Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Sunday Morning Non-Book Open Thread | Main | Romney to release Tax Records [krakatoa] »
January 22, 2012

Sunday Book Thread

I have a rule: with very few exceptions, I don't read political memoirs, celebrity biographies, diet books, self-help books, and topical "ripped from the headlines" books. I find most books of this kind to be terribly shallow, badly-written, mundane, condescending, and unsubtle.

When Mark Levin published Liberty and Tyranny I mentally put it in this class of book, because as a talk-show host, I find Levin's hectoring "righteous umbrage" shtick to be irritating, and I figured that his book would be the same kind of thing. But at length I decided to dip into it and was surprised to find it a good rabble-rouser of a political tract -- unsubtle, yes, but that was implicit in the "manifesto" title. If it wasn't exactly up to Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" as a political pamphlet, it was as close as we can get in these modern times.

So when I heard that Levin was publishing a follow-up volume entitled Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America, I decided to give it a shot as well. This latest book attemps to explain modern Liberalism by drawing on the Utopian visions of philosophers who influenced them -- Plato, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx. He attempts to show how a drive for a utiopian society almost always leads to statism and ultimately tryanny, because "utopian" ideals require the suppression of individual liberty. Then Levin draws on Locke, Montesquieu, and de Toqueville to show how the Founders of America drew on a different philosophical strain -- that of individualism, personal liberty, and moral/ethical will -- as the guiding light of the Republic, and that it is this ethos that has given America the success it has had.

As a political pamphlet and conservative thumbnail guide to political philosophy, I expect Levin's newest book to be useful. However, he's going to have a hard time doing either side of his argument justice given how short his book is. (I'm reading Paul Rahe's Republics Ancient and Modern right now, which is a thorough treatment of the same subject that Levin is writing about, and it musters more than a thousand pages, plus appendices and end-notes.) I liked Levin's Liberty and Tyranny for being a good red-blooded political advocation tract in the old style, and I expect to like the new book in the same way: it won't convert anyone, but it may give more thoughtful conservatives some valuable food for thought as well as ammunition for argument. It may also provide some insight as to why modern conservatism and liberalism have evolved as they have in America. I don't expect to get much depth or subtlety or historical context, but for that I have Rahe's magisterial book.


---------------------

And now for the AoS HQ Moron book recommendations! If you are a writer, or have a friend or SO who is a writer and would like a mention in this space, send a message to aoshqbookthread AT gmail DOT com. (If you buy your books from Amazon, use the special AoS HQ storefront linked over in the right sidebar: Ace gets a little taste of every transaction at no cost to you. But you may suggest a book from any seller as long as they are legit; I only use Amazon because that's my own preference. Don't feel obligated to do likewise if you prefer another vendor.)

Luke Stibbs sends a recommendation for a fantasy novel called The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

For you card-playing Morons, DoverPro sends a link to his Texas Holdem book Texas Hold'em Dynamic Point Count Super Strategy.

Tony sends a link to The Pastures of Heaven by D. E. Starns.

Christopher Taylor sends a link to his fantasy novel Old Habits.

Vernon Baker links to his novel Slow Boat to Purgatory.

Steve D. Poling sends his novel The Aristotelian (The Secret Archives of the Diogenes Club).

Benjamin Durbin sends his book Trailblazer: New Horizons in 3.5 Roleplaying. (If you're a D&D player, this is probably a good book to pick up!)

Jeffrey Johnstone sends a link to his book Professional Bull Riders: The Official Guide to the Toughest Sport on Earth.

E. R. White Jr. sends a link to his detective novel Scrambled Hard-Boiled.

Kevin J. Ryan sends his book Radical Eye for the Infidel Guy: Inside the Strange World of Militant Islam.

DavidInLilly sends a book written by his son Patrick: A Poet's Faith.

Ann Banduhn sends a link to her book that ought to appeal to the collectors among us: Rosenthal Porcelain Figurines.

Suzy Morris sends a link to all her children's books in Amazon Kindle format.

Kortnee Bryant sends a link to a collection with a story she wrote called Stained Glass Forest.

David Acord sends two books he's written: What Would Lincoln Do?: Lincoln's Most Inspired Solutions to Challenging Problems and Difficult Situations and Success Secrets of Sherlock Holmes: Life Lessons from the Master Detective.

Matt Powell sends his book The Essentials of the Christian Religion.

Finally, Celia Hayes (whom some of you may remember from Sgt. Stryker's Daily Brief as "Sgt. Mom") sends a link to To Truckee's Trail and Adelsverein: The Complete Trilogy.

digg this
posted by Monty at 09:51 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
18-1: "Old saws no longer valid: Is the Pope Catholic? ..."

rhennigantx: "Putting it all together, we now know - as the Phil ..."

dantesed: "- - - - The AP After Reporting His Death Without V ..."

Thomas Bender: "@189 >> Trans grandma able to breastfeed baby w ..."

Cat Ass Trophy : "Joseph of Arimethia! ..."

Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden: "[i]Louis Gossett Jr is still alive but he has anno ..."

Lizzy[/i]: ">>[i]Okay, I'm going to give a Trump W this mornin ..."

Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight: "He went off to Kathmandu. Posted by: Count de Mon ..."

Humphreyrobot: "Twinkle nuts. That's the bad fairy. ..."

Warai-otoko : "I'd laugh if the majority of crooked shit being do ..."

Count de Monet: "They catch P.Diddy yet? More coffee... Posted ..."

Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden: "[i]Well the Dark Money infusion - oh, I meant the ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64