The American Spectator : Books for Christmas

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Books for Christmas

From the December 2011 - January 2012 issue

Our annual list of holiday gift suggestions from distinguished readers and writers.

(Page 3 of 8)

1. Giuseppe di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958). A novel, by a Sicilian prince, about a Sicilian prince. An astonishing story of a womanizing 19th-century nobleman who sees the liberal revolution coming but cannot gather his decadent self enough to do anything about it.

2. Lawrence Edward Watkin, Geese in the Forum (1940). An English professor turned Disney scriptwriter, Watkin produced a god-awful sentimental piece of claptrap in 1937 called On Borrowed Time. It was, naturally, a great success on Broadway and in Hollywood. He also wrote, however, the most ragingly conservative and deeply funny story in the overpopulated genre of academic novels—the almost forgotten but worth reviving Geese in the Forum.

3. Robert Warshow, The Immediate Experience (1962; expanded 2001). We remember such critics as Edmund Wilson and, for our sins, Pauline Kael. But the best of them may have been Robert Warshow, who died in 1955 at the age of 37. A great, funny, profound, and conservative writer about movies, books, plays, and culture for such journals as Commentary and The Partisan Review, his collected essays appear posthumously and need to be reread.

4. James Hilton, Random Harvest (1941). Well, yes, it’s hard to call Hilton unknown. He was an international bestseller, as he would have to have been with such crowd-pleasing stories as Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Skip the movies, however, to read the books, and you’ll find that Hilton was an author who saw both the light and the dark in human beings—which made him a man of conservative impulses, as it makes everyone who sees clearly into fallen nature. Random Harvest is a first-rate potboiler and a glimpse into a world of Tory virtue.

5. Joseph Bottum, The Second Spring: Words into Music, Music into Words (2011). An exploration of the poetry of lyrics and a claim that we can overcome the self-conscious irony that is the bane of our age by surrendering to the internal structures of art and allowing various genres to do the work they want to do. Yes, these are words, musical scores, and critical commentary by a second-rate poet, third-rate arranger, and fourth-rate critic, but the book makes a conservative point that might be worth your time. If you’re not too busy.

Joseph Bottum is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard and author of The Second Spring: Words into Music, Music into Words.

*****

Mitch Daniels

Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant: With good reason (discounting for their personal relationship), Twain called them the best military memoirs since Julius Caesar’s.

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (Scribner) by Daniel Okrent: Prohibition didn’t last long, but its consequences have, in fascinating ways.

The Time It Never Rained (Forge), by Elmer Kelton: Obstinacy in the assertion of freedom is no vice, but it can be awfully tough. Charlie Flagg, the proud individualist who, even facing disaster, can’t abide accepting money from his fellow taxpayers, is one of the memorable characters of modern literature.

The Mind of St. Paul, by William Barclay: A lost classic of the Christian faith, a helpful translation of the greatest evangelist’s life and letters.

Mitch Daniels is the governor of Indiana.

*****

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Letter to the Editor View all comments (16) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

J. Edgar Hodgkins of Ole Miss| 12.14.11 @ 8:37AM

Please allow me, a retired history professor from Ole Miss, to recommend a few of my Christmas selections, dear readers:

TOYS FOR BIG BOYS by Ben Stein. Ben shows off his cars, boats, motorcycles, etc. Lovely photos of Ben barechested in his boat, leather-clad on his motorcycle. This coffee talbe book will appeal to both men and women. $175 Rizzoli.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED by Margie (a children's book). It's a story about a little girl who loans her lovely doll to her friend, and her friend, in a fit of anger, bashes the doll's head on a radiator pipe. $5.99 Tulip Press.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF DEATH PANELS by Garcia Gomez-Phillipe. A psychological thriller about a man who's been in a vegetative state for 15 years, and the hospital decides to pull the plug. The wife not only objects, but demands that fresh flowers be delivered to her husband's room daily. $29.95 Fascista Press.

WHEN JESUS LAID HIS HANDS ON ME by Ken (Old Texican). Ken tells about the time he pulled a muscle in his right shoulder while helping his friend Margie move an upright piano up a staircase. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but the theme is this: Jesus will answer your prayers if you really believe. $17.50 Glory Road Press.

A SEXUAL HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH by Miss Alabama. Miss Alabama, an Episcopalian and social and cultural doyenne of the South, writes about the ravenous sexual appetites of Southern Baptist men. Using her husband, Hank, his male friends and relatives, Miss Alabama rips open a sordid social fabric of unbridled sexual depravity. You'll need to turn on the air conditioner before opening this steamy tome. $45.00 Pavlova and Bertolucci.

Betty Jean Dowless| 12.14.11 @ 10:48AM

Can't wait to read Miss Alabama's book. Having been invovled with alot of Southern Baptist men, I can testify to their disgusting sexual appetites.

All I will say is that they left me bruised and battered and leave it at that.

But I could go on and on about their peculiar "tastes."

Seek| 12.14.11 @ 1:26PM

But these men profess Christian piety and virtue. Is there, then, a credibility gap?

Prunella S.| 12.14.11 @ 10:52AM

Betty Jean, honey, a lot is two words: a lot.

Example in a sentence:

I loved Rufus a lot, but he was an unfaithful S.O.B. and got the choir director of our local Baptist church pregnant!

Vern Crisler| 12.14.11 @ 10:58AM

I was a little shocked that Bandow would blame Christianity for the Civil War, but I guess when it comes to purist libertarians, such nuttiness is to be expected. Amazingly, many of these same libertarians are defenders of Southern intransigence, witness the foolish writings of Tom DiLorenzo.

