The American Spectator

TAS Live

From The American Spectator's December 2007-January 2008 issue: Part III of our annual list of holiday gift suggestions from distinguished readers and writers. To subscribe to our monthly print edition, click here.

p> Robert D. Novak br> The Prince of Darkness : 50 Years of Reporting in Washington by Robert D. Novak. Yes, I have broken the unwritten rule against an author recommending his own book (though I am told Jacques Barzun committed the same offense). But this is the only memoir I will ever publish, and I hope it would be enjoyable reading for the many political junkies who subscribe to The American Spectator . /p>

The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes. This is the book of the year: a terrific journalist's insightful, unsentimental look, without blinders, at Franklin D. Roosevelt's mean-spirited onslaught on public utilities, chicken pluckers, and other businessmen that unnecessarily prolonged the Great Depression.

Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case by Stuart Taylor Jr. and KC Johnson. This is a fascinating account by a leading legal affairs writer and a history professor of the scandalous performance by a runaway prosecuting attorney. Beyond that, it lays bare the politically correct hypocrisy of academia and the news media.

Lords of the Land: The War For Israel's Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007 by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar. Translated from the Hebrew by Vivian Eden. This is the eye-opening 2004 bestseller by two courageous Israelis, a prominent historian and a leading columnist. It exposes the prolonged military occupation and massive construction of settlements that pose such an obstacle to peace.

Witness by Whittaker Chambers. This epochal human narrative of the Cold War should be read by every American, and I shall always put it on my Christmas list. It is a wonderful spy story, an exposition of high-level politics, and an account of one courageous American surmounting pain and suffering in the Cold War.

Robert D. Novak is a nationally syndicated columnist and a commentator for Fox News.

p>

topics:
Bill Clinton, Economics, Business, Religion, Books, Constitution, Law, Founding Fathers, Military, Israel, NATO