What Are You Reading? - My Quarterly Survey

As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the more well-read of those of us on the Internet. I like to find out what all of you are reading these days.

It can be anything...a technical journal, a NY Times best seller, a classic work of fiction, a trashy pulp novel. In short, it can be anything.

However, please do not defile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became really unfunny a long time ago.

I'll start. I'm about 15% of the way thru "Henry Clay: The Essential American" by David & Jeanne Heidler. Many books have been written on Henry Clay but this one seems to be the most comprehensive. At times, the authors can be a little long-winded - but all in all, it's a good book about one of the giants of the early 19th Century.

I looked into the new biography, J.D. Salinger: A Life by Kenneth Slawenski.

Also, The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey From Black to White, by Daniel J. Sharfstein.

And Hitler's First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War by Thomas Weber.

All three are worth a look.

They definitely miss the mark with me as I read very little fiction especially modern. I read lots of women’s Civil War diaries, cookbooks, history, and politics. I am a quick reader (speed reading in college) and my ISI and Amazon accounts get a workout weekly. My husband jokes I keep the UPS driver in his job.

Right now I am reading 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read: Plus Four Not to Miss and One Impostor by Benjamin Wiker.
Democracy in America and The Federalist Papers are both on the must read list. I have read both of those in the past and am sure I will read them again. :)

I’m also reading The Bible (St John and Psalms) and cooking my way through Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen, just started it yesterday. I am waiting for Diary of a Southern Refugee during the War, by a Lady of Virginia, Judith W. McGuire to arrive.

“Triumph of Conservatism” by Gabriel Kolko. It’s not quite what it sounds. Kolko is a Marxist historian who (while completely misunderstanding what it means to be conservative) argues that the Progressive movement was hardly antibusiness but was actually a movement by big business to hinder competition. I’m finding it interesting because I’ve always been of the opinion that corporatism is just the flipside of socialism and Kolko seems to confirm that. Really, only competitive markets can work.

I also just finished “The Unseen Revolution: How Pension Fund Socialism Came To America”by Peter Drucker. Drucker is often referred to as the father of modern management science and has had such honors as getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from GWB. This book is particularly interesting not only because it is one of his lesser cited works but it takes a very interesting view of Socialist thought in America. Although a little outdated I’d argue much of it is still relevant today. Essentially Drucker argues that taking the formal definition of socialism- worker control over the means of production- the United States through employee pension funds, starting at GM, quickly became the most socialist country in history.

I guess lately my focus has been on economic theory (I also re-read Schumpeter’s Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy recently) perhaps in hope we can move beyond the current system we have now which isn’t truly capitalist and towards more of capitalist system free of both statism and corporatism.

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