10 Books Every American NEEDS To Read

[hortysir]

Sorry, Rag, but 1984 is about all I got.

King and Kootz is about it for my reading tastes.

 

[Unkotare]

On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

The Social Contract, Rousseau

Leviathan, Hobbes

The Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne

The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald

The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

1984, Orwell

Malcolm X, Haley

Forrest Gump, Groom

 

[Unkotare]

I'm patiently looking forward to other USMB members lists. lol

Remember it's not your top ten books but the top ten books you think American's ought to read.

I don't think we should all read the same 10 books.

We're a diverse nation.

I think a list of 50 books that folks ought read at least 10 from would be better. People gain more insight from reading stuff they enjoy reading, its hard to force yourself through a list of books.

I had the fortune of having a high school senior english teacher who let us, the class, veto books that we thought we boring and sucked, so long as we gave them an honest go at it. Wuthering Heights got the fucking ax.

Wish I had that vote against Canterbury Tales

Are you kidding?!

 

[Peach]

I'm patiently looking forward to other USMB members lists. lol

Remember it's not your top ten books but the top ten books you think American's ought to read.

One "must read" would HAVE to be Orwell's 1984

Brave New World
Homage to Catalonia
The Fire Next Time
Memoirs of a Survivor
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Sound and The Fury
Wise Blood
Darkness at Noon
Invisible Man

Are more than ten allowed?

 

[Peach]

This will sound odd coming from a lefty but I really enjoyed Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising". Its has very little redeeming literary qualities but its great mind candy. I'd put it on a top 10 pop novel list.

Darkness At Noon, and Homage to Catalonia. are fine indictments of Communism, as is The Gulag Archipelago. I saw Solzhenitsyn speak once when I was 18, I had to peer through the gates of the Yard.

 

[Peach]

I'm patiently looking forward to other USMB members lists. lol

Remember it's not your top ten books but the top ten books you think American's ought to read.

I don't think we should all read the same 10 books.

We're a diverse nation.

I think a list of 50 books that folks ought read at least 10 from would be better. People gain more insight from reading stuff they enjoy reading, its hard to force yourself through a list of books.

I had the fortune of having a high school senior english teacher who let us, the class, veto books that we thought we boring and sucked, so long as we gave them an honest go at it. Wuthering Heights got the fucking ax.

This is what I get for reading HuffPo. I should have known better.

I agree with everything you said above. However the point of this exorcise is to partake in the Herculean task of narrowing down a short list of must reads. Obviously there are literally thousands that deserve to be read by everyone American and otherwise.

25 at least! (My greed is showing.)

 

[Ragnar]

I'm patiently looking forward to other USMB members lists. lol

Remember it's not your top ten books but the top ten books you think American's ought to read.

One "must read" would HAVE to be Orwell's 1984

Brave New World
Homage to Catalonia
The Fire Next Time
Memoirs of a Survivor
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Sound and The Fury
Wise Blood
Darkness at Noon
Invisible Man

Are more than ten allowed?

Interesting. I've only read three of the above, looks like I have some homework to do.

You can post all you want but I'm only counting the last ten books you post as your definitive list. (each new one drops your earliest on off your list)

 

[hjmick]

One Second After

 

[Quantum Windbag]

10 Books Every American NEEDS To Read

Not a terribly impressive list IMHO, however a decent argument could be made for all of the above minus Silent Spring. In the interest of full disclosure I haven't read Uncle Tom's Cabin or Gone With the Wind.

I think both I and most of the members of USMB could make a better list than Huff did so here is your chance. The difficulty factor is limiting the list to ten of course. Below, in no particular order, is my list. (subject to changes due to memory lapses, future reading and whimsey)

Remember this is not a top 10 list for greatness, history or literature but per Huff Po's guidelines, a list of the 10 books every American's should read.

The Federalist Papers - Hamilton, Madison, Jay

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates - Ralph Ketcham

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave - Frederick Douglass

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

The Communist Manifesto - Marx, Engels

Harder than it looks.

Yep, it is hard. Moby Dick is one of the worst pieces of writing ever published, the only thing I ever read that was worse than that was Billy Budd.

Everyone should Read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, you will add it to your Top 10 list

Is your list the exact same as mine then, minus Moby Dick and plus The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by wassname?

On edit: Do you prefer the HuffPo list that included the ghastly farce Silent Spring?

I don't know what the HuffPo list is so I can't comment on it, my browser blocks flash by default, and I have HuffPo on my untrusted list.

I don't actually have a list. Heinlein is a better writer than Rand, was a Navy vet and a libertarian, laid the groundwork for a libertarian government, did a better job than Rand in arguing for free markets, outlined all the justifications for the American Revolution, threw in doses of Machiavelli, Morgenstern, Clausewitz, and Sun Tzu, argued against a government that wants to protect its citizens, described the perfect structure for a revolution, and did all this while writing a story that was fast paced and interesting. It is worth 10 books all by itself.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Yep, it is hard. Moby Dick is one of the worst pieces of writing ever published, the only thing I ever read that was worse than that was Billy Budd.

Everyone should Read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, you will add it to your Top 10 list

I say the same about Atlas Shrugged.

I'd replace it with Road to Serfdom.

Have you ever read Melville? He actually made Moby Dick boring, which makes him an order of magnitude worse than Rand. Atlas Shrugged is not an exciting story.

 

[Trajan]

10 Books Every American NEEDS To Read

Not a terribly impressive list IMHO, however a decent argument could be made for all of the above minus Silent Spring. In the interest of full disclosure I haven't read Uncle Tom's Cabin or Gone With the Wind.

