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John Adams by David McCullough
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| I learned a lot that I didn't know by reading this extraordinary biography of our second U.S. President, based primarily on his correspondence over the span of his life. I learned what a great and rare relationship he had with his wife, Abigail--who referred to him as "my friend." I learned how he was even smarter than Thomas Jefferson when it came to seeing through the falsehoods of his time--such as the French Revolution, which early on he predicted would collapse in dictatorship and authoritarianism, as it did. I came to better understand that the main contribution of his one-term Presidency, sandwiched between Washington and Jefferson, was to keep the fledgling U.S. out of war with its one-time ally, France--a war that was surely unnecessary and pointless, yet hotly desired by the majority of Americans during his time in office. I also learned just how low the American government could sink, including under President Adams, when the Sedition Acts were passed to jail critics of the new government, leading me to think that if early America could survive this, maybe today we can survive our errors as well. Perhaps most of all, beyond the history and the politics, I learned how John Adams lived a pretty wonderful life. He adored his children and grandchildren (although two of his sons were alcoholics), he adored his wife, he treasured his farm, he valued his friendships, and yet, to the very end, he found a point to living when he quite literally had nothing left but his books. He even slept in his library. Now there's a man for the ages. This book is more than an excellent biography. It’s a trip into another time, when life was physically much harder—but intellectually superior to what most of us know today.
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Economic Harmonies by Frederic Bastiat
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| You have to put the author in context--writing in mid-19th Century France--and, if you do, you'll be most impressed with Bastiat's partial mastery of economics and even greater mastery of fundamentals, such as the virtue of self-interest. He's encumbered somewhat by religion, but probably no more so than America's Founders, and what's more important than his weakness here is his strength: His ability to see that laissez-faire capitalism is the only answer to socialism, communism, or any form of statism. Keep in mind that Bastiat wrote this work long before the 20th century was forced (in part of the world) to endure the terror of Communism, a system based on the opposite of Bastiat's viewpoints. His condemnation of collectivism reads like an after-the-fact condemnation of Soviet Communism. At times, he even sounds like Ayn Rand, although he did not have her full philosophical grasp and he struggles because of it. Some of his comments are review to those familiar with the classical works of the more technically skilled economists Ludwig von Mises and (in contemporary times) George Reisman, but he does offer some original points, such as the notion that competition is essentially a state of liberty, as opposed to the conventional understanding of competition as "beat the other guy." On the whole, a highly worthwhile read. |
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The Capitalist Manifesto by Andrew Bernstein, Ph.D.
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| The subtitle of this excellent book is "The Historic, Economic and Philosophic Case for Laissez-Faire," and it delivers. More than simply a retread or a glorified term paper of Ayn Rand's philosophical approach to economics, this book eloquently builds on her case with loads and loads of concrete examples, tied together with sound conclusions. One unique contribution is Dr. Bernstein’s characterization of the late 19th Century as the Inventive Period, which it most definitely was. He explains, in economic and philosophical terms, exactly why we had the Thomas Edisons of the world at that time, and why we can again. I felt uplifted about human nature and the future of humanity from reading this book, and I bet you will too.
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Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes The Underclass by Theodore Dalrymple
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| In a word: magnificent. This book is about much more than the British welfare state and the underclass, though the author (a brave, rational psychiatrist) describes the individuals he meets with a clarity and intensity worthy of a novelist. The book is much more, as the subtitle states, about the worldview and psychological perspective which make the underclass and the welfare state possible (in the U.S. or abroad). It’s truthful, honest and, in its own surprising way, poetic. Read this book even if you care nothing about politics, culture or society. Read it if you simply want to understand how NOT to treat human beings if you want them to survive, flourish and actualize their potentials.
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Fighting Terrorism by Benjamin Netanyahu
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| In a world where nearly all of our leaders are wrong about nearly everything, our survival depends upon the consistent rationality and integrity of a tiny few -- or even just one. In World War II, we had Churchill's integrity to help save the West from Hitler. In the Cold War, we had Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. As the war against Moslem-Arab terrorism approaches its most dangerous point yet, Benjamin Netanyahu's clear, principled and unwavering approach to fighting terrorism is a crucial tool in defeating this most difficult of enemies. Put simply, this is must reading in an increasingly dangerous age. Hopefully our own leaders are reading it.
