The American Spectator

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Books for Christmas

12.22.04 @ 12:03AM

A sampling from our annual December issue list of Holiday gift suggestions from distinguished readers and writers. (Click here to subscribe.)

Douglas Brinkley
MUCH OF MY 2004 was spent reading -- and scanning over -- hundreds of recently published nonfiction books. As a judge for the National Book Award, I was in the difficult position of whittling 200 entries down to five. One book which I found especially superb was Washington's Crossing, an historiographically balanced account of a pivotal turning point in the Revolutionary War. (It's also a shrewd analysis of the enduring mythology surrounding George Washington as a guerrilla warfare general). With deft precision, Fischer interweaves the history of Emmanuel Leutz's popular painting with the strategic realities of Washington's military maneuvers. He masters both Washington's panoramic operational view of the battlefield and the soldiers' perspective on the ground. Imbued with rigorous research, Washington's Crossing is a harrowing, one-of-a-kind portrayal of Washington, his men, their enemies, and the legacy of the monumental military campaign of 1776 and 1777.

One book which wasn't submitted for National Book Award consideration was Bob Dylan's brilliant Chronicles. What a pity. The mercurial Dylan's storytelling about growing in Minnesota's North Country and coming-of-age in Greenwich Village's Folk Clubs is flawless. Not a word out of place. Because Newsweek excerpted Chronicles, even putting Dylan on their cover, the memoir rocketed up the New York Times bestseller list -- as well it should have. Reading Dylan made me want to listen to old Dave Von Ronk, Woody Guthrie, and Neville Brothers albums.

Besides these two non-secular books, try a religious offering. As a Midwest-bred Catholic, I was raised to celebrate the Virgin Mother (Mary) over the Christmas season. She is, after all, the start of the Bethlehem drama. Yet, most readers don't know much about the historical Mary. So buy Lesley Hazelton's fine Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography of the Virgin Mother. Hazelton allows the reader to see Mary as poor villager, sage woman, and medicinal healer. And she was also an extraordinary teacher/activist.

Another biography which captured my attention was Landon Y. Jones's wonderful William Clark and the Shaping of the West. Not only did Clark co-captain the famous Corps of Discovery with Meriwether Lewis, but he was the principal military figure in the Black Hawk War of the 1830s.

As for literary biographies, I enjoyed Charles C. Calhoun's informative Longfellow: A Rediscovered Life and Robert K. Landers's definitive An Honest Writer: The Life and Times of James T. Farrell.

Douglas Brinkley is a professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, as well as biographies of Dean Acheson and Jimmy Carter.

Ann Coulter
SOME OF THESE I HAVE READ, some are on my "To Do" list, so I shall keep my endorsements brief in hopes that the reader won't be able to tell the difference.

The Case for Sovereignty by Jeremy Rabkin:
Don't be fooled by the boring academic title! I learned everything I know from Professor Rabkin. It's just that he is a political science professor at Cornell and faculty meetings would have been even more uncomfortable than I imagine they already are if Rabkin had given his book a more fitting title, such as "F--- the French." The main point of Rabkin's book (at least up to Chapter 3) is that you cannot be a "Superpower" if you hate and fear weapons. (Yeah we're bad: We have every kind of cheese!) It's that little bit extra -- a military capable of defending the nation -- that makes you a true Hegemon in the world. "Moral power" (or "stylistic power" or whatever it is the French think they deploy) is not reliable power in the world and shouldn't be. And until we can talk to the French Superpower to Superpower, no one in America cares what they think about the Dixie Chicks or anything else. Neither will their good friends the Germans. Countries like Russia, China, India, and Japan already know this. Perhaps that's why their leaders were not panting for the candidate in the U.S. election who won the most Palmes D'Ors at Cannes.

So Many Enemies, So Little Time by Elinor Burkett:
Like so many these days, Elinor is a recovering liberal, just past the denial stage. She's a magnificent writer, despite the fact that she graduated top in her class from Columbia Journalism School and has written for the New York Times. In this bizarre and hilarious travelogue, Burkett describes her travels to the Axis of Evil and beyond in the year following the 9/11 attack. Her description of "why they hate us" is the best I have heard: They hate us because we are the Prom Queen. If America were wracked with poverty, disease, and self-doubt, the "rest of the world" would like us again. This explains a lot about the Democrats' policy proposals.

Unfit for Command by John E. O'Neill and Jerome R. Corsi:
Anyone reading this magazine who has not already read Unfit for Command has hereby earned the title: "Tucker Carlson."

The Supremacists: The Tyranny of Judges and How to Stop It by Phyllis Schlafly:
Given all that she's already done to save America, it's amazing that Schlafly is still the intellectual Energizer Bunny, precisely when and where the country needs her. While liberals set to work looking for more Anita Hills to deploy against President Bush's possible Supreme Court nominees, conservatives should be memorizing this highly readable and important book.

Because He Could by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:
Another terrific book by the one man who survived working for Clinton (and the woman who saved him). Inasmuch as Morris was the evil genius behind the decadent buffoon, it is a testament to what great fun Morris's books are that we haven't deported him.

Ann Coulter's latest bestseller is How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).

Milton Friedman
HEREWITH A FEW SUGGESTIONS of books for Christmas. Of recent books, two stand out: Bill Buckley's delightful memoir, Miles Gone By, a resurrection of pieces published during more than half a century; and Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton. A book from last year is Jim Powell's FDR's Folly, which serves to set the record straight on the actual economic and political effects of the New Deal. For a classic, few economists can resist the temptation to name Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published the same year as the Declaration of Independence and just as alive today.

Letter to the Editor

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Economics, Books, Law, Supreme Court, Military, Russia, NATO