Free Republic

Book Publishing Needs Socialism to Save It Let me just state up front that I love America and wouldn’t live anywhere else but, I also believe there’s room for a blend of socialism and capitalism to exist in a democratic society, and when it comes to how books are sold or treated, I prefer what the French and other advanced nations do. They protect books and the printed word. I applaud them—and so should you. Here in the U.S., thanks largely to Amazon, books have become commoditized. You can buy clothes based on price—or a desk or the hotel you...

Hillary Clinton’s $35 doorstop of a memoir is a flop. It was a best-seller to hard-core Democrats, but her advance is estimated at $14 million, which means Simon & Schuster is taking a bath in the hopes of a publishing a future president. Worse yet, The Washington Post reported that according to an Amazon.com measurement of which electronic books are most-read, Clinton’s book came in dead last among recent political books. Every time people highlight something in a book on their Kindles, Amazon records that data. By that measure, most readers barely started it. “The deepest into ‘Hard Choices’ the...

Thanks to Reformation Trust, Ligonier Ministries is giving away a church prize pack that consists of 200 copies of R.C. Sproul’s latest book, Everyone’s a Theologian. This prize pack will be shipped to a church of the winner’s choice located within the United States of America or Canada. In addition to the church prize pack, ten other winners will receive a single copy of Everyone’s a Theologian. “Everyone’s a Theologian is anything but a dry discussion of minute points of doctrine. R.C. Sproul, demonstrating his trademark ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, surveys the basic truths of the...

This is nothing more or less than a complete vanity. My sixth book is out today and I am thrilled with it. I started my journey as a self-published writer just over two years ago and look forward to doing this as a career for the next few decades. My latest novel is called 'EMP': In a flash of searing light, the world changed. A massive solar flare has crippled the modern world and brought chaos and destruction. David Hartsman is stuck in the remote farm town of his youth on what was expected to be a short visit to...

Miss Rutherford lived during a time when people were closer and the pace was slower! “Miss Rutherford writes often about the Confederacy, and Southern traditions, and was overall a champion of all things Southern. While her writings may not be politically correct in today’s world, they are an important look into her era and document views and events from someone who lived through them and knew people who did.”---Kenneth H. Thomas, Jr., Genealogy Columnist, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

Do we conservatives really mean it when we say that we need to promote our ideas in the popular culture through books, movies and other media? If so, we need to support people like Dinesh D'Souza and his latest movie and book, "America: Imagine the World Without Her." I saw the movie, and I loved it. Dinesh is a passionate patriot who "chose this country" and loves it with every fiber of his being. Like many of the rest of us, he recognizes that America is under assault, and he is doing all he can to save it. In...

It's the cultural crime we don't dare admit - starting that big, high-brow book with the best intentions before leaving it half-read down the back of the sofa. So those who give up on tough reads will be relieved to hear they're not alone. A mathematics professor has singled out which books are our most 'unread' - and intellectual big-hitters are far and away the worst culprits. Readers in their droves gave up on Hillary Clinton's memoirs, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century before they were even a tenth of the...

While parents of public school children may feel besieged by alternative lifestyles, one public school teacher doesn’t think the literature available to them is diverse enough. “It takes a lot of work to find books that include same-gender parents, step-parents, foster or adoptive children, or other nontraditional families as background in an adventure tale, a friendship parable, or a holiday romp; nontraditional families are either the topic of the story or, more likely, not included at all,” Willow McCormick writes in the summer issue of Rethinking Schools magazine. “When two-parent, heterosexual families are presented as the norm in story after...

What are you reading? There used to be a quarterly "What are you reading?" thread, but I haven't seen it for a long time. I got a lot of good book suggestions that way, and I miss it. So here's a thread! If you're reading something interesting you think others would like, or something boring you'd recommend we all avoid, jump in! If you have a ping list of FReepers who might be interested, ping them!

