SD42/SD33 READING
ROOM
Information
is power and our democracy depends on an informed electorate.
So here's your chance to get informed and spread that
information around! |
BOOKS
-- TOP 10 RECOMMENDATIONS
RANKING BASED ON LATEST SALES FIGURES
FROM AMAZON.COM |
| 1 |
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CHURCHILL,
HITLER, AND "THE UNNECESSARY WAR": How Britain
Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World --
Patrick J. Buchanan. Pat Buchanan
makes the case that, if not for the blunders of
British statesmen—Winston Churchill first
among them—the horrors of two world wars
and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the
British Empire might never have collapsed into
ruins. Half a century of murderous oppression of
scores of millions under the iron boot of Communist
tyranny might never have happened, and Europe’s
central role in world affairs might have been sustained
for many generations. Buchanan was a senior adviser
to three American presidents, ran three times for
president himself, is the author of nine other
books (including several bestsellers), has a syndicated
column, and is a founding member of three popular
public affairs shows (NBC’s The McLaughlin Group
and CNN’s The Capital Gang and Crossfire). He is
now a senior political analyst for MSNBC. |
| 2 |
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THE
CHRONICLES OF NARNIA -- C.S. Lewis. Four
children travel repeatedly to a world in which
they are far more than mere children and everything
is far more than it seems. Richly told, populated
with fascinating characters, perfectly realized
in detail of world and pacing of plot, and profoundly
allegorical, the story is infused throughout
with the timeless issues of good and evil, faith
and hope.
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| 3 |
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A
THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS -- Khaled Hosseini. Widely
anticipated follow up to best-selling "The
Kite Runner". Hosseini presents a piognant
view into the recent tortured decades of the Afghan
experience. Hosseini takes us behind those walls
for forty some years of Afghanistan's bloody history.
From the 1970s, under a king, to the Soviet takeover,
to the years of resistance. And then the rise and
fall of the Taliban. The book manages to simultaneously
capture the history of Afghanistan over the last
thirty years and how women are treated in extemist
Islamic societies. In many ways it is a sad book,
your heart goes out to these two women in their
hopeless struggle to have a decent life with a
brutal man in an unforgiving, intolerant society. |
| 4 |
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THE
DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS -- Conn Iggulden. The
whole "health and safety" overprotective
culture isn't doing our sons any favors. Boys
need to learn about risk. They need to fall off
things occasionally, or -- and this is the important
bit -- they'll take worse risks on their own.
If we do away with challenging playgrounds and
cancel school trips for fear of being sued, we
don't end up with safer boys -- we end up with
them walking on train tracks. In the long run,
it's not safe at all to keep our boys in the
house with a Playstation. It's not good for their
health or their safety. It isn't about climbing
Everest, but it is an attitude, a philosophy
for fathers and sons. Our institutions are too
wrapped up in terror over being sued -- so we
have to do things with them ourselves. This book
isn't a bad place to start.
|
| 5 |
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THE
KITE RUNNER -- Khaled Hosseini. Amir
and Hassan live and play together, not simply as
friends, but as brothers without mothers. Their
intimate story traces across the expansive canvas
of history, 40 years in Afghanistan's tragic evolution,
like a kite under a gathering storm. The reader
is blown from the last days of Kabul's monarchy
-- salad days in which the boys lives' are occupied
with school, welcome snows, American cowboy movies
and neighborhood bullies -- into the atrocities
of the Taliban, which turned the boys' green playing
fields red with blood. A moderate in heart and
mind, Hosseini has little good to say about Islamic
extremism. |
| 6 |
 |
LONE
SURVIVOR: The Eyewitness Account of Operation
Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10 --
Marcus Luttrell. On a clear night
in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left
their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous
Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture
or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to
be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded
by a small but heavily armed force. Less then
twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy
SEALs remained alive. The book reads like a fast-paced
thriller, told in Marcus's understated voice.
It is a rivetting, important, sad story of lost
friends, valor, courage and the intricacies of
modern war.
|
| 7 |
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MOMENT
OF TRUTH IN IRAQ: How a New 'Greatest Generation'
of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster
into Victory and Hope -- Michael Yon. Never
underestimate the American soldier. That's the
moral of former Green Beret Michael Yon's brilliant
battle-by-battle, block-by-block tale of how
America's new `greatest generation' of soldiers
is turning defeat and disaster into victory and
hope in Iraq. This is a different kind of war
and Michael brings to life the issues, the problems,
the missteps and the triumphs to be found there.
And through it all, he honors the service and
sacrifice of the American (and British) military
in the field. Through him, you will understand
in great detail the frustrations and the hopes
of Americans and Iraqis alike. And you will have
pride in the humanity shown by the vast majority
of both. It is a warts-and-all look at the tragic
mistakes and near miraculous triumphs of the
war in Iraq as lived by the people wearing the
boots on the ground.
|
| 8 |
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DAYS
OF INFAMY -- Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. Gingrich
and Forstchen take history with a couple of well
chosen "what ifs". In this case, if Yamamoto
had made multiple attacks on Hawaii and a battle
out of the attack on Pearl Harbor instead of a
raid. The action is written very well and the writing
keeps the story moving. The characters are well
written and the dialogue sounds like it is coming
from the mouths of people in real situations in
1941. A politician and a novelist, each an accomplished
historian in his own right, are emerging as master
authors of alternative history. |
| 9 |
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AMERICAN
HEROES: In the Fight Against Radical Islam --
Oliver North. Oliver North has spent
his life among America’s heroes. This book
with its moving words and powerful images will
inspire patriots, reassure the faint of heart,
and infuriate our nation’s adversaries.
These are our heroes, they deserve to have their
story told, and no one is better to tell it than
Col. North, because when it comes to heroes,
it takes one to know one.
|
| 10 |
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ECONOMIC
FACTS AND FALLACIES -- Thomas Sowell. Sowell
exposes some of the most popular fallacies about
economic issues -- and does so in a lively manner
and without requiring any prior knowledge of
economics by the readers. These fallacies include
many beliefs widely disseminated in the media
and by politicians, such as fallacies about urban
problems, income differences, male-female economic
differences, as well as economics fallacies about
academia, about race, and about Third World countries.
One of the themes of Economic Facts and Fallacies
is that fallacies are not simply crazy ideas
but in fact have a certain plausibility that
gives them their staying power -- and makes careful
examination of their flaws both necessary and
important, as well as sometimes humorous.
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| COMING SOON: |
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JUNE: RED
HOT LIES: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Force,
Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed --
Christopher Horner. The
author of the New York Times bestselling "The
Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming" is
back with an exposé of the hypocrisy, deceit, and
outright lies of the global warming alarmists and
the compliant media that support them. Did you
know that most scientists are global warming skeptics?
Or that environmental alarmists have knowingly
promoted false and exaggerated data on global warming?
Or that in the Left's efforts to suppress free
speech (and scientific research), they have compared
global warming dissent with "treason"? |
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