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.
Here are a couple of my suggestions in no particular order:
ReplyDeletede 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
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.]
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Hmmm.....I've been saying for a while I'm not sure anymore what "conservative" means.
ReplyDeleteBut 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.
I don't know what conservative means, either, but it looks like there's some good reading here.
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeleteMy reading list grows longer at a much faster rate than I can consume books.
ReplyDeleteThat's excellent, Grim.