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What Are Your Top Five Books Every Conservative Should Read?
The Conservative Book Club periodically publishes lists of the best books for conservatives provided by prominent conservatives. Recently, the club published Ben Shapiro’s top 5 conservative books.
- The Federalist Papers
- The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis
- The Quest for Cosmic Justice by Thomas Sowell
- Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlett
- The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
All are excellent choices. I must admit that I’ve not read Haidt’s book, but know enough about it (including owning a copy) to acknowledge that it’s a worthy addition to the conservative canon. There’s nothing more foundational to American conservatives than the Federalist Papers. Anything by Thomas Sowell could make the list (I doubt he’s ever written a sentence that is unworthy of our careful review). Hazlett’s short book on economics is brilliant. And there’s no greater defense of object truth than the Abolition of Man.
Following are my nominees:
The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis (1943). I can’t leave this book, which I re-read every couple of years, off my list. It’s an inoculation against the infection of relativism and other viruses of progressive thought. Lewis is a great Christian apologist, but this book (which can be read in less than two hours) is one of the truly essential books on politics.
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke (1790). The older I get the more Burke resonates with me. This long essay on the perils of revolution and collectivism was written before the Terror—but it predicted it perfectly. Burke had the talent to describe fundamental truths of politics. If only our movement could rediscover some of its Burkean roots.
Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver (1948). Written by a professor at the University of Chicago, this short book ignores the political issues of the day, and focuses on the bigger issues, not least Weaver’s dismantling of the kind of mindless egalitarianism of the post-WW II world.
Our Culture, Or What’s Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple (2005). Dalrymple (real name: Anthony Daniels) is an English doctor who knows more about the perils of the welfare state (including socialize medicine) than any one person should be required to know. This book is a series of essays on political and cultural issues. Dalrymple’s writing is accessible and entertaining, and no contemporary writer lays more wood on the pompous idiocy of progressive thought than Dalrymple.
The Vision of the Anointed by Thomas Sowell (1995). This, more than any other book, taught me how to recognize the fundamental differences between conservative (“constrained”) and progressive (“unconstrained”) thought.
What books do you believe to be essential reading for thoughtful conservatives (or for those who wish to become more thoughtful about their political beliefs). Why?
P.S. Conservatives are blessed with a wealth of great books because conservatism is based on principles. Liberalism doesn’t seem to have basic texts. Am I right?
Published in General
Saw headline.
Thought “If The Abolition of Man isn’t on that list, it’s bogus.”
Clicked.
WELL DONE, YOU!
The Bible should be in there. Foundation of Morals for the West.
This list has changed for me over the years.
It will probably change again tomorrow.
Rules for Radicals, by Saul Alinski. Of course, there is nothing to keep conservatives from stealing it . . .
Speaking of stealing:
Steal This Book, by Abbie Hoffman. My kid brother has an autographed copy of the paperback – Hoffman rarely did this, but my brother got a friend who was interviewing Hoffman sign it prior to the interview.
There are others. Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, and a few others, but they tend to be turgid reads.
Seawriter
Five is pretty limiting, but I can’t imagine a list without Allan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind.”
Good thoughts. It seems to me that Alinsky’s book isn’t so much an affirmative case for progressive thought as a battle plan to defeat conservatives.
I think these works are turgid because progressive thought is naturally turgid.
Witness, Whitaker Chamber’s autobiography needs to be on the list.
A review here.
Can’t argue with that. Maybe a top 10 would be better.
It’s only a short story, but “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is one of my go-to works to help show the evils of pushing for equal outcomes instead of equal opportunities.
Aw sheez, here we go…
Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg; A Conflict of Visions, by Thomas Sowell; The Conservative Heart, by Arthur C. Brooks
The Law by Federic Bastiat
I’ve read this and highly recommend it. (actually, anything by Sowell is good reading)
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” –Sun Tzu.
Parliament of Whores is pretty much mandatory.
Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, both by Robert Heinlein.
I’ll go a bit untraditional
The Way the World Works -Jude Wanniski
How Capitalism Saved America -Thomas DiLirenzo
Starship Troopers -Robert Heinlein
The Camp of the Saints -Jean Raspail
In the First Circle – Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
I recommend Marx’s Value Price and Profit. It is a slender volume and details Marx’s theory of where prices come from … The Labor Theory of Value. LTV is the bedrock on which all of Marx stands or falls. And LTV is just junk as a quick read will demonstrate. Without LTV all of Marx is speculative fiction. Read it under the heading of ‘ know thine enemy’ .
The conservative mind by Russell Kirk and of course Burke, “Reflections.. must be at the top of the list. And no Hayek? His Nobel speech at least. When you start thinking about it, there’s a lot out there. What are the books we would give to our liberal friends, the few who read books. I’d put Sowell’s “Conflict of Visions” it doesn’t use words like conservative or liberal so it can slip the stiletto of clear thought in before they have a chance to close their minds. Of course remove the authors name.
I think Rules for Radicals should be read by all conservatives. In addition to being able to recognize the tactics used against us, some of the advice is very valuable in a positive sense.
For example, keeping it fun. People will continue to do what they enjoy. The typical eat-your-vegetables conservative doesn’t like this, but if you actually want to engage the culture and win, there’s valuable advice in there.
Fair warning … I’m stealing that line. No footnote or anything. A thing of beauty.
I would add
“Free to Choose” – Milton Friedman
“Basic Economics” – Thomas Sowell
I’ve got to throw Hayek’s Road to Serfdom into the mix.
I was deeply impressed by how non-partisan the book was. It is a great example of how a partisan can write in a non-partisan way. For my money it’s his best book but what Thomas Sowell clearly communicates is that different cultures create different results so we better pay attention to our culture.
TR, lists are fine, and bonny; but they rest on a beloved Conservative fiction that ideas can stand alone and speak for themselves powerfully enough to convince. Sadly, we can’t rely on the shared foundation of classical liberalism that formed a foundation on which to build – even for those who disagreed with its premises. We need to model this as a way of being, not merely discuss it as a way of thinking…(I do have my favorites, but I won’t burden the comments with retreads…).
That’s why I listed fiction.
Granted, Nanda, but this is where good fiction can come into play. “Harrison Bergeron” and Starship Troopers make their arguments without dry recitations of facts and philosophy; instead, they rely on showing Progressive premises for the evils they are and conservative values for the virtues they are.
I’d also like to put in a vote for the “Graphic Guide to Conservatism,” though I don’t have a link handy.
I agree with Solzhenitsyn but think it should be The Gulag Archipelago.
I’d also suggest that everyone should read this short column:
Crunchiness
It explains not only why the free market is superior to any managed system, but also why big companies are just as terrible at making good decisions as big governments.
Here is how SSM happened. Writers wrote stories where guys were lovable and sympathetic. That changed peoples’ minds. It was never a rational argument going back to Aristotle.