The Subversives discussion
More Nonfiction, With A Neoconservative Bent...
date
newest »
newest »
Oh that list is too funny. Two quick notes for all:Before or after you take on Winston Churchill's The Second World War in 6 volumes, do yourself a favor and check out an illuminating boom by David Reynolds entitled IN COMMAND OF HISTORY. That way you can learn a little bit more about how and why this book was written, and why some of what is presented as fact doesn't quite square with other common perceptions of that history.
But then, what else is to be expected by the guys who helped shape the intellectual underpinnings of our current situation in Iraq?
Last note: The final choice of the 100 best books of the last century on this list is THE STARR REPORT on Bill Clinton. The list describes this as "a study in human depravity."
Ludricous as that last choice may seem for a great books list, hey...it's their list...but still, I can think of a lot of other published works during the 20th century that I would more accurately describe as a "study in human depravity." Like perhaps....Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking? The Theory and Practice of Hell by Eugen Kogon? Robert Conquest's The Great Terror (which is on their list, I acknowledge)?
In fact, if they're looking to have one representative book on the list about depraved American politics, seems to me like a more reasonable choice might have been one of the Watergate books...
But guess what? No Watergate books! I gues Clinton was a lot more depraved than Nixon was.
There are some more gems on the list, including a surprising choice of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
Brian, thanks for finding this great list!
Here you guys go. It stands to reason the National Review, full of guys who see themselves as the intellectual heirs of Churchill, would put him at the top of their list.
In these remarks, I don't mean to degrade neoconservativism. Only neconservative self-perception, which I think could use a little deflating.
Enjoy...