GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
I looked at the books the GOP candidates are reading for the Washington Post this weekend, and found that their book selections often fit in with the type of campaign they are trying to run. Bachmann is trying to appeal to conservatives by touting free market economists like Milton Friedman and Ludwig von Mises. She also tells a conversion to conservatism story based on her disdain for Gore Vidal’s Burr. Romney is aiming at showing he is ready to lead, having read President Bush’s Decision Points, but he also shows some quirkiness in his professed interest in science fiction and fantasy novels. Paul sticks his finger in the eye of the Republican foreign policy establishment with selections like Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, and Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror. The vast number of books that Gingrich has written (17), reviewed (over 150 on Amazon), and read (innumerable) defy simple categorization. Perry’s reading displays what I call red meat conservatism, heavy on World War Two memoirs and novelizations of Texas history. Of course, one never knows if the candidates are actually reading what they say they are reading, but even if they are not, what they choose to reveal tells us a great deal as well.
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Mar '11
Re: GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
I'm not sure whether to laugh ruefully or to utterly despair.
You know, in a world where men and women who seek leadership positions actually are worthy of the ambition, these folks would have had the good sense to use the occasion of this question to set an example of what should be read. The judicious Madison sets the proper example of what serious men read.
Instead of living in an age where leaders are weaned on Plutarch, I somehow have been mistakenly set down in the one in which they cut their teeth, evidently, on Terry Goodkind. Or, at the very least, they lack the seriousness of purpose not to say otherwise in public.
Mar '11
Re: GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
My link failed to work properly. Mr. Madison's account can be found in the link as it stands under the Report on Books to Congress, dated 23 January 1783, under the "Politics" heading.
Jun '10
Re: GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
I must admit to being underwhelmed by the reading list, with one major exception. Perry is reading Sledge's With the Old Breed, the first-hand story of what it was like for the Marines on Pelelieu and Okinawa. Our own VDH says it is the best war memoir of WWII, and I agree. Everyone should read it. It is written modestly but with incredible, and often gory, detail.
If you want a good case for Truman's dropping the bombs and not requiring our military to invade Japan, this book will convince you.
It begins with a statement all of us should remember: “Until the millennium arrives and countries cease trying to enslave others, it will be necessary to accept one’s responsibilities and to be willing to make sacrifices for one’s country—as my comrades did. As the troops used to say, ‘If the country is good enough to live in, it’s good enough to fight for.’ With privilege goes responsibility.”
Edited on Aug 22, 2011 at 7:44amApr '11
Re: GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
The book choices are a snapshot in time and a little bit of posturing. I'd be more concerned about things they've never read or been exposed to than what they are reading now.
(If any politician wants a smattering of Plutarch, skip ahead to Cicero and Cato the Younger.)
Mar '11
Re: GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
You do indeed have the dream list Crow's Nest. For myself I would settle for one of them flipping through Steyn's After America.
Re: GOP Candidates' Revealing Reading Choices
Crow's Nest notes, appropriately, that the quality of reading material has gone down and our choices have gone up. Tabula rasa is right that the book choices are underwhelming, but President Obama's summer reading selections are not that impressive, either. And Quinn the Eskimo makes a good point that all of these reading selections are a snapshot in time. It would be great to know the books that shaped the candidates as youths, but it's usually not possible.