Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto liberty_levin

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Dissident Prof doesn’t usually recommend contemporary political bestsellers, but she approves of this one.  Talk show host extraordinaire Mark Levin provides an update on the lessons of Alexis de Tocqueville, taking the classic Democracy in America as the launching point and central idea.  This book offers a good remedial course for a citizenry that has been subjected to indoctrination in school.  Levin draws on the great minds of conservatism, like Russell Kirk, Leo Strauss, Wilfred M. McClay, as well as the Founders.  He applies the lessons of the past to current problems like welfare dependency, immigration, excessive environmental regulation, and restrictions on the free market.  Some gems:“In the civil society, a rule of law, which is just, known, and predictable, and applied equally albeit imperfectly, provides the governing framework for and restraints on the polity, thereby nurturing the civil society and serving as a check

north_of_port

North of the Port: Stories

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This is what I had published in the Chattahoochee Review. Bukoski should have the Pulitzer. He captures the essence of the Eastern European immigrant and immigrant family to such a point that it gave me an eerie feeling.

In his latest collection, North of the Port, master short story writer Anthony Bukoski offers bittersweet, and often funny, interconnected portraits of a community whose traditions and way of life are fading. He captures the terrain, the common sensibilities, the desperate cling to heritage by the remaining faithful of the Polish émigré communities of Wisconsin and Louisiana.

Like Faulkner’s self-titled world of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, where an ethic is

virtual Virtual Morality

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I happened upon Hill's book when I visited the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization last year, and was so impressed that I wrote a review for one of our allies here:

Ms. Mentor over at the Chronicle of Higher Education, however, did not mention Hill’s novel in her post, although his novel is superior to those she claims as the “always-nominated novels as the first members of the Academy of Academic Novels Hall of Fame.”  Among the ones I’ve read all the way through, I think Hill’s book is even better than David Lodge’s Small World (though I did delight in the mocking of Stanley Fish).  Moo by Jane Smiley makes it to this list, but I was disgusted in the first few pages.   Even Richard Russo, one of my favorite contemporary novelists, didn’t get it right in Straight Man, and I returned that to the library in quick order.  Do, however, read his other novels like the ones below.

dupes DUPES: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century

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Recommended by Mary Grabar

The biggest duping of Americans begins with the establishment of the communist party within our shores in 1919.  It proceeds to this day as the Obama administration continues to—as promised-- “fundamentally transform” the country.  Paul Kengor tells this history with verve.  Kengor also gives credit where it’s due: to keen-eyed Democrats of old and even to George Stephanopoulos, whom he calls “a fair liberal journalist” for asking then-candidate Obama about his relationship with communist Bill Ayers. 

amer_revol The American Revolution: A History (Modern Library Chronicles)

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Recommended by Mary Grabar

A great overview and introduction.  Skip Wikipedia and the textbooks.  Gordon S. Wood, Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University, in an engaging writing style offers the student and general reader a concise overview of the American Revolution, the philosophical underpinnings, and the meaning of the major events.  Professor Wood calls it straight; he presents history in an even-handed manner, placing the missteps and triumphs of our founders in historical context.

Interestingly, Professor Wood describes the history of the histories of the American Revolution: