativism reign supreme, fostered by a long line of incredibly naive parents who marched their children in wide-eyed cadence through the educational system at costs both financial and moral. Nothing short of a major religious revival will save it. My task with this book is diagnostic: to simply help explain how America slowly but steadily walked to the marriage-family precipice where it now stands.

Do You want to know a bit more about the slow, purposeful efforts -- intellectual and social -- that led to the takedown of Traditional Marriage? Do you want to know some of the real, openly-stated reasons for the takedown that preceded DOMA by more than 100 years? Do you want to learn about all the preparatory (and under-handed) work that led to Justice Kennedy's fateful decision?If so, then this book is an excellent resource to begin your education. For those of us who have been pointing out that the destructive impacts of Communism are still with us today, Mr. Kengor explains it more clearly than anyone I've ever read.And the author even shares some interesting historical facts about some of the things inside the closet of Obama's Hawaiian mentor -- and his Communist Card number is the least shocking!! The MSM, of course, couldn't be bothered to investigate any of it, because it would have discredited Obama; Obama, of course, was no dummy, which is why he simply called him "Frank" in his autobiography. Obama is simply standing in a long line of Marxist sympathizers -- or actually Commies -- who have planned and worked for the takedown for a number of generations now. You may normally find reading about 19th-century philosophers tedious, but Kengor keeps it pithy, interesting, and relevant. (He doesn't bog down the reader in philosophical ruminations.)Knowing those who have advocated these recent changes, you'll be able to figure out that changing the nature of marriage isn't the end game. The people who have fought for so long and so hard for the overthrow of America, by overthrowing the Judeo-Christian belief system, are NOT going to be satisfied with their current victory and gains, because "changing marriage" is just one of the means chosen to help them realize their ends.Here's a professor who isn't a boring egghead. I finished the book in days, and you will too.

In Takedown Paul Kengor has tackled one of the most surprising and confusing issues of our time – same-sex marriage. Like many of my generation, I had been wondering how we got to this place in our nation’s history so quickly. Just a few years ago our leaders were outspokenly behind the concept of traditional marriage, i.e. that marriage is a man and a woman. Now marriage is refined or perhaps even undefined without legislative action, referendums, or even an executive order. What happened? While Kengor’s book was published before the Supreme Court ruling, the backstory, which actually turns out to be quite lengthy, is all there. The book explains the development, the players, and the reasoning behind the ideas. It is a very scholarly, well-researched work that reads like a riveting story, complete with in-depth character development, a complex plot, and lurid details (though Kengor does pass on describing some of the more explicit sexual details of his characters’ lives). As a parent of 20-somethings, I found this book particularly helpful. Millennials have been the biggest cheerleaders of the gay movement, but I’m sure most have no clue just where this movement came from and the real motivation behind it all. Takedown is a catalyst for discussion, but it is also a catalyst for strengthening family connections. It is an enlightening tool, and if it affects you the way it does me, it will make you determined that the Progressives and Communists won’t succeed in their ultimate goal of taking down the family – at least not your own family.

This is a great warning to our 'modern' society, especially leading up to Australia's vote on same sex marriage. People are being duped and this book holds historical proof of the diabolical extremes that are endorsed to destroy our great nations from within.

I'm still trying to get through it. For me, it's far too technical. It goes into details of various guns, ammunition etc. It's far too detailed in that it mentions many, many middle east type names of people we would never have heard, it's taking forever to get to the actual story of Benghazi.The writer clearly has an immense knowledge of the middle east in general, Libya, Tripoli, Benghazi, WH members involved, security etc. I guess you could say it's more of a man's read. Others could easily read and enjoy it.