Christmas Books

The American Spectator, to which I am proud to be an occasional contributor, has posted on the Web its annual survey of books that would make for splendid Christmas gifts, which also appears in this month’s print edition. It is an annual tradition and makes for one heck of a shopping list. Though no one asked me for my list, here are my favorite books from the past year.

The Party of Death by Ramesh Ponnuru. No one gets it better than Ramesh Ponnuru. But if you have to ask gets what? then don’t bother to buy this book. Please note, however, that when Ponnuru writes about “the party of death,” he isn’t merely writing about the Democrats. Our whole political dialogue is consumed with and fixated on death. Ponnuru’s book attempts to bring us back to the light.

Who Really Cares by Arthur Brooks. Very few current events titled have the potential actually to recalibrate conventional wisdom and alter our public dialogue. But this book does. Who Really Cares shatters—absolutely shatters—the common, mistaken understanding that liberals care about the poor and conservatives view them as grease for the gears of commerce. Everyone must read this book.

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. The latest craze in the popular history genre is to retell old stories but reverse the good-guy, bad-guy roles. But if you are expecting to see King Phillip and the Indians of New England portrayed in a strictly pure light and the Pilgrims dressed down for their evil Euro-centrism you will be pleasantly surprised by this honest survey of immigration, settlement, war and survival.

The Shroud of the Twacker by Chris Elliot. Chris Elliot is the funniest writer ever. If you have ever laughed at a Letterman joke or at a Saturday Night Live sketch, chances are you agree with this assessment. Elliot’s first novel is The Da Vinci Code if it were written by a seventh grade class clown. Almost every historical fact mentioned in the story is deliberately wrong. If your sense of humor is not at least a little off kilter, you will think this is the stupidest book you’ve ever read.

Small is the New Big by Seth Godin. New ideas and the New Media is ruining everything—gloriously. Seth Godin explains how and why in this book comprised of several hundred vignettes.

In Defense of the Religious Right by Patrick Hynes. Well, of course I had to plug my own book, in which I dispel all the stereotypes of religiously-motivated voters you regularly read in your morning paper.