The book’s entitled "Drawing Life," and it was written by David Gerlernter who, as a faculty member at Yale, received a package in the mail from the Unabomber.

He survived the resulting explosion, but lost part of his right hand and part of the sight in his right eye.

Here’s how the review opened, more or less:

"Historians of the future will doubtless note with bafflement that towards the end of the 20th century Americans ceased to esteem courage and chose instead to embrace victimhood. It was done with the best of intentions. But good intentions are no excuse for bad ideas."

The review opened that way because of the book’s major theme: namely, that by lowering the bars of expectation because of race, ethnicity, gender, and so on for those who struggle against great odds because of those factors, we devalue their achievements and make it easier for them to succumb to self-pity.

"When you encourage a man to see himself as a victim of anything — crime, poverty, bigotry, bad luck, whatever — you’re piling bricks on his chest" was the way the author put it.

The book also details what he suffered because of the letter bomb he received, and how he overcame his injuries, both physical and mental. As André Malraux would have put it: "He didn’t return from hell with empty hands."

So the next time you think of meddling in someone’s life by unilaterally imposing upon him or her the status of victimhood, especially someone you don’t even know, think again.

Not only could you be destroying his or her sense of self-esteem, you may be interfering with his or her destiny as well.

Think about it.