Seven Books Every Conservative Should Read

Matthew Continetti, editor in chief of the Washington Free Beacon and regular contributor to the Weekly Standard, discusses other famous Conservatives' reading suggestions and then gives us his own list. It looks pretty interesting. I've ordered Modern Times and put the rest on my Amazon wish list.

Alas, with classes starting up next Monday, I will have very little time to read things I choose.

6 comments:

E Hines said...

Here are a couple of my suggestions in no particular order:

de Vattel, Emer, The Law of Nations or, Principles of the Law of Nature, Applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns

Greenspan, Alan, The Map and the Territory

Nau, Henry R, Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan

Locke, John, Second Treatise of Government

Smith, Adam, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

de Soto, Hernando, The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else

Eric Hines

Gringo said...

The book that began my leaving the left was The Latin Americans: Their Love-Hate Relationship with the United States, by the Venezuelan journalist Carlos Rangel. I bought it in Venezuela, in the original Spanish edition, which has a title rather different from the English version: Del Buen Salvaje al Buen Revolucionario. [From the Good Savage to the Good Revolutionary.]

I had been noticing that my perceptions of Latin America on the ground level were decidedly different from the "progressive" catechism on Latin America that I had picked up at university in the US. The book gave additional intellectual backbone to what I had perceived.

Eric Blair said...

Hmmm.....I've been saying for a while I'm not sure anymore what "conservative" means.

But trying to think back to books that actually had an effect on how I thought to look at things, I come up with:

Aristotle.
Epictetus--Enchridion.
Marcus Aurelius--Meditations
Paul Johnson--Intelectuals (and I read the back cover blurb of his book "Birth of the Modern" thought 'hey he's right' and didn't bother to read the book.)
George Orwell--"The Road to Wigan Pier" also his essay "Politics and the English Language" which I think should be reread every year or so.

Tom said...

I don't know what conservative means, either, but it looks like there's some good reading here.

Grim said...

My rule of thumb is that whenever anyone describes them as a "conservative," you should ask what they want to conserve. By the same token, if anyone describes themselves as a "progressive," you should ask what they take to be progress.

douglas said...

My reading list grows longer at a much faster rate than I can consume books.
That's excellent, Grim.