I am working on a project to collect as many books as possible for a new library that opened on May 21 in Tuttle, Oklahoma. Tuttle is a tiny town of about 6,000 people west of OKC. This library is operated and funded by volunteers. To my knowledge, they receive no public funding.The volunteers have worked incredibly hard to raise money for their location, books, and services. If you're an author, or know of one, this would be a great way to get your book(s) on library shelves. Tuttle Public Library 305 W Main Street Tuttle, OK 73089 http://www.tuttlelibrary.org/ I...

As she exited her Hard Choices book event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was approached by conservative activist Jason Mattera, who asked her to sign a copy of the book out to one of the four Americans who perished in the 2012 Benghazi attack. “If you could make it out to Christopher Stevens,” Mattera asked, referring to the U.S. Ambassador to Libya who was a victim of the terrorist siege. “I think you knew him.” After a brief pause, Clinton responded, “Yeah, I’m not going to make it out to Chris Stevens.” “What difference does...

...Muslim Movements to Christ Something is happening in the Muslim world, something unprecedented in history. Over the past 14 centuries, Islam has forged a ‘spiritual empire’ that stretches from West Africa to Indonesia. Today, the Dar al-Islam or “House of Islam,” as Muslims call their religious community, counts more than one in five persons on earth.

Thomas Woods' book titled HOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BUILD WESTERN CIVILIZATION is an unanswerable antidote to anti-Catholic bashers and their mindless sychophants. Prof. Woods provides a compelling case that Western Civilization could not have thrived without the valuable achievements of the Catholic Church over the past 2,000 years. Prof. Woods survey of the Catholic Church in late Ancient History and during the Dark Ages makes clear that the Catholic Church authorities and especially the monks were invaluable in preserving learning. He makes clear that the early Catholic monks and nuns were the only literate people in Europe, and they preserved...

SNIP As you've probably realized by now, we have a weakness for extremely quirky food combinations -- hello, Cronut and Ramenburger -- and extraordinarily large things, like the 4,000-pound chocolate cake Guittard made for Beverly Hills' centennial. So how could we not tell you about the Screamin' Pizza Burger? According to Nick, the blogger behind DudeFoods -- and the man who brought the concept of bacon-lattice into the public consciousness -- all you need to make one is two full-size frozen pizzas, one four-pound beef patty and a spatula of mind-blowing proportions. Find instructions and photos -- and details on...

"The lawlessness of Hitler's Germany, beneath a veneer of legal forms, was absolute. As Goering put it, "The law and the will of the Fuhrer are one." Hans Frank: "Our constitution is the will of the Fuhrer." Hitler worked entirely through decrees and ordinances, as opposed to law, here again resembling Lenin, who never showed the slightest interest in constitution-making."

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com - Untold Stories of Israeli InnovationPosted By Jim Fletcher On May 30, 2014 @ 12:20 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments Marcella Rosen knew what she had to do. Standing on the sidelines while the state of Israel was being denigrated just wouldn’t work for the marketing professional from New York. If the news about Israel is almost always negative, she’d do something about it.She’d share untold news. And that’s how Untold News (www.untoldnews.org) was born.Untold News gathers and disseminates positive stories about the myriad ways Israeli innovation brings help, hope, and healing to...

You probably SparkNoted these books before, but now's your chance to read them.

Lynne Cheney has spent decades studying and admiring the nation's fourth president, James Madison. Her new book, "James Madison: A Life Reconsidered" is a labor of political admiration that began five years ago and culminated in a historical journey in which Madison, the father of the Constitution, also becomes a prophet of productive conservatism. ....She considers Madison the prophet of small government. He pushed for a strong central government early in his political career when he served in the early House of Representatives, but he started having some doubts. "Madison began to worry about too strong a government," Cheney told...

As you've heard, Hillsdale College is offering its newest free online course: Great Books 101! Will you register today and become a Hillsdale student? You'll be able to watch brief 35- to 50-minute lectures by Hillsdale's professors who will empower you with knowledge and insights from some of the greatest, most exhilarating stories in world history. And as with all of Hillsdale's previous free online courses, there's no need to worry about missing a lecture. All 11 course lectures are archived so you can view them at your convenience at anytime and anywhere on your computer or tablet And when...

