A Conservative’s Christmas Reading List | The American Spectator

The defeat and dissolution of the Soviet Union not withstanding, Communism has not gone away, much less is it dead and buried. Orlando’s look at Marx is well worth the read to understand the foe behind the enemy that faced off against America in the Cold War — and still has not gone away.

4. The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer. By Daniel J. Flynn. A senior editor right here at The American Spectator, Dan explores the life and mind of Meyer, the man who “devised the blueprint for American conservatism-fusionism-championed by Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and so many to this day.”

Dan notes that Meyer was once an ardent Communist, had such staunch support from Marxists that they “could never have predicted that their hero would one day provide the intellectual energy necessary to propel conservatives to political power.”

He adds:

The Man Who Invented Conservatism unveils one of the 20th century’s great untold stories: a Communist turned conservative, an antiwar activist turned soldier, and a free-love enthusiast turned family man whose big idea captured the American Right.

There is more here in Dan’s telling of Meyer’s life, making it a terrific read.

5. Buckley: The Life and The Revolution That Changed America. By Sam Tanenhaus. William F. Buckley Jr. was one of the most fascinating players in the American conservative movement. Tanenhaus writes:

In 1951, with the publication of God and Man at Yale, a scathing attack on his alma mater, twenty-five-year -old William F. Buckley Jr., seized the public stage-and commanded it for the next half century as he led a new generation of conservative activists and ideologues to the peak of political power and cultural influence.

Interestingly Tanenhaus reveals that 10 years before his death in 2008, Buckley selected Tanenhaus, who had written an acclaimed biography of Whittaker Chambers, 

to tell the full, uncensored story of his life and times, granting him extensive interviews and exclusive access to his most private papers. Thus began a deep investigation into the vast and often hidden universe of Bill Buckley and the modern conservative revolution. 

And tell the Buckley and conservative story Tanenhaus does in deed. 

All of the above books join a collection of decided classics that have been around for a long time. That list would include the following but is not limited to:

1. The Conscience of a Conservative. By Senator Barry Goldwater. Published in the early 1960’s Goldwater’s book was a landmark that guided and even foretold the conservative revolution that he himself would lead.
2. Where’s the Rest of Me? The Ronald Reagan Story. By Ronald Reagan. This is the book that reveals Reagan’s turn from bleeding-heart New Deal left-winger to the eventual leader of the conservative movement in the 1960’s, a turn that would eventually lead to turns as a two term Governor of California and, in the 1980’s, as President. And, not so coincidentally, the man who won and ended the Cold War.
3. Witness. By Whittaker Chambers. The riveting tale of early Cold War espionage, described by George Will as “One of the dozen or so indispensable books of the century.”
4. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Written by 6 scholars, this would be the “go to” book for any young person falling for the myth of Communism as the bright, socialist future so many are led to believe. The authors document the archives of the Soviet bloc to reveal “the actual, practical accomplishments of Communism around the world: terror, torture, famine, mass deportations, and massacres.” All revealed in detail, a decided lesson for any who start life attracted to Communism.
5. Israel: A History – A Riveting Chronicle of Zionism, Persecution, Statehood, and the Pursuit of Peace. An “epic history” correctly says Foreign Affairs of this thorough telling of the land that is so beloved by Jews and millions of Westerners, while despised by many Arabs and Islamists. The author, Sir Martin Gilbert, details the creation of Israel and its history since it began. As a primer to begin understanding how and why the Middle East is the way it is, starting with Gilbert’s decidedly thorough history is the place to begin.
6. Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War. By Dr. Sebastian Gorka, a renowned scholar who, as it happens, is presently serving as a White House aide in the Trump administration, wrote this before his White House tour. It is a decidedly hard look at what Dr. Gorka calls the “global jihadi movement.”