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Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg
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| If you think the establishment media is intellectually dishonest and personally corrupt, then you have understated the situation. Goldberg’s earth shattering book has helped bring down the old guard of network news forever. This book contains the sort of honesty and perceptiveness that the Dan Rathers of the world were counting on nobody ever displaying.
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Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
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| If you want to understand the underlying psychology and philosophy of a corrupt totalitarian regime, this book is for you. It’s all told from the point-of-view of the author, who survived the Maoist regime herself and also details the experiences of her mother and grandmother spanning all of the twentieth century. You’ll see how for the Chinese, the concept of a dictatorial ruler and a mystical god are united into one -- something which Mao was highly skillful at exploiting. Yet you’ll also see, especially in the author, how the yearning for Westernized values of liberty, material progress, and reason, are to some extent always present in the minds of many Chinese. Seeing through Mao's weakness and ultimate unimportance was key to the author's emotional and physical survival.
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From The Fountainhead To The Future And Other Essays On Art And Excellence by Alexandra York
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| Boldly addressing the anomaly of a nation experiencing both unprecedented material prosperity and cultural bankruptcy and calling herself a "radical for beauty," the author frankly spurns early twenty-first century primitivism, nihilism, deconstructionism and political correctness. Instead, she advocates revitalizing the fundamental tenets of our philosophical heritage: representationalism in the visual arts; melody and harmony in music; and structure and ideation in the written arts. In short: realistic romanticism, and beauty.
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The God of the Machine by Isabel Paterson
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| An original theory of history and a bold defense of individualism. Written during the Communist era, Paterson's debunking of collectivism is as true today -- in the era of Bush-Clinton-Bush corporate socialism -- as it was decades ago. Clear, lucid and nothing mushy about it. I part company with Paterson where she seems to advocate religion as a foundation for freedom, but her good points outweigh her mistaken ones, and every lover of freedom should have this book in their library.
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The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages by Tom Bethell
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| The phenomenal success of Western civilization and the remarkable economic expansion fueled by modern capitalism, says Tom Bethell, depend chiefly on the institution of private property and the development of secure property rights. Yet this simple, striking idea is misunderstood (and misrepresented) by elite opinion leaders in the United States and around the world. Bethell, a reporter for the American Spectator, offers a history of property as an idea and a reality around the world. In the United States, we tend to take property rights for granted, failing to understand that, in our politically correct, increasingly socialist age, our ongoing economic success depends upon property rights and liberty.
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The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses by Alan Charles Kors, Harvey A. Silverglate
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| The authors meticulously document the horrors of political correctness on today’s university campuses. They argue that beneath the pseudo-concerns about racism, sexism, and homophobia is a drive for ideological conformity. The rules of campus life are no longer objective: how do you know if you are guilty of verbal harassment, for example? When somebody else’s feelings are hurt by what you said; no evidence, facts or logic are required. Feelings and facts are essentially the same thing. Nor are you allowed, in many cases, to face your enemy. The authors show rational students and teachers how to fight back, legally and intellectually.
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A History of Knowledge: Past, Present and Future by Charles Van Doren
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| A one-volume reference to the history of ideas that is a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilization into the twenty-first century. Massive in its scope, and yet totally accessible, it covers not only all the great theories and discoveries of the human race, but also explores the social conditions, political climates, and individuals of genius who brought ideas to fruition throughout history. Van Doren shows, in eloquent and unpretentious terms, how ideas move the world.
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Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution by Ayn Rand, Peter Schwartz (Editor)
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| Ayn Rand, best-selling novelist and originator of the theory of Objectivism, identified the intellectual roots of the anti-technology and anti-progress movement which took off in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She urged people to repudiate its mindless nihilism and to uphold, instead, a philosophy of reason, individualism, capitalism, and technological progress. This book includes Rand’s magnificent, classic essay, “The Comprachicos.” This timeless article is must-reading for anybody who wants to better understand today’s nihilism and school violence. Rand’s assertions are becoming more and more relevant, as time goes by.