Hundreds of Meridian, Idaho high school students signed a protest petition when their local school board banned Sherman Alexie' young adult novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a part-Time Indian" from their 10th grade curriculum. But a private fundraising drive, organized by two Washington women, has now raised enough money to buy a copy for each of the 350 students who protested...

FULL TITLE: Boys turning to action-packed video games because books are 'too girly' for them, says award-winning children's author Boys are being put off reading because of the influence women have on children’s literature, says an award-winning children’s author. Jonathan Emmett warned that children’s books were too girly because of the influence of mostly female panels of editors, publishers, reviewers and judges. One publishing company’s research suggested women bought 95 per cent of picture books for children, he added. The writer believes boys are being starved of what they enjoy in books, such as swashbuckling pirates, battles, or technical details...

It was the best of hugs; it was the worst of hugs. Or so the description might have gone had Charlie Crist labored a bit longer on his new memoir, in which the erstwhile governor of Florida—who is now campaigning for the job again—relives the fateful embrace with President Obama that he claims sunk his political fortunes in 2009. Rather than try for style, Crist renders the moment with the racy, staccato gusto that one might expect from a pulpy romance. ................................................. But fiction is yours to write if you’re an aspiring politician with a book deal. Crist’s The Party’s...

http://amzn.to/1dSYZ7h “Havelock’s Inheritance.” Havelock is on a voyage of discovery involving fraud, deceit, two crime families and enough dead bodies to start his own morgue. http://amzn.to/1fR47nx “A Plague of Dragons.” Something is trying to kill Kyle Fortune and when it does, an ancient menace will return to enslave and devastate the world.

The loss of Doctor Richter's suggested reading list that saved my life was tragic, a fact that I am constantly being reminded of. Some books -- Whittaker Chamber's Witness, for example, or Orwell's Homage to Catalonia -- were unforgettable. Others, especially those that I could not locate at the time, never got read, so I had no memory at all in order to reconstruct. I did have a wisp of a memory about a book that had, I thought, the words "rebel colonel" in the title, but was marked down in Richter's precise handwriting as "American political economy." Imagine...

Professor Amy Chua of the Yale law school is better known as a "Tiger Mom" because of her take-no-prisoners, tough love approach to raising children. She and her husband Jed Rubenfeld (a fellow Yale law professor) have written what may turn out to be the best book of this year. It is titled "The Triple Package" because it argues that three qualities are found in spectacularly successful groups in America. These three qualities, they say, are a superiority complex, insecurity and impulse control. Whether you buy their theory or not, you will be enormously enlightened by their attempts to prove...

In 1898, British writer H. G. Wells wrote "The War of the Worlds," a science-fiction novel in which Martians invade the Earth and nearly decimate humanity. A decade later, in what was then the Russian Empire, writer and Marxist revolutionary Alexander Bogdanov wrote his novel "Red Star," also about Martians landing on Earth. But in Bogdanov's novel, the Martians are not violent or monstrous. Instead, they invite the main character, a young Russian student named Leonid, back to the Red Planet to see the Martians' civilization: a thriving, peaceful — and communist — utopia. The optimism of "Red Star" was...

We are surrounded everyday by forces of good and evil. Sometimes our nation’s laws and leaders advance the former, other times unfortunately, the latter—just look at the result of Roe v. Wade, which has taken 55 million innocent lives in the last four decades and simultaneously unwoven the moral fabric of our society. Although “The Tenth” by Joanne Moudy is fiction, fighting against this evil takes center stage in her gripping novel. As a paranormal thriller, the book weaves back and forth between our world and another, known as the ‘Realm of Holding.’ The main character Elizabeth, a trauma...

Freepers wanting to use this list to announce their latest book or a book giveaway, etc. Freepmail me. You got on this list by being intemperate enough to let me know you downloaded one of my novels. If you want off, mail me. If you want on, likewise. BTW, I’m new at this so your suggestions (other than the one about what I should do with my head) are appreciated.

