Bill Bryson's new book, Notes from a Big Country, has only been on the market in Britain for a few weeks, and already it has vaulted to the top of The Sunday Times' best seller list. This travelogue about America makes for generally very pleasant, entertaining reading.

Certainly millions around the world will undoubtedly buy and read Bill Bryson's new book, but in stark contrast only a relatively few thousand have purchased When Nations Die, an important work about the darker side of American life. But to ignore the unpleasant and to pretend that bad things are not happening would be fatal to our civilization.

In recent years a number of useful books have been published about the gradual weakening of traditional standards and values in the Western world. When Nations Die is one of the best on the subject-perhaps mainly because it is anchored historically to the common problems of past civilizations and the American author's fundamental principles are basically under-girded by biblical teachings.

Jim Nelson Black has had 25 years experience in several facets of the publishing field. He has conducted research at the University of Paris and received an award from a noted French academy. The book itself is well written and reader friendly, with many quotable statements.

For instance, Jim Black observed that "The entire nation must pay the price for the arrogant defiance of Divine Authority. The law of the land is no longer an inviolable standard. American justice is often unjust, and too many judges no longer subscribe to even common sense principles."

The author also points out that every single one of the ten reasons for the decline and fall of past civilizations is "alive and well" on the contemporary American (and Western) scene. The ten warning signs are:

Crisis of lawlessness

Loss of economic discipline

Rising bureaucracy

Decline of education

Weakening of cultural foundations

Loss of respect for tradition

Increase in materialism

Rise in immorality

Decay of religious belief

Devaluing of human life

Although Mr Black concentrates on the United States, the British do not escape his attention entirely: "Britain, on the other hand, has turned even further away from its moral and political heritage in pursuit of a socialist utopia. And short of some miracle or a great spiritual awakening, even greater despair and some final collapse may be in the picture for Great Britain in the years just ahead."

Although the United Church of God could not endorse everything written in When Nations Die (especially some aspects of the author's political approach), reading this book would enlarge our understanding of what is currently happening to our Western civilization.

To conclude on a note about America this book observes: "This nation desperately needs a complete refocusing of its views and values, a complete turnaround in its morals and behavior." WNP