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The Excuse Factory by Walter K. Olson
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| Learn how lawsuits and employment laws are rewarding irresponsibility and mediocrity. You may be working harder so that somebody else can receive undeserved rewards.
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A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
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| Most history books take it for granted that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who started the welfare state and massively increased the role of coercive government in our lives, is the greatest of Presidents. Not this one. Refreshingly positive, pro-individualistic, and pro-freedom, Johnson's take on history is different from the one you will learn in school. Intellectual elites call it "simplistic." Translated, this means: "This book makes sense, and it says America is a wonderful place to live. Therefore, it can't be true."
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Ultimate Resource 2 by Julian L. Simon
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| Simon skewers the sacred cows of environmentalism and population control. In the contest between resource scarcity and human ingenuity, Simon bets the farm on the ability of intelligent people to overcome their problems. He lays out convincing empirical evidence for his prediction of a prosperous future. The key to progress is not state-run conservation programs, he says, but economic and political freedom. Only then can talented minds properly apply themselves to our earthly dilemmas.
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Your Doctor Is Not In: Healthy Skepticism About National Health Care by Jane Orient, MD
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| Inch by inch, decree by decree, the government is slowly taking over health care. There is no such thing as a private health insurance industry any longer. State and federal regulations tell insurance companies exactly what to do. The government tells them, in effect, "Give everyone universal care. How? I don't know. Do it somehow!" Politicians are afraid to tell voters the truth: that they are demanding champagne health care on a beer-and-nuts budget (or even for free). Dr. Orient tells the truth.
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Troublemaker: One Man's Crusade Against China's Cruelty by Harry Wu
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| Don't kid yourselves. The battle between the individual and the state is far from over, particularly in still-Communist China. After escaping China in 1985, author Harry Wu began a tireless campaign to publicize individual rights abuses within the Chinese prison system. These abuses include the harvesting of organs from prisoners, profiteering from forced labor supported by World Bank subsidies, and the importing of prison-made goods by the U.S.
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The End of Sanity: Social and Cultural Madness in America by Martin L. Gross
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| Martin Gross exposes the enduring plague of "political correctness;" but the deeper issue destroying our culture is the abandonment of reason, individuality, and objectivity. Consider the employment ad that advertises: "only unqualified personnel may apply." This, and many other examples detailed in this book, describes a culture hitting rock-bottom. As long as enough people refuse to engage in evasion and denial, there is hope that the next book by this author might be entitled, "The Beginning of Sanity." But we have a long, long way to go.
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The Law by Frederic Bastiat
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| A timeless classic. Anybody who cares about being free should read this book. The purpose of law, Bastiat passionately argues, is not to regulate our minds and our bodies. Instead, the purpose of law is to allow us to be free. We need law to protect us from the initiation of force, fraud, or contract violation. But nobody, including the government itself, has a right to initiate force against us in the name of "compassion," duty, or any other rationalization for control. What a far cry from today's massive welfare-regulatory state!
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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
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| Anne Frank lived in hiding with seven other people in a secret nest of rooms in Amsterdam, Holland, during the era of Nazi Germany. Her diary reveals the experiences of herself and the others; it also describes her inner experiences as she attempts to grow and develop under such difficult circumstances. The reality that Anne Frank eventually lost her life in a Nazi concentration camp is a horrifying tragedy. But she lives on as a concrete example of how collectivism, once imposed, crushes the spirit (and eventually the body) of the individual soul.
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Do The Right Thing by Walter E. Williams
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| Dr. Williams is a clean, brilliant writer. Cultural elites label him "simplistic," which means: "He makes sense; therefore, he can't be right." Williams recognizes that people can and should think for themselves and be responsible for themselves. He realizes, and is not afraid to say, that government control freaks do not have our best interests at heart; they have their own lust for power at heart.
