Recommendations for Common Freshmen Text (Vanity)

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[untenured]

Just like last year, I am on a committee that will select a common text for our university's incoming first-year students freshmen. I am seeking suggestions from Freepers. The text must be less than 300pp, and should be something beyond what students would get in high school but not overwhelmingly scholarly. It need not be related to public policy. It can even be a novel.

This year's list so far appears to be heavy on books that persuade students of the virtues of modern science (implicitly encouraging them to reject whatever religious priors might conflict with that), on books that advocate equality in school funding, and paeans to (predominantly left-wing) social activism. It may be possible to pair a book on one of these themes that is more friendly to conservative values with one of those already nominated.

Last year's list, if people are curious, is here.

[atomicpossum]

The fireworks from suggesting this one would be fun.

[Alama]

Hayek's Road to Serfdom...

[LS]

Well, I'd like to suggest "America's Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror," by yours truly, but I know that won't fly, so . . .

How about a provocative novel called "Smoke Screen" by Kyle Mills? It explores the tobacco/smoking issue from an unusual perspective: what if all the tobacco companies just shut down unless they got complete protection from the government against suits?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

John Locke
"Second Treatise of Government"

[Copernicus]

Barry Goldwater: The Conscience of a Conservative

Best regards,

[Copernicus]

William Strunk,Jr and W.B. White: The Elements of Style

Excellent review of basic composition and the proper use of grammar and vocabulary.

Best regards,

[nonliberal]

Fredric Bastiat "The Law." Or the book I just finished "Scalia Dissents."

[yankeedame]

[martin_fierro]

The text must be less than 300pp, and should be something beyond what students would get in high school but not overwhelmingly scholarly. It need not be related to public policy. It can even be a novel.

[proxy_user]

Non-fiction: The Federalist Papers

Fiction: Evelyn Waugh: Put Out More Flags

[coconutt2000]

Cheesy, but how about a simple, quick read like "Carry On Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham.

Great story about a kid who loves school but his father being poor sells him into indenture to learn a trade, ending his schooling. The kid learns the virtue of hard work, dreams, and "sailing by the ash breeze" while becoming one of America's earliest self-taught scholars. From indentured to captain of a sailing vessel, to a recognized figure in American scholastic achievement, this story is a fictionalized account of the life of a true American.

[bwteim]

Democracy in America - - Alexis de Tocqueville

The Heart of the Matter - - Graham Greene

Wise Blood - - Flannery O'Connor

The Power and the Glory - - Graham Greene

[nonliberal]

Burt Folsom's "The Myth of the Robber Barons."
Robert Bork's "Slouching Towards Gomorrah."
Allen Wienstein and Alexander Vassilev's "The Haunted Wood."
Eilie Weisel's "Night"
I second the motion for The Road to Serfdom.

[Copernicus]

But, the student may ask," what if it comes natural to me to experiment rather than conform? What if I am a pioneer or even a genius?" Answer: then be one. But do not forget that what may seem like pioneering may be merely evasion, or laziness- the disinclination to submit to discipline. Writing good standard English is no cinch, and before you have managed it you will have encountered enough rough country to satisfy even the most adventurous spirit. -The Elements of Style

Best regards,

[nonliberal]

For a novel, try "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis.

[Wombat101]

Try this: give each student a copy of the US Constitution and have then write it out, in full, 50 times on the back of their hands, or until they can recite it from memory (assuming they haven't erased their memory in gaining their Freshman Fifteen).

Then give them a copy of the "Collected Essays of George Orwell" (much longer than 300 pages, to be sure), just so they can hear from the horse's mouth (so to speak) why pacifism, socialism and anti-Americanism are such unworkable ideas. This book should be required reading for everyone in the United States, if you ask me.

[sully777]

[yeff]

This year's list so far appears to be heavy on books that persuade students of the virtues of modern science (implicitly encouraging them to reject whatever religious priors might conflict with that)

Implicit encouragement is in the eyes of the reader. I have never read a scientific treatise that explicitly encourages an abandonment of religion. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but they're certainly not prevalent.

What is it about "books that persuade students of the virtues of modern science" that is not friendly to conservative values?

[sully777]