Have you ever lied about reading a book? Maybe you didn’t want to seem stupid in front of someone you respected. Maybe you rationalized it by reasoning that you had a familiarity with the book, or knew who the author was, or what the story was about, or had glanced at its Wikipedia page. Or maybe you had tried to read the book, even bought it and set it by your bed for months unopened, hoping that it would impart what was in it merely via proximity (if that worked, please email me).

Have a look!

I just started reading The Road to Serfdom - just started the second chapter after slugging through the various introductions and prefaces. About halfway through the first chapter, I started wondering – not for the first time – that whenever there is a discussion on socialism, some things – to me – always seem to be missing. One, how come no one ever does a compare/contrast with socialism and our Declaration of Independence and Constitution? Two, how come no one really defines socialism? How did it start? What is the difference between communism, Marxism, socialism, fascism, Nazism? I have heard...

Red herrings - A review of American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character by Diana West Stumbling into a barroom brawl was the last thing I’d intended. Lined up on one side: sculptors of a hagiography that is now conventional wisdom crow about a noble conquest over totalitarian dictators. The other side bellows: “Nonsense! In defeating one monster, your heroes merely helped create another, sullying us with their atrocities and burdening us for decades with a global security nightmare.” The first side spews that its critics are deranged, defamatory conspiracy-mongers. The critics fire back that these “court historians”...

Ol' Backwoods just finished a book that I have been avoiding since my teen years, a book, I supposed, so utterly despondent in its outlook, so stolid in its prediction of failure of civilization, that it would cast its pall of darkness over me, without recovery. But I was wrong. Earth Abides (Amazon) Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is one of the most important, one of the more comforting, and one of the more hopeful books I have ever read. Surprised?  Yeah, so am I.  What could an atheist Berkeley professor write that should impress a backwoods Christian engineer...

GED prep guides, nursing and other professional exam cliff notes were high on the list of frequently filched books — but so too were graphic novels, library officials said. Book thieves checked out but never returned 70,144 books from Brooklyn Public Library’s 60 cash-strapped branches in 2012, records show. GED prep guides, nursing and other professional exam cliff notes were high on the list of frequently filched books — but so too were graphic novels, library officials said. “Those are always going missing,” a librarian at the Brooklyn Heights branch told the Daily News Thursday.

The Guns of August & The Proud Tower by Barbara W. Tuchman http://www.amazon.com/Barbara-W-Tuchman-Library-America/dp/159853145X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

With the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination this past November, I began revisiting the various conspiracy theories that have appeared over the years. I never put any stock in the Warren Commission and the establishment verdict of “Oswald as lone killer.” But among all the conspiracy portrayals put forth, none truly satisfied me as definitive. That is until I read JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, by James W. Douglass. There are hundreds of “JFK conspiracy” books in print, but Douglass takes the reader to places not visited by others eloquently and hauntingly. And...

Who hasn’t had some liberal sneer at him, “Why don’t you conservatives go read a book?” This powerful critique of the intellectual deficiencies of my ideological brethren always cuts me to the bone. I’m usually so upset that I run weeping to my fine German touring sedan, completely forgetting to tip the nose-studded holder of a degree in Gender Neutral Puppetry who pointed out my educational failings while he fetched my latte. This meme is nonsense. In fact, conservative tastes in books can be quite eclectic. One day last week, Amazon delivered Hugh Hewitt’s new book on happiness concurrently with...

The media quickly came up with a term for the apparently politically orchestrated George Washington Bridge traffic jam: "Bridgegate." Now what catchy term do the media attach to the explosive new book castigating the incumbent wartime commander in chief? "Gatesgate"? Hardly. Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is suspected of orchestrating, for political payback, a traffic jam on the GW Bridge. "Meet the Press" spent more than half of its most recent show -- 28 minutes not counting commercials -- on "Bridgegate," less than 11 minutes on the Gates' allegations, another 12 minutes reporting on women living in poverty and...

I haven’t seen my copy of Men On Strike for several weeks. I kept careful watch on the book until I finished interviewing her, but after that it disappeared into the Bowyer-Family-Book-Sharing Vortex from which it has not yet emerged. That’s because it is an easy read about a topic which is interesting in both a social science theory way, and in a figuring out how to get by in the current world kind of way. Men on Strike is pretty much what the title says it is, a book about how many men have decided not to participate in...

