Looking for a Few Good Conservative Novels

5-18-07 | Vanity

[policestory]

Need some ammunition for the culture war.

Anybody have any suggestions?

[Miami Vice]

You found me out I am bipolar.

I meant to say “he said a novel.”

mea culpa mea culpa
( A little Latin lingo)

[policestory]

Very interesting. Unique.

[policestory]

Don’t tell me Tell the people who posted those insulting comments. They had nothing to do with what I was asking yet felt obligated to make a nasty comment anyway.

[policestory]

No I am not that familiar with how to do this yet.

[policestory]

I would say pro individual liberty, yet strict enforcement of just laws. Is not an elitist.

Doesn’t use racism as a crutch or as a means to slander others.

Pro military.

[policestory]

Conservative fiction is all. Something that can be read during a day on the beach or at night before bed that is entertaining yet has conservative themes.

Better yet something that is politically incorrect and portrays liberals in a bad light the way Hollywood and TV portray conservatives.

[Grizzled Bear]

On the Free Republic Main Page, on the far left, go down to “Topics”

Under that choose “Latest Posts”

This opens a new window with the most recent posts.

On this screen is a window you can type in.

Use the drop down menu to select “By Keyword” type the keyword you’re looking for, this case “books” and you have this - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=books

Try variations of the word, here’s “book” (no s) - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=book

You’ll be amazed at the number of people looking for the same info as you. You might even find a “conservative novel ping list.”

A little more advice for you; we occasionally like to play a little rough here but we still treat each other with respect (well, most of the time). However; you won’t make friends here if you call someone “clueless” when you are asking them to help you find information.

It would be the right thing if you were to send a private reply to Gideon Reader to apologize for your attitude.

Welcome to FR!

[policestory]

I understand what you are saying but when I ask a question and instead of answering my question someone gives me

1- A lecture like Gideon Reader did when he/she wrote:

“You do not need a novel. Try Barry Goldwater’s ideological classic:”Conscience of a Conservative”.That should do you in good stead.”

and

2- A sarcastic insult like Gideon Reader did when he/she wrote:

“A copy of the U.S.constitution is a wonderful resource.”

Gideon Reader was especially sarcastic when said, “ Both books are slim and easy to carry around.”

I think Gideon Reader owes me an apology. Whether I am a new member or one of the originals it is in bad taste to make a gratuitous insult.

Gideon Reader needs to heed the old sayings, “If you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything” or keep your opinions to yourself.

[Grizzled Bear]

I hadn’t caught all the things that Gideon Reader posted to you. All I can say is FR is a huge community with all kinds on board.

The best you can do is deal with those you can get along with and minimize contact with those you don’t

Every now and then you should try to enjoy a good argument but don’t get into a debate with a moron. They’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!

[omnivore]

Solzhenitsen (sp?) has a number of good books, of his novels, I liked _The First Circle_ a lot, it's about scientists in a Soviet prison being forced to develop surveilance technology for Stalin. It's a great read to see how exactly leftism and big-governmentism end people up in a very bad situation. Excellent characters and plotting, it should be considered a classic.

On the lighter side of sci-fi, in addition to the mentions above such as Neil Stephenson and Robert Heinlein, I'd say try Vernor Vinge's _A Deepness in the Sky_, not overtly political, but when I read it I could definitely see problems of contemporary culture that he was commenting on. It's about two groups of humans each trying to be the first to get to an alien planet, to exploit whatever trade or technology they find there. The aliens, while very far from human physically, are very human-like in family and social relations. The main drama is between the two groups of humans, one of which are just basically trader/explorers (the good guys), the other of which are facists who use bioweapons, brainwashing, etc., to try to win by any means (the bad guys). So it makes for good conflict and moral problems, trust issues, and so on. (Has your buddy in the good-guy conspiracy been brainwashed and narked on you? Etc.)

Orwell's _1984_ is of course a classic but wow is it depressing.

Orson Scott Card's _Ender's Game_ and _Ender's Shadow_ are excellent, about young people in an officer candidate school preparing to fight a war against bad aliens. Great character dynamics, political intrigue, etc. Card has written a great number of books which range from great to lame. He has an "alternative history" series of how the American West might have been settled differently, if people had some psychic powers. I believe the title of the first one is _Seventh Son_, not my thing, but I know people who thought it was great.

Can't praise too highly Neil Stepnenson's "Baroque Cycle" trilogy, _Quicksilver_, _The Confusion_, and _The System of the World_, (also available broken up into around 8 or 9 more manageable paperback volumes). It's a fantastic historical-fiction telling of how Anglo-American civilization (and Western Civilization generally) exploded to dominance starting in the 1600's. The details (and many characters) are fictionalized, but it's set in reality, with various people from a young Ben Franklin to Peter the Great making appearances, as well as Locke, Newton, Leibniz, Huygens, William and Mary, Louis XIV, and many other historical figures. It covers the period around 1660 to 1720. It puts you in the middle of the action with scenes such as the great fire of London and King Sobieski of Poland driving the Turks from Vienna. The underlying themes are the progress of religious tolerance, the scientific revolution, and the development of middle classes sufficently large and successful enough to exert political power, which in England occurred when Parlaiment democratically got enough power to finally be an effective counterweight against the royalty, and eventually to supercede the royalty in power. Great entertainment as well as good-enough history (fictionalized, not literal) of how our English-speaking culture dragged itself up from dirt-poor and launched itself around the world to become the dominant force for freedom and progress.