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Philosophy : Who Needs It by Ayn Rand
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| Philosophy is not simply a game reserved for the ivory tower. Why do you need it? And what specific philosophical principles should you follow to live a happy, effective life? Read these powerful essays and find out.
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Virtue of Selfishness : A New Concept of Egoism by Ayn Rand
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| Introduces Ayn Rand's ethical concept of rational self-interest-to liberate you from both mindless whim-worship and mindless dogmatism. Neither Mother Teresa nor Adolph Hitler represent the ideal in this code of ethics. An absolutely essential prerequisite for sound mental health.
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Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng
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| Encounter a genuine example of unbreached integrity and rationality in this inspiring book by Nien Cheng. If you are looking for a real-life demonstration of how evil and irrationality are morally impotent-this is it.
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A Place at the Table : The Gay Individual in American Society by Bruce Bawer
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| Intelligent, dignified and honest-the best book on the market about homosexuality. Bruce Bawer largely rejects both the political correctness of the left, and the moralism and willful ignorance of the religious right.
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Telling the Truth by Lynne V. Cheney
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| The former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities (and Vice President Cheney's wife) makes an eloquent case for the idea of objective truth over the subjectivism and relativism swamping today's journalistic, artistic, and academic fields.
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A Nation Of Victims: A Decay of the American Character by Charles J. Sykes
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| Sykes pulls no punches--and thankfully so. He describes with keen insight and detail how America is, in many respects, becoming a nation of spoiled brats. To Sykes, "character" is still a valid concept rather than a four-letter-word.
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Drawing Life: Surviving the Unabomber by David H. Gelernter
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| Gelernter thoroughly rejects the victim mentality despite the fact he is unquestionably a victim. He also refuses to engage in disgusting platitudes about how he "forgives" the Unabomber for permanently maiming him. Evil is evil, he says. Despite occasional lapses into militant traditionalism, Gelernter makes many insightful points about where our culture is headed.
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The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority by Rose Wilder Lane
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| A beautifully written (though incomplete) defense of freedom and individual rights. Lane grasps the basic truth that government does not create wealth or value; government can, by its very nature, only destroy or inhibit. A timeless classic; if its theme could speak it would say: "Nobody Is Coming to Rescue You."
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In Defense of Elitism by William A. Henry, III
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| He's politically incorrect. But William Henry is right. The Pulitzer Prize- winning culture critic takes on, and debunks, some fundamentally ingrained ideas: that everyone is pretty much alike (and should be); a truly just society would automatically produce equal success results across lines of race, class, and gender; and the common man is almost always right. Equality of results is not an end in itself, Henry insists; achievement IS.
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Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour by Helmut Schoeck
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| Even in our Age of Feelings, it is remarkable how little attention the emotion of envy receives. Yet envy has profoundly affected human psychology and history for centuries. Schoeck's work is not light reading--but it isn't dry either. Nowhere else will you find such a thorough and honest treatment of this very powerful human emotion. A genuine classic in the field of the humanities.
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Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality by Andrew Sullivan
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| "A realistic slap in the face," is how one reader describes it. Sullivan (former editor of THE NEW REPUBLIC) shuns the liberal tendency to give gays victim status but, at the same time, advocates the legalization of gay marriage because he views it as a basic individual right. Sullivan's application of reason to this subject is unusual given the emotionalism and authoritarianism often displayed by both liberals and conservatives.
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The Mainspring of Human Progress by Henry Grady Weaver
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| A superb, readable presentation of what makes the world tick. Weaver answers the question: "For six thousand years people died of hunger. Why don't we?" No pretense. No evasion or intellectual grandstanding. No preachy lectures. If you want to better understand the fundamental ideas upon which human life depends, you will love this book.
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Grow Up America! by Michael J. Hurd, Ph.D.
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| Do you want somebody to fawn over you, and feel your pain? Then forget about buying this book…it’s not for you. But…if you’re ready to live the happy, responsible life, then read on!
Grow Up America! Tackles everyday life from a provocative— and ruthlessly honest—point of view. In addition to new, never-before- published material, Grow up America! includes selected articles and essays from past issues of The Living Resources Newsletter—many of which are now out- of-print.
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