Per Wiki: God's Not Dead is an upcoming American drama film based on the book of the same name by Rice Broocks and the song of the same name by the Newsboys. The film is directed by Harold Cronk, and stars Shane Harper, Kevin Sorbo, Jim Gleason, David A.R. White, Marco Khan and Dean Cain. The film will be released to theaters on March 21, 2014 by Pure Flix Entertainment. Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper), a freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class taught by an infamous and dictatorial professor. Prof. Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) demands that all of his students...

War is unquestionably mankind at his worst. Yet, paradoxically, it is in war that men — individual men — often show the very best of themselves. War is often the result of greed, stupidity, or depravity. But in it, men are often brave, loyal, and selfless. I am not a soldier. I have no plans to become one. But I’ve studied war for a long time. I am not alone in this. The greats have been writing and reading about war — its causes, its effects, its heroes, its victims — since the beginning of written text. Some of our...

As a student of history I was interested in the new Beck book Miracles and Massacres and was wondering if anyone had read it yet and if it was good history.

Happy National Science Fiction Day! January 2nd is the day selected for this wonderful holiday because it was Isaac Asimov's birthday. It's a day to celebrate, appreciate, and even read some of the many science fiction offerings at your local library, bookstore, website, or your own bookshelf.

This is Week 12 of Season 3 in my 13 Weeks of Wild Man Writing and Radical Reading Series . Every week day I try to blog about compelling writers, their ideas, and the news cycle’s most interesting headlines. This Top 10 list is the series’ climax for this year, a project I’ve been planning since first asking the question December 5, 2012 . What is the future of conservatism? Which voices should define the priorities of the movement in the coming decades? Who are its most skilled proponents today? How should the movement evolve to face the threats...

The holiday season should be a time of faith -- a time to show compassion for those in the military, as well as for their families. This is definitely the theme of three recent books: The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom, The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy Seal by Jason Redman, and American Heroes: On The Homefront: The Hearts Of Heroes by Oliver North with Bob Hamer. Throughout these books, the theme of hope and the belief in G-d is emphasized. American Thinker interviewed the authors about their books... Oliver North's latest book shows...

Americans are inclined to believe that, with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Cold War from 1945 to 1991 was over. In fact, that war of ideologies, communism versus capitalism, began in the 1920s after the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, initiated a covert program to undermine America. Today we call it "political correctness" and its impact on our society is sapping it of its true history and values. "Willing Accomplices: How KGB Covert Intelligence Agents Created Political Correctness, Obama's Hate-America-First Political Platform, and Destroyed America" by Kent Clizbe, a former CIA espionage officer, reveals how active and...

In his latest book Tea Party Catholic, Dr. Samuel Gregg develops a Catholic case for the values and institutions associated with the free economy, limited government, and America’s experiment in ordered liberty.He underscores the moral and economic benefits of business and markets, addresses the welfare state’s problems, and deals with related issues that divide Catholics in America such as the demands of social justice, the role of unions, immigration, poverty, and the relationship between secularism and big government.Gregg concludes that as a creative minority, limited government Catholics can help transform the wider movement to reground the United States upon the...

With recent footage of black teenagers cold-cocking random strangers in a deadly game known as “Knockout,” Americans should recognize how badly our country needs a selfless voice of leadership heard in all of our homes. But until the dignified message of someone like Dr. Ben Carson becomes mainstream, Mark Twain’s classic punch to the face has always packed the power to knock some sense in to people who need it the most. Nearly 130 years after The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published, Twain’s timeless lessons on race and humanity continue to offer America a remedy to racial bigotry --...

I am building a list of books I can keep and/or recommend to others, especially those with kids. I need your help with books that are not the product of left leaning bias and/or were written in the past. I am a full time professional storyteller and public speaker and use such as source material for stories and to recommend to parents and adults when they ask for suggestions. The problem is that so many newer books portray our Founding Fathers and other American heroes poorly or have rewritten history to the point that I no longer recognize it. By...