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About Uncommon Knowledge

For more than a decade the Hoover Institution has been producing Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, a series hosted by Hoover fellow Peter Robinson as an outlet for political leaders, scholars, journalists, and today’s big thinkers to share their views with the world. Guests have included a host of famous figures, including Paul Ryan, Henry Kissinger, Antonin Scalia, Rupert Murdoch, Newt Gingrich, and Christopher Hitchens, along with Hoover fellows such as Condoleezza Rice and George Shultz.

Uncommon Knowledge takes fascinating, accomplished guests, then sits them down with me to talk about the issues of the day,” says Robinson, an author and former speechwriter for President Reagan. “Unhurried, civil, thoughtful, and informed conversation– that’s what we produce. And there isn’t all that much of it around these days.”

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March 10, 2008 | Recorded on March 6, 2008

Peter Robinson interviews Fresno State Classicist Bruce Thornton about his new book Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Suicide.

Professor Bruce Thornton of Cal State Fresno

In his new book, Decline and Fall: Europe’s Slow Motion Suicide, Bruce Thornton asserts that Europe has turned its back on the Western tradition to which it owes its greatness. It has abandoned pride in the nation, discarded traditional Christianity, and, in so doing, is without unifying values, ideals, and beliefs. But if Europe is still democratic, and if it still embraces the free market, why should anyone care that Judaeo-Christian religious beliefs are slipping away. The answer lies in the coinciding rise of radical Islam. (35:45) Video transcript