Lions & Scavengers
The True Story of America (and Her Critics)
By Ben Shapiro
Published: Sept. 2, 2025
256 pages
Overview: Ben Shapiro examines the current state of America and Western civilization, and poses a question: Will we be noble Lions, or will we be destructive Scavengers?
What I Liked Most About It
* I like the simplicity of looking at problems bilocally. In this case, Shapiro is positing that if your perspective is human and social value, you can group the world into two types: Lions and Scavengers. There is no doubt that this rhetorical strategy is reductive (as Liberals like to say). But it is also very helpful because it limits the discussion to two ideas that can be clearly compared and contrasted throughout a discussion and remembered later on. Plus, this sort of focus allows for insights that can be deep and true. And it prevents the argument from disintegrating into a morass of relativistic goop that makes solutions impossible to reach.
* I very much like a secondary (but important) point he makes several times – that at the heart of today’s conflicts (political, economic, and cultural), there’s a dangerous lie: that all people are equal in ability, and that all inequality stems from oppression and exploitation.
* For a true brainiac, Shapiro writes with a high degree of simplicity and clarity, which makes for easy reading of his ideas about difficult and complex issues.
What I Didn’t Like as Much
Shapiro is religious, and although he makes it a practice to make his arguments without sourcing religious beliefs as authoritative (which renders my objection to a quibble), he does often point out the correlation between the solid moral ethical positions he is supporting with religious text.
Critical Reception
The book was just published last Tuesday. So, I could find only one review, from the New York Post:
“With his signature clarity and sharp insight, Shapiro refutes that lie, emphasizing that in a free country, inequality is rooted in differences of talent and work ethic – not oppression – and that the best solution to lack of success lies in duty and virtue. Lions, like America’s founding fathers, strive for the highest good, building systems that promote freedom, prosperity, and equality of opportunity. Meanwhile, Scavengers degrade these ideals, spreading resentment and entitlement that threaten to dismantle the foundations of Western civilization.”
Interesting: Lions Begetting Scavengers
In writing about Luigi Mangione, the killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Shapiro points out something I’ve often noticed and have written about in past issues.
“[Mangione] grew up rich. And then he basically decided that he was a victim of the system and that, because the system itself was deeply flawed, that gave him the excuse to commit murder of a person he had never met.”
It’s a great irony, he notes, that Scavengers are often the privileged children of Lions themselves.
“So many people build community, build family, make the systems that make the West great stronger, and then they don’t pass that on to their kids in any way, shape, or form,” he laments. “They seem to think that… their kids will somehow imbibe the correct values from the water or from the air.”
About the Author
Benjamin Shapiro is the cofounder of The Daily Wire and host of The Ben Shapiro Show, the top conservative podcast in the nation. A bestselling author, Shapiro graduated from UCLA summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2004, then from Harvard Law School cum laude in 2007. His work has been profiled in nearly every major American publication, and he has appeared as the featured speaker at many conversative events on campuses nationwide.
Watch him talk about the book with Megyn Kelly here.
