cover image Twilight or Dawn?: A Traveler's Guide to Free-Market Liberal Democracy

Twilight or Dawn?: A Traveler's Guide to Free-Market Liberal Democracy

Bill Stonebarger. Gilman Street Press (www.gilmanpress.com), $16.95 paper (396p) ISBN 978-1-55979-195-3

In his latest, Stonebarger (The Road to a Tea Party) examines the current state of America, Western society, and free-market democracies. Stonebarger, owner of Hawkhill Educational, charts various threats to the West, including the Great Depression, communism, and the cold war, arguing that these dangers were overcome because win-win economics and capitalism value entrepreneurship and individual liberties. Western societies provide incentives for success and progress at a stable rate, unlike the former Soviet Union or North Korea, where citizens are stifled by dictatorships. The evidence for the benefits of Westernization are persuasive, even if evidence about climate change feels cherry picked and runs counter to other sources. The book itself is certainly thought provoking, a mix of assembled reportage and Stonebarger's own experience from his life and travels, which weave together into a celebration of the rise of the Western world and a hopeful call for its continued success in the future.