Political books

well, well, we all have been readying what has been published in the recent past

And among the books that are in the most read list are

John Dean's books, any of them... but his book on the conservative movement is a must read

What's the Matter with Kansas is also important as well as anything on framing and language

But... there are some classics out there that you might want to consider

When I went visiting parents in Mexico City, my mom plainly told me, take whatever books you want... and that folks was a hell of an offer

Here is one that a friend of my grandfather gave to him the year before my mom was born....

The Menace of Fascism

by

John Strachey

Now this one was purblind in 1933 and you may have to go to your local UNIVERSITY library to find it... but lord it is so topical today... that it is scary...

This brings me to the next book you can actually find at Borders, and quite the contrarian from Classical Historiography (Since it assumes there are actual cycles in history and this one deals with cycles in US History)

The title of the book is

The Fourth Turning: What the cycles of history tells us about America's next rendezvous with History.

The authors are William Strauss and Neil Howe... and it was written ten years ago... and I would say they are RIGHT ON TARGET

Point is many of us read the very recent. bit the patterns can easily be seen in old books as well.

Mill's "On Liberty"? or "The Federalist Papers"/"The Anti-Fededralist Papers" to actually get a clue about what The Founders were really arguing about way-back-when? Hofstadter's "Social Darwinism in American Thought", or Bailyn's "The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution"?or "The War and Humanity" by Beck (written in the 20's as a commentary on The Great War).

You raise such a good point,nadinbrzezinski; I also read quite a bit of what is coming out currently, but there is so much basic wisdom and fundamental historical insight in writings from an earlier time (not all of them, of course, just as not everything produced today is useful)...the times may change, the venue may change, but there is a lot to be gained from mining some of those old tomes. In some cases the more things change the more they truly do stay the same... :toast:

my "nephew" (child of my brother in law from a previous marriage)...graduated from HS in California not too long ago

Believe it or not in HS he NEVER read the Constitution... or Becker (that one did not surprise me), or the Bill of Rights

People should start with those two documents, and them move to Paine and the rest of them

Hey Jefferson's Papers on Virginia are rascinating and can be had for a download on line

for the priciple of Church/State separation in this country. The arguments that were going on during the Constitutional Convention are extremely relevant to what is happening today. We too often forget about the first principles.

I would vote for your OP if I had enough points. :thumbsup: (edit) um...if I were a donor...soon.

by the way it is nice to see I am not just one of those rare birds that reads these things.

For the moment inmmersed in a couople books (doing research for the game suplement I am writing) and I will add Hegels cycles of history to the damn thing

Why not... brought Solon's greece back from the ashes....(and I even mentioned it by name... hopefully the reader will realize Solon WAS a real person... and though not directly relevant he is still relevant to US Democratic thought)