I think both I and most of the members of USMB could make a better list than Huff did so here is your chance. The difficulty factor is limiting the list to ten of course. Below, in no particular order, is my list. (subject to changes due to memory lapses, future reading and whimsey)

Remember this is not a top 10 list for greatness, history or literature but per Huff Po's guidelines, a list of the 10 books every American's should read.

The Federalist Papers - Hamilton, Madison, Jay

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates - Ralph Ketcham

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave - Frederick Douglass

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

The Communist Manifesto - Marx, Engels

Harder than it looks.

Yep, it is hard. Moby Dick is one of the worst pieces of writing ever published, the only thing I ever read that was worse than that was Billy Budd.

Everyone should Read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, you will add it to your Top 10 list

Is your list the exact same as mine then, minus Moby Dick and plus The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by wassname?

On edit: Do you prefer the HuffPo list that included the ghastly farce Silent Spring?

silent spring...my god.

 

[Trajan]

Yep, it is hard. Moby Dick is one of the worst pieces of writing ever published, the only thing I ever read that was worse than that was Billy Budd.

Everyone should Read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, you will add it to your Top 10 list

I say the same about Atlas Shrugged.

I'd replace it with Road to Serfdom.

Have you ever read Melville? He actually made Moby Dick boring, which makes him an order of magnitude worse than Rand. Atlas Shrugged is not an exciting story.

I agree..I never got the allure of MB....

 

[strollingbones]

animal farm

a separate peace

of mice and men

to kill a mockingbird

future shock

lord of the flies

last exit to brooklyn

last child in the woods (non fiction)

these are not books are government but on the nature of man....government and rule are always changing...the nature of man...never changes....

the only book one needs to read on government.....the prince by niccolò machiavelli

everyone should read the declaration of independence, bill of rights and the constitution

 

[alan1]

The Federalist Papers
Bible (old and new testaments)
Qu'ran
Bhagavad Gita
Tao Te Ching
Red Scarf Girl
I Have Lived A Thousand Years
Fingerprints Of The Gods
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto

limiting to ten was hard, next month I might feel a different ten was important.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

1984
1776
John Adams
Rules for Radicals
Self Reliance

 

[Big Fitz]

Getting people to read 10 books is mostly possible. 50 books? Not so much.

The Huffypoo does have some good works in their list, but they're all themed towards rebellion, subversivism and blame. to some degree or another.

I mean of course I get along with:

Common Sense: yes, it's a great book of philosophy of why government should serve men.
The Federalist Papers: Every American should know the thoughts of some of our founders.
Huck Finn: Classic Americana and adventure that captured it's era's zeitgeist.

The rest I'd either not read or couldn't care less or find some abhorant (then again I can't stand Steinbeck, Mitchell, Heller or Ellision) as to their style being incomprehensible to me. And Rachel Carson committed a crime against man with Silent Spring as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Big Fitz]

Sorry, Rag, but 1984 is about all I got.

King and Kootz is about it for my reading tastes.

Well I feel better now. Mine's more current pop culture anyway with some biggies here and there.

Oh what the hell. In no matter of importance or taste.

The Fountainhead : Rand
1984 : Orwell (hated it but it's important to understand)
A Brave New World : Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 : Bradbury
The Stand : King (Yes... I said it. When you look deep at it, it's an epic classic)
The Burke Omnibus : Vachss (Three novels that are the same arc. litterature engagee)
David Copperfeild : Dickens
Common Sense : Paine (I prefer the Beck version but Paine's half is best)
The Federalist Papers (read large swaths of it, and still think it should be here)
Old Times on the Mississippi : Twain (Call it a replacement for Moby Dick, but better)

 

[HUGGY]

10 Books Every American NEEDS To Read

Not a terribly impressive list IMHO, however a decent argument could be made for all of the above minus Silent Spring. In the interest of full disclosure I haven't read Uncle Tom's Cabin or Gone With the Wind.

I think both I and most of the members of USMB could make a better list than Huff did so here is your chance. The difficulty factor is limiting the list to ten of course. Below, in no particular order, is my list. (subject to changes due to memory lapses, future reading and whimsey)

Remember this is not a top 10 list for greatness, history or literature but per Huff Po's guidelines, a list of the 10 books every American's should read.

The Federalist Papers - Hamilton, Madison, Jay

The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates - Ralph Ketcham

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave - Frederick Douglass

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand

The Communist Manifesto - Marx, Engels

Harder than it looks.

Why don't YOU read all those books then post the Cliff Notes...

 

[hortysir]

I don't think we should all read the same 10 books.

We're a diverse nation.

I think a list of 50 books that folks ought read at least 10 from would be better. People gain more insight from reading stuff they enjoy reading, its hard to force yourself through a list of books.

I had the fortune of having a high school senior english teacher who let us, the class, veto books that we thought we boring and sucked, so long as we gave them an honest go at it. Wuthering Heights got the fucking ax.

Wish I had that vote against Canterbury Tales

Are you kidding?!

Just couldn't get into it........
*shrug*

 

[hortysir]

animal farm

a separate peace

of mice and men

to kill a mockingbird

future shock

lord of the flies

last exit to brooklyn

last child in the woods (non fiction)

these are not books are government but on the nature of man....government and rule are always changing...the nature of man...never changes....

the only book one needs to read on government.....the prince by niccolò machiavelli

everyone should read the declaration of independence, bill of rights and the constitution

Finally somebody with a list I can connect to