Bruce S. Thornton (born August 2, 1953) is an American

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

, and research fellow at Stanford University's

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes Economic liberty, personal and economic liberty, Free ...

Biography

Thornton received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

from the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

in 1975, and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

Comparative Literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

in 1983. He had studied Greek, Latin, and English literature for his doctorate. Currently Thornton is research fellow and W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow (2009–2010 and 2010–2011) at Stanford University's

. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the

David Horowitz Freedom Center The David Horowitz Freedom Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC), is a Conservatism in the United States, conservative anti-Islam foundation founded in 1988 by political activist David Horowitz and his long-time co ...

. Thornton has lectured at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He also appeared on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

Politically Incorrect ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

'' with

Bill Maher William Maher (; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is known for the HBO political talk show '' Real Time with Bill Maher'' (2003–present) and the similar ...

, and is a contributor to the conservative website CaliforniaRepublic.org. Thornton lives in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

with his wife and two sons.Biography
.

Bruce Thornton's page at Fresno State
. Accessed October 31, 2014.

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 Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...

. He also subscribes to the 'Athens versus Jerusalem' thesis of

Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States ...

, in which the interplay between

classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

ideologies of rationality and the

Judaeo-Christian The term Judeo-Christian is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's borrowing of Jewish Scripture to constitute the "Old Testament" of the Christian Bible, or ...

spiritual philosophies resulted in the creation of

Western civilization human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Clemetino Inv305.jpg, upPlato, arguably the most influential figure in all of Western philosoph ...

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

: ''

Uncommon Knowledge ''Uncommon Knowledge'' is a current affairs show hosted by Peter Robinson and produced by the Hoover Institution, where Peter Robinson is a fellow. It currently is funded by several foundations and organizations. Uploads of the program regular ...

''. Filmed on March 6, 2008. Accessed August 19, 2009.

Europe

Thornton believes that the declining belief in interpersonal ideals such as

national pride Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

and in religious ideals such as Christianity has led non-American

Westerners The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

to either substitute "political religions" such as

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society ...

and

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...

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 rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...

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?" His book ''Decline and Fall: Europe's Slow Motion Suicide'' has been described as part of the "

Eurabia Eurabia is a political neologism, a portmanteau of Europe and Arabia, used to describe a far-right, anti-Muslim conspiracy theory, involving globalist entities allegedly led by French and Arab powers, to Islamise and Arabise Europe, thereby we ...

genre".

Publications

Thornton has published several well-received books. * ''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 Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American commentator, classicist, and military historian. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for ''The New York Times'', ''Wall Street Journal'' ...

(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) * ''Democracy's Dangers and Discontents: The Tyranny of the Majority From the Greeks to Obama'' (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 2014). Thornton has written for numerous publications including

National Review Online ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...

, ''

Heterodoxy In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, w ...

'', ''The National Herald'', ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', ''Helios Magazine'', ''

Arion Arion (; grc-gre, Ἀρίων; fl. c. 700 BC) was a kitharode in ancient Greece, a Dionysiac poet credited with inventing the dithyramb. The islanders of Lesbos claimed him as their native son, but Arion found a patron in Periander, tyrant of ...

'', ''

The Jewish Press ''The Jewish Press'' is an American weekly newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York, and geared toward the Modern Orthodox Jewish community. It describes itself as "America's Largest Independent Jewish Weekly". ''The Jewish Press'' has an online ...

'', ''

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corpora ...

'', ''

The American Enterprise ''The American Enterprise'' (''TAE'') was a public policy magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Its editorial stance was politically conservative, generally advocating free-market economics and a neoconser ...

'', ''The University Bookman'', ''

Religious Studies Review ''Religious Studies Review'' (RSR) is the journal of the Council of Societies for the Study of Religion (CSSR), which is based at Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, ...

'', ''

Intercollegiate Review The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsors ...

'', '' The American Journal of Philology'', ''

City Journal ''City Journal'' is a public policy magazine and website, published by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, that covers a range of topics on urban affairs, such as policing, education, housing, and other issues. The magazin ...

'',

References

External links

"An interview with Bruce S. Thornton"My Greek Odyssey
Posted 20 March 2007. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Bruce 1953 births Living people American essayists 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American political writers American male essayists University of California, Los Angeles alumni Hoover Institution people Writers from California Theorists on Western civilization People from Fresno, California California State University, Fresno faculty Historians from California American male non-fiction writers