A Diamond in the Rough for Christmas?
Erudite types that those of you in Ricochet Land are, you've probably been bombarded with recommendations for which of 2010's great political books deserve a place on your Christmas list this year (for the record, I have too many to recommend, but you could do worse than to start with Joel Kotkin's "The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050"; our own VDH's "The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern"; P.J. O'Rourke's "Don't Vote, It Just Encourages the Bastards"; and, of course, GWB's "Decision Points").
However, I'd like to make a pitch for the books that are unjustifiably consigned to that discount bin outside of your local Borders (you know, the one that subtly implies that they don't care if you steal?).
My nominee is Jonathan Rauch's "Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working." Originally published in 1995 under the less user-friendly (but infinitely richer) title "Demosclerosis: the Silent Killer of American Government", it's a tour de force narrative of how rent-seeking happens in Washington and what consequences stem from the trend. Over the years, I've taken to giving this truly remarkable book to friends like it's a Gideon Bible. Rauch is a journalistic treasure and this is one of his finest moments.
Consider this tip my Christmas gift to you. And since I'm all about reciprocity ... what should I be expecting from you? What unfairly marginalized book deserves to grace my shelves and those of our fellow readers this Christmas?
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May '10
Re: A Diamond in the Rough for Christmas?
The complete works of the late (and unsatisfactorily) lamented Sarah Caudwell. Member of the Bar at Lincoln's Inn. She sadly dropped off the twig after her fourth book, which at least has it a cheap buy at somewhat over ten bucks.
She's a genius, a sort of mix of Rumpole, Christie and Wodehouse. It'll have you snickering every page, and dazzled at the end. In order, they are Thus Was Adonis Murdered, The Shortest Way to Hades, The Sirens Sang of Murder, and The Sybil in Her Grave.
For those who go in for that sort of delectable mix of detection, erudition and, ahem, other things.
Jun '10
Re: A Diamond in the Rough for Christmas?
These are on my Christmas Wish List:
Hero, The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia by Michael Korda
Nothing To Envy, Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
The Balfour Declaration by Jonathan Schneer
Churchill's Empire by Richard Toye
Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikotter
The Invisible Harry Gold, The Man Who Gave the Soviets The Atom Bomb by Allen M. Hornblum
Ayn Rand and The World She Made by Anne C. Heller
And The Show Went On, Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alan Riding
and have just started Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas
Sep '10
Re: A Diamond in the Rough for Christmas?
Yes. And to those, I'd add the late great George V. Higgins. All of his novels are excellent-- Elmore Leonard has said that he learned how to write crime fiction from "The Friends of Eddie Coyle"-- but my favorites are "Defending Billy Ryan" and "The Rat On Fire." And "The Mortdecai Trilogy" by Kyril Bonfiglioli is hilarious.
I also would say that because of the religious subject matter Evelyn Waugh's "Helena" is/was much overlooked by critics. Waugh thought it was his best novel. And I think he knew what he was talking about. Also Randall Jarrell's, "Pictures From An Institution" should be more widely read.
A couple of nonfiction books that I've read recently that I really liked: "Ordinary Men" by Christopher R. Browning; "Blacklisting Myself" By Roger Simon; "Fly Fishing With Darth Vader" by Matt Labash.
Both very good books.
Nov '10
Re: A Diamond in the Rough for Christmas?
When the future of America looks grim, and I am feeling blue, I turn to David Hackett Fischer's Paul Revere's Ride.
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Reveres-David-Hackett-Fischer/dp/0195098315/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293004387&sr=1-1
Reading it reminds me of the formidable struggle that our forefathers faced. It gives me hope that we may yet find a path out of the socialist swamp.
The book is exhaustively researched, but easy to read. It is full of historical anecdotes that are more interesting and, especially, more inspiring than the popular myths that Fischer methodically demolishes.
It should be required reading for everyone on Ricochet, and anyone who thinks of himself or herself as a "conservative."
It will make you feel good about being an American.
May '10
Re: A Diamond in the Rough for Christmas?
Can we go back in time? The best political book from 45 years ago is WFB's The Unmaking of a Mayor, and the best funny fiction book (45 or so years ago was a very good time) was Max Shulman's lampooning of the food nazis and the tobacco industry all in one: Anyone Got a Match.