Peppermint Tea| 12.14.11 @ 11:09AM

In order to understand Mitt Romney, conservatives and liberals alike should read Lexi Bjornholt's "My Boyfriend is a Mormon Vampire." Find on amazon.

David March| 12.14.11 @ 11:22AM

My recommended reads,

West of Honor, by Dr. Jerry E Pournelle, a good solid story of a soldier on a far frontier who has a chance to do something right. Pournelle himself was apparently a job at this magazine, so Im sure his work is familiar to somebody.

General Kenney Reports: A Personal History of the Pacific War, by General George C. Kenney. A great story of the pacific war told by MacArthurs senior airman. The Pacific comes alive as you relive the stories of his fights with rear areas, his attempts to keep his planes a fly and his coverage of several areas of battles that are not well remembered in these days of the island hopping campaigns.

A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman. A story set in the near future when a Democrat Presidents policies leads to an armed insurrection in the south. Very scary and very realistic stuff, a foreshadowing of things to come.

David March is a contributor to a World at War and Against the Odds Magazines. His recent articles included the Mau Mau Insurgency and The Battle of Loos.

Purp| 12.14.11 @ 11:24AM

"The strategic genius of Roosevelt and Churchill in encouraging Stalin to take more than 90 percent of the casualties in fighting Hitler, as between the three major allies, while snatching Germany, France, Italy, and Japan, all hostile dictatorships at the end of 1940, back into the West as democratic allies, is rigorously but very readably recounted. " - Really? Do you really think this lesson was lost on the Soviets? Is this not why they felt justified overrunning Eastern Europe as their prize for so many casualties? How was that strategically brilliant?
Moreover, France was no dictatorship in 1940, where did you get that factoid?

Naturalborn Texicanette| 12.14.11 @ 2:50PM

Book reccomendation:

"Beautiful Outlaw" by John Eldridge

Margie| 12.14.11 @ 8:46PM

Every true Christian ought to read this book on the Reformation. It is being read aloud on Christian radio daily right now. It is the best book I have heard of, ever on the subject.

"The Reformation in England", by By Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné.

Originally published in 1866, reprinted by Banner of Truth Trust, 1972.

"The introductory material in Volume 1, Book 1 is especially interesting as it deals with the planting of apostolic Christianity in Roman Britain, its later subversion by the forces of the Papacy, and the beginnings of reformation in the work of Wycliffe and the Lollards. This is great history and the reader is encouraged to read and study those events that in God's providence were used to reestablish apostolic and Biblical Christianity among the English speaking peoples." ~americanpresbyterianchurch.org.

Titles of some of book one chapters:

CHAPTER 1 Christ Mightier than Druid Altars and Roman Swords
CHAPTER 2 Iona versus Rome
CHAPTER 3 Rome "Converts" Britain
CHAPTER 4 The Conflict with Papal Supremacy
CHAPTER 5 The Iron Age of Spiritual Slavery
CHAPTER 6 Grosseteste and Bradwardine
CHAPTER 7 Light Streams from Lutterworth
CHAPTER 8 The Morning Star of the Reformation
CHAPTER 9 The Lollard Burnings
CHAPTER 10 The New Learning and the New Dynasty
CHAPTER 11 War, Marriage and Preaching
CHAPTER 12 Wolsey’s Rise to Power
CHAPTER 13 The Need for Reformation

Jesus is LORD~ Merry Christmas christians!

Sister Anna Maria Spiccata| 12.14.11 @ 9:06PM

And Merry Christmas to you, Margie.

Take time to listen to "Ave Maria," Shubert's version, and meditate on our Blessed Holy Mother as you drink in the divine melody and lyrics.

Margie| 12.14.11 @ 9:13PM

I prefer Handel's Messiah.
The lyrics are all from the Bible, which do not include any such "Holy Mother." That's bunk, and I never did go for bunk.
Merry Christmas Troll~ oh, and remember to keep the CHRIST in Christmas!

Nick| 12.14.11 @ 11:57PM

Margie,

Why are you promoting the Presbyterian church? I thought you didn't believe in denominationalism?
Aren't Presbyterians also a bunch of lying Papists? Isn't RCV a Presbyterian?
Merry Christ's Mass, and God Bless!

Vlady| 12.15.11 @ 9:03AM

"remember to keep the CHRIST in Christmas!"

Even better, it seems old Margie is promoting the Knights of Columbus.... Isn't that one of their yearly things, keeping Christ in Christmas?

POST American| 12.15.11 @ 1:02AM

"Understand, religion is the KEY
to history. Among the Christians, ONLY
the Calvinists possessed the faculty for
self-government, and ONLY the Calvinists
would fight."
-Lord Acton

"John Calvin was America's REAL founding
father."
-George Bancroft
America's First Historian
1830

SO, start grabbing that Geneva Bible,
start downloading that John Gill, John Bunyan
and John Calvin.

START cleaning out your churches or staring your own.

Make a defintive break with RED China wampum, franchise slum X---Miss.

---------YOUR LIFE NOW DEPENDS ON IT---------

Vasu Murti | 12.24.11 @ 3:23PM

(The folk song below receives airplay on KFOG 104.5 here in the SF Bay Area during the holiday season.)

"Well, Jesus was a homeless lad
"With an unwed mother and an absent dad
"And I really don't think he would have gotten that far
"If Newt, Pat and Jesse had followed that star