Your essential book list for politics.

[MaggieMae]

The Words We Live By:
Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution

Customer Review
Some Words to Start on, November 14, 2007
By J Huss

The Words We Live By is a readily accessible, quick reference analysis of the Constitution of the United States of America. It makes use of a functional format (that resembles a text book) as well as interesting little anecdotes that restore a portion of the textual and historical romance that you naturally lose in any abridgment. It presents the analytical and background material in a manner that easily correlates to the corresponding text within the Constitution. Taking a "one bite at a time" type of approach, The Words We Live By briefly examines our Constitution in multiple contexts--a refreshing little jaunt, through a critical piece of our heritage. You can read the full review at the link. It's rather long.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_61?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+words+we+live+by+your+annotated+guide+to+the+constitution&sprefix=the+words+we+live+by+your+annotated+guide+to+the+constitution]Amazon.com: the words we live by your annotated guide to the constitution[/ame]

This isn't one of those fat tomes, difficult to read without nodding off. It contains the full text of the Constitution, follows each clause with explanations and sidebars, plus court case reviews of pertinent USSC decisions throughout history. It's one of my bibles, and sits right next to a Roget's and a giant "Guide to Essential Knowledge" which contains all sorts of little tidbits that can be explored in other publications.

I would also recommend any of "The Making of the President" series, particularly Kennedy and Nixon which brought upon this country great changes but both of which ended with sensational and tragic results for the presidents themselves.

 

[MaggieMae]

My boy is 16 and my girl will be 14 too soon to contemplate. They will be voters soon!

I am going to ask them to read three basic books on politics if they read nothing else.

Federalist papers

Machiavellis's Discourses on Livy's Roman History

Road to Serfdom.


What three books would you recommend to a new voter?

If they're going to read the Federalist Papers I'd also recommend they read the Anti-Federalist Papers, just so they see the opposite argument and can come to their own conclusion as to who was ultimately right. Hayek's writing is dry and boring, so unless they're predisposed to read, and to read about political economy in particular, they probably won't enjoy The Road to Serfdom. It is a good book to read, however.

Not Wikileaks??

 

[MaggieMae]

"The Law"
"Federalist Papers"
"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"

The last one will surely scare them into behaving.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

My boy is 16 and my girl will be 14 too soon to contemplate. They will be voters soon!

I am going to ask them to read three basic books on politics if they read nothing else.

Federalist papers

Machiavellis's Discourses on Livy's Roman History

Road to Serfdom.


What three books would you recommend to a new voter?

If they're going to read the Federalist Papers I'd also recommend they read the Anti-Federalist Papers, just so they see the opposite argument and can come to their own conclusion as to who was ultimately right. Hayek's writing is dry and boring, so unless they're predisposed to read, and to read about political economy in particular, they probably won't enjoy The Road to Serfdom. It is a good book to read, however.

Not Wikileaks??

There's too much there for any one person to read, but I'd recommend everybody be familiar with the situation.

 

[Annie]

Don't tell me what i looked at and what i didn't. I *did* look ...

I believe in reading source material, not what someone else tells you the source material says. And I think that's what was being asked for.

Even when I read cases, I read the actual case and not the headnotes.

THAT is why I commented as I did.

Besides, you're the blog queen... you don't like actual sources.

Jillian, forgive me. I expected a real life attorney to be discerning regarding the difference between a message board and real life. My mistake where you are concerned it seems.

Blogs are great for those that have the tools to discriminate, which of course precludes most secondary students, though one would hope more for post-secondary, no? We'll not go towards post-grad, since that seems to be a problem here.

No, the Center for Civic Education is a first rate site, for programs regarding both civics and democracy. It's both domestic and international. That Jillian derides it, well seems now to speak volumes, since one of the primary objectives is incorporating primary source documents.

can you write a post without an insult?

didn't think so.

dismissed. *yawn*

Great use of smilies and 'yawn'. Have at it. Queen of non-answer to non-insult. An observation to your posts is not an insult, it's an observation.

 

[NYcarbineer]

I'm surprised no wingnut recommended Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater. If nothing else, it's at least short enough that a teenager might get through it.

 

[MaggieMae]

No, you don't.

Yes you certainly do.
I was once the wise ass college kid too. I read the books, I listened to liberal professors...I sat around talking with the other "enlightened" kids.

I knew 1/8th what I thought I did.
You will realize this too...beginning with the stupid avatar you have.

and to supplement your learning from the people who actually knew what they were talking about you learned from whom?

Now THAT'S a question that could be asked of everyone!!

 

[MaggieMae]

Another suggestion, Baruch, is to subscribe to the History Book club. I think they offer an initial 4 books for $1.00 or something like that, and you only have to buy four a year. It's possible they've even dropped that because people aren't reading books anymore. I haven't been a member for several years, but I still enjoy getting the ad to rejoin and reading excerpts and descriptions of the books they offer. That way your kids could get a "feel" for what they might be interested in, together with Dad's prodding of course.

 

[Agit8r]

My boy is 16 and my girl will be 14 too soon to contemplate. They will be voters soon!

I am going to ask them to read three basic books on politics if they read nothing else.

Federalist papers

Machiavellis's Discourses on Livy's Roman History

Road to Serfdom.


