Monday, November 28, 2005
Books: Suggestions for the "Holiday Season"
The Right Nation, by Economist correspondants John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (how could those guys not be Brits?), is perhaps the best book on American politics that I have ever read. It should fascinate and infuriate both left and right. If you are interested enough in politics to read blogs, you should read The Right Nation.
In the matter of America's place in the world, the must-read book of the year is Ralph Peters' New Glory. Like The Right Nation, there is something in New Glory to challenge your thinking no matter what your political persuasion (in particularly, you will hate the book if you are a manufacturer of weapons systems, Donald Rumsfeld, an Arab autocrat or an anti-war leftist). It is a wide-ranging discussion of the world today and the world as it was (I posted an excerpt describing the battle of Vienna in 1683 here). And it is beautifully written.
4 Comments:
By 
SportsProf, at
Mon Nov 28, 08:54:00 PM:
Here's the link to my holiday buying guide if you're a sports fan:
http://sportsprof.blogspot.com/2005/11/holiday-sports-book-and-dvd-buying.html.
Happy Holidays.
SportsProf
By Callimachus, at
Tue Nov 29, 12:31:00 AM:
Hear, hear on "The Right Nation." I picked up a friend's copy at a shore house just to see what it was and ended up losing a weekend of Florida sunshine, but it was worth it. Pasty white skin but a fired-up brain.
By Chris Lawrence, at
Tue Nov 29, 02:04:00 AM:
TRN is so good, it's on my Southern Politics syllabus in the spring instead of an academic work (ironically, by the two best authors in the field) that miserably fails to capture the same dynamic.
By 
, at
Thu Dec 01, 03:20:00 PM:
"New Glory" is one of the best books of the year, filled with rich detail and analysis and that wit you just don't find in many books about America and its place in the world. Recent events continue to add credence to his insight (like South Africa's growing economic domination of Zimbabwe with their debt and desperation and the French riots).