His book _Cryptonomicon_ is also very good, ranging from code-breaking in WWII to modern software development and global financial services. It concerns a group of modern-day treasure hunters looking for gold buried by the Japanese in the South Pacific in WWII, with a lot of flashbacks to the wartime period. Another good one of Stephenson is _The Diamond Age_, perhaps the most "culturally focused" for your interest in the culture wars. It's about three girls, one poor, one rich, one middle class, set in a very high-tech future. Each comes into possession of a prototype of a very advanced "talking book," sort of what a future laptop computer for kids might be. And it follows them through their adventures as they learn stuff from the books, while meanwhile there are serious corporate forces trying to recover some of the prototypes (only the rich girl had been supposed to get one; the other two ended up "on the street" by subterfuge). It's a good cautionary tale in the alternative choices different cultures make, the action is set against a background of overlapping globalized cultures, some people live Victorian lifestyles, some are criminal gangs, some are in communistic cults, some living in tribes, some mega-corporations, its a bit like the Blade Runner scenario, but with much better weather and landscaping.

Anyway, those are my picks. Happy reading.

[agent_delta]

Not sure if anyone mentioned this author before.
Someone bought these two for me last year and I LOVED them.

Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista
Enemies Foreign and Domestic

by Matthew Bracken

[MHGinTN]

And the author is a longtime freeper! Good read, too. The author, as an actual SEAL knows his stuff.

[policestory]

Thanks

You were the first to mention Vernor Vinge

[Junior_G]

I strongly recommend “The Chivalry of Crime” by Desmond Barry.

[policestory]

Thanks to all who gave me some great ideas for conservative novels to read this summer.

I compiled a list of the ones mentioned most and some I checked on Amazon.com. I read the Amazon.com reviews and they seem worthwhile. I ranked them purely by what I think would be good. It is totally arbitrary. I have only read a couple ( which I noted). The rest are Freeper recommendations:

1- Everything by W.E.B. Griffin ( He wrote several series of books “Brotherhood of War”;”The Corps” – I read “Semper Fi”; “Badge of Honor” – this is about the Phila. PD, Men at War and some others. His son wrote one too)

2- Anything by Tom Clancy (Actually the stuff he wrote in the 1980’s and early 1990’s like “Red Storm Rising” and “Hunt for Red October” among others).

3- “A Sense of Duty” by Michael P. Tremoglie (A Freeper William Tell 2)

4- “State of Fear” by Michael Crichton

5- Anything by Robert Heinlein (these are science fiction like “Starship Troopers”)

6- “The Caine Mutiny” by Herman Woulk (Is this really conservative?)

7- Anything by Tom Wolfe (other than “The Right Stuff” I don’t know how conservative he is)

8- Unintended Consequences by John Ross (seems interesting)

9- “The Devil is Dead” by John Lafferty

10 - “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand ( I’ve read this. I don’t know if I’d characterize it as conservative. Some Freepers did though).

11- The Secret Agent and The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

12- The Reckoning ( no author named)

13- Angels in Iron by J. Prata

14- Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspaill

15- The Devil’s Advocate Taylor Caldwell

16- The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books

17- L. Neil Smith (no novels mentioned)

18 - Neal Stevenson (no books named)

19- Snowcrash ( no author)

20- Crypto-Nomicon: “

21- The Confusion “

22- The System of the World “

23- The Quicksilver: “

24- Interface “

25- Cobweb “

26- Vince Flynn novels

27- September Day

28- Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer.

29- Ninety-three by Victor Hugo

30- Terry Goodkind (no books mentioned)

31- David Gemmel (no books mentioned)

32- John D. McDonald

33- Randy Wayne White

34-Deborah Crombie

35- The Red President, by Martin Gross

36-Ted Dekker

37-William F. Buckley’s spy novels

38- The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy

39 - A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Also, for you movie goers check the Renaissance Film Festival in Dallas Texas and the Liberty Film Festival in Hollywood. These are strictly for conservative movies.
Maybe we can read these books, find others, and talk about them and some of the conservative movies. It would be kind of cool.

[Eaker]

Check the acknowledgement page for familiar names.

Matt is indeed the real deal SEAL!

[omnivore]

"18 - Neal Stevenson (no books named)
19- Snowcrash ( no author)
20- Crypto-Nomicon: “
21- The Confusion “
22- The System of the World “
23- The Quicksilver: “
24- Interface “
25- Cobweb “"

These are all books by Neal Stephenson (ph not v). Cryptonomicon doesn't have the dash and Quicksilver doesn't have the "the."

Nice list overall!

[Cringing Negativism Network]

“Atlas Shrugged”.

Best book ever written.

Well, second best. :)

[Billthedrill]

A vote for a personal Stephenson favorite, The Diamond Age. More ideas per page than most authors put out in a lifetime.

Lessee...PS, I have a soft spot for one of Heinlein's juveniles, Have Space Suit, Will Travel. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress had AI before William Gibson came along and is profoundly libertarian/conservative. And mentioning juveniles, A Wrinkle In Time by L'Engle.

Huckleberry Finn. The First Circle, by Solzhenitsyn. Bleak House by Dickens. The Jungle Book by Kipling - Disney it ain't. The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, of course. The Perelandra books by C.S. Lewis. That's a good start...

[agent_delta]

Are you he?

Wow... you are famous too?

As I said in a previous message, someone gave me the books for a gift. LOVE them!

Thank you for the additional information!
I’m honored to know you.