Posted on 09/18/2012 5:39:04 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
Please look over this inaugural list of Books That Shaped America, as determined by the Library of Congress. These books were written in America by Americans, and had a profound impact on our nation. Which THREE of these books do you think shaped America the most profoundly?
(Excerpt) Read more at surveymonkey.com ...
2012???? Isn’t it a little early? My book, “A Patriot’s History of the Modern World to 1945” hasn’t even come out yet (Oct. 11) so how can anyone vote for it?
Oddly enough I felt compelled to put The Joy of Cooking in for both the general effect and for me personally. Truthfully that really has been the universal cookbook for generations of people.
For the book to be added, I submitted Free to Choose by Milton Friedman.
great choice to add.
I did!
For book to be added, All the Presidents Men, said it made journalism the aim of people who wanted to be politicians, made it glamourous to destroy a president and led to the divisions in our country inflamed by hacks. I guess I am worried about the country. And No Bible listing.
For book to be added, All the Presidents Men, said it made journalism the aim of people who wanted to be politicians, made it glamourous to destroy a president and led to the divisions in our country inflamed by hacks. I guess I am worried about the country. And No Bible listing.
I added “Patriots” by John Wesley Rawles and said that it is an eyes-open account of what we will need to do when the government succeeds in destroying the economy.
On that list, and of the entire list I thought that the most influential on our society was Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” about the Chicago Stockyards. That book was influential in the creation of the FDA IIRC.
“The Institutes of Christian Religion” by John Calvin
Adam Smith “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”
Adam Smith “The Wealth of Nations”
Are not on the list but all had profound influence on the founders of this nation. To read them it's a good idea to have a good hard copy (non-malulable) dictionary at hand as the education level in those days was far higher than today, without public schools.
I agree, however, too few have heard or read it. In that same catagory would be Atlas Shrugged. Finally, Unintended Consequences by John Ross should be a must and sadly almost impossible to get a copy.
Where is the Bible?
Atlas Shrugged was already on the list. It was one of my 3 and the one that most influened me personally (since the Bible was not on the list). I know that very few have read it, but I wanted to make sure it got into the database of suggestions.
It wasn’t written by an American. That was one of the criteria.
The ever-salacious Starr Report has to make it in there somewhere.
How can you expect to compete with Goodnight Moon or The Cat in the Hat?
Seriously, of the ones on that list nothing (not even your books, Larry) can compete with the Federalist Papers. I also picked Common Sense and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
I was tempted to pick Atlas Shrugged just to poke my thumb in the eye of statists, not because I really think it is in the top three.
I would have considered Rules for Radicals if it had been on the list, but only because it affected America in such a negative way. I was also tempted to pick Silent Spring for the same reason.
Would you settle for Leaves of Grass as Bill Clinton's "gettin' some" gift?
yeah, just a joke
it wasn’t written in America by Americans
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