What three books would you recommend to a new voter?

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) by David Cay Johnston

Jacobin and Junto

The Ralph Nader Reader

 

[QUENTIN]

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and On the Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
Declarations of Independence and A People's History of The United States by Howard Zinn
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
Common Sense and Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
An Economic Theory of Democracy by Anthony Downs
Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky
Two Treatises of Government by John Locke
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt
Statism and Anarchy by Mikhail Bakunin
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Das Kapital by Karl Marx
Individualism Old and New by John Dewey


and of course the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Amendments, Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, and I think as a good contrast, the Constitution of South Africa.

Recommended to a 14-year-old? Not all of them. But "my essential book list for politics" and all things I'd recommend to someone curious about political history and philosophy in their late teens or so.

 

[Synthaholic]

I would include "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. It had a powerful effect and changed the course of labor in this country.

 

[Londoner]

My boy is 16 and my girl will be 14 too soon to contemplate. They will be voters soon!

I am going to ask them to read three basic books on politics if they read nothing else.

Federalist papers

Machiavellis's Discourses on Livy's Roman History

Road to Serfdom.


What three books would you recommend to a new voter?

(Good topic OP!)

I would want them to have the critical powers to weigh, measure, and challenge the assumptions I was sneaking into their brains through my version of "Timeless Books". They are not receptacles for what I think.

Ultimately, I'd like my children to see what happens when Government is so powerful that it steals Ayn Rand's father's pharmacy. Then, I would like them to see the opposite, i.e., what happens when pharma owns the government, and, consequently, concentrated power rests not in bureaucrats with social visions, but in corporations who fund elections and buy legislation. If I were going to introduce them to theories of concentrated power, I'd want them to see all the places where power tends to collect.

Parents who tell only one side of the story are putting their children in a mental prison.

Expose children to as many theories as possible, and cultivate an environment where their beliefs arise from a deep critical engagement with a wide spectrum of opposing view points. In the end, don't worry what they believes as much as whether they can defend their beliefs.

If I were forced to populate a political reading list:

1. Atlas Shrugged
2. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Monday
3. Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

 

[JFK_USA]

My boy is 16 and my girl will be 14 too soon to contemplate. They will be voters soon!

I am going to ask them to read three basic books on politics if they read nothing else.

Federalist papers

Machiavellis's Discourses on Livy's Roman History

Road to Serfdom.


What three books would you recommend to a new voter?

If they're going to read the Federalist Papers I'd also recommend they read the Anti-Federalist Papers, just so they see the opposite argument and can come to their own conclusion as to who was ultimately right. Hayek's writing is dry and boring, so unless they're predisposed to read, and to read about political economy in particular, they probably won't enjoy The Road to Serfdom. It is a good book to read, however.

I agree with that, both sides should be exposed. As a parent, you need to give your kids all the facts and all the information and let them make their own decision. They will be much happier and not hate you for forcing them to believe what you believe.

 

[Douger]

Confessions of an Economic Hitman and Hoodwinked should replace all current history books.
Shock Doctrine will explain current "politics".

 

[Douger]

Add in a book called Affluenza to explain the mental illness epidemic in the nation formerly known as the US of A...now called murka.

 

[Agit8r]

I suppose i could include Road to Serfdom in my list, were I allowed a forth spot. I have to appreciate the pragmatism of Hayek

"The successful use of competition does not preclude some types of government interference. For instance, to limit working hours, to require certain sanitary arrangements, to provide an extensive system of social services is fully compatible with the preservation of competition. There are, too, certain fields where the system of competition is impracticable. For example, the harmful effects of deforestation or of the smoke of factories cannot be confined to the owner of the property in question. But the fact that we have to resort to direct regulation by authority where the conditions for the proper working of competition cannot be created does not prove that we should suppress competition where it can be made to function. To create conditions in which competition will be as effective as possible, to prevent fraud and deception, to break up monopolies— these tasks provide a wide and unquestioned field for state activity" -- F.A. Hayek; from Road to Serfdom

I must admit that his arguments have affected my own political philosophy

 

[Agit8r]

I also appreciate how Hayek defines socialism as "planned economy" rather than using the term as a catch-all for everything that he doesn't agree with

 

[Synthaholic]

I also appreciate how Hayek defines socialism as "planned economy" rather than using the term as a catch-all for everything that he doesn't agree with

Mmmmmmmm.........hayek.

 

[Agit8r]

I also appreciate how Hayek defines socialism as "planned economy" rather than using the term as a catch-all for everything that he doesn't agree with

Mmmmmmmm.........hayek.

who knew she could use all those big words, huh...

 

[Trajan]

My boy is 16 and my girl will be 14 too soon to contemplate. They will be voters soon!

I am going to ask them to read three basic books on politics if they read nothing else.

Federalist papers

Machiavellis's Discourses on Livy's Roman History

Road to Serfdom.


What three books would you recommend to a new voter?

Modern Times- Paul Johnson

De Toqueville- Democracy in America

Adam Smith- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations


the chances of your child of getting through any of those is, well Johnson is probably doable at that age inho, the rest, hey, a chapter a week- read discuss...

Around 16 on, sure. I was reading Plutarch when I was 16...so its all good.