Free Republic

This is Week 12 of Season 3 in my 13 Weeks of Wild Man Writing and Radical Reading Series . Every week day I try to blog about compelling writers, their ideas, and the news cycle’s most interesting headlines. This Top 10 list is the series’ climax for this year, a project I’ve been planning since first asking the question December 5, 2012 . What is the future of conservatism? Which voices should define the priorities of the movement in the coming decades? Who are its most skilled proponents today? How should the movement evolve to face the threats...

The holiday season should be a time of faith -- a time to show compassion for those in the military, as well as for their families. This is definitely the theme of three recent books: The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom, The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a Navy Seal by Jason Redman, and American Heroes: On The Homefront: The Hearts Of Heroes by Oliver North with Bob Hamer. Throughout these books, the theme of hope and the belief in G-d is emphasized. American Thinker interviewed the authors about their books... Oliver North's latest book shows...

Americans are inclined to believe that, with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Cold War from 1945 to 1991 was over. In fact, that war of ideologies, communism versus capitalism, began in the 1920s after the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, initiated a covert program to undermine America. Today we call it "political correctness" and its impact on our society is sapping it of its true history and values. "Willing Accomplices: How KGB Covert Intelligence Agents Created Political Correctness, Obama's Hate-America-First Political Platform, and Destroyed America" by Kent Clizbe, a former CIA espionage officer, reveals how active and...

In his latest book Tea Party Catholic, Dr. Samuel Gregg develops a Catholic case for the values and institutions associated with the free economy, limited government, and America’s experiment in ordered liberty.He underscores the moral and economic benefits of business and markets, addresses the welfare state’s problems, and deals with related issues that divide Catholics in America such as the demands of social justice, the role of unions, immigration, poverty, and the relationship between secularism and big government.Gregg concludes that as a creative minority, limited government Catholics can help transform the wider movement to reground the United States upon the...

With recent footage of black teenagers cold-cocking random strangers in a deadly game known as “Knockout,” Americans should recognize how badly our country needs a selfless voice of leadership heard in all of our homes. But until the dignified message of someone like Dr. Ben Carson becomes mainstream, Mark Twain’s classic punch to the face has always packed the power to knock some sense in to people who need it the most. Nearly 130 years after The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published, Twain’s timeless lessons on race and humanity continue to offer America a remedy to racial bigotry --...

I am building a list of books I can keep and/or recommend to others, especially those with kids. I need your help with books that are not the product of left leaning bias and/or were written in the past. I am a full time professional storyteller and public speaker and use such as source material for stories and to recommend to parents and adults when they ask for suggestions. The problem is that so many newer books portray our Founding Fathers and other American heroes poorly or have rewritten history to the point that I no longer recognize it. By...

As Christmas approaches, the shopping mall can become a shopping maul. One of the ways of buying gifts for family and friends, without becoming part of a mob scene in the stores, is to shop on the Internet. However, for many kinds of gifts, you want to be able to see it directly, and perhaps handle it, before you part with your hard-earned cash for it. One gift for which that is unnecessary is a book. Books are ideal Christmas presents from the standpoint of saving wear and tear on the buyer. There are the traditional coffee table books, featuring...

As a reader, the mother of four children, and an author, I want my kids to love to read and to approach reading as joy and nourishment. The following five works of fiction do not encourage and inspire the love of reading in children. They’re terrible books for kids. If you make your children read these they will develop a loathing for reading that will last their whole lives and may possibly poison their very souls. Let’s see why.Note: Minor spoilers.5.) The Red Pony by John Steinbeck This is a set of four short stories set in the western United...

It's by Anne Applebaum. It said that Lenin saw common criminals(thieves, pickpockets, murderers) as potential allies. He blamed the 'exploitation of the masses' where removal of the exploiters would curb the excesses and crime. I think that this is why the Left is always standing up for the illegals, the sucker punchers, the felon vote-u name it. They will use them and THEN deal with them their way. They're sick.

The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. FICTION & POETRY THE ACCURSED. By Joyce Carol Oates. (Ecco/HarperCollins, $27.99.) Oates’s extravagantly horrifying, funny and prolix postmodern Gothic novel purports to be the definitive account of a curse that infected bucolic Princeton, N.J., in 1905 and 1906. ALL THAT IS. By James Salter. (Knopf, $26.95.) Salter’s first novel in more than 30 years, which follows the loves and losses of a World War II veteran, is an ambitious departure from his previous work and, at a stroke, demolishes any talk of...

America Island is a tale of courage in the face of increasing government oppression. It follows a group of Working Wealthy Americans who recognize their liberties are being ripped away by a cabal of the Mega Wealthy and the Political Class. The Working Wealthy are American entrepreneurs and business people who work six and seven 10 and 12 hours days each week. They are worth a great deal but they work for every penny, but they are being slowly squeezed by the Mega wealthy who publicly demand higher taxes and unionization from their bought and paid for politicians. The Working...

Socialist, Communist, and McCarthy-era blacklisted writers appear on the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new “Books That Shaped Work in America” list celebrating the department’s 100th anniversary.A Socialist leader, two Stalin apologists, two blacklisted ’50s screenwriters, and a suspected Marxist are included on the list, which DOL compiled based on recommendations from various figures in the community. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez described the program as an “online book club.”Better not invite Tailgunner Joe McCarthy.The first two reds on the list are Sidney and Beatrice Webb, who made it for their 1897 work “Industrial Democracy,” recommended by Carter administration Labor Secretary...

Two Belgian university professors recently decided to submit the 10 most borrowed books at the Antwerp library to bacteriology and toxicology tests. Traces of cocaine were found on all 10 books...the scientists discovered traces of the herpes virus in the pages of the erotic tale Fifty Shades of Grey.

It was everything red-blooded Americans love: politics, Christmas and 20 percent off. There was a hum of anticipation Tuesday evening at the Barnes & Noble at Southmont Center in Bethlehem Township. It was too early for Black Friday. Stephen King's new thriller was already out. Bill O'Reilly's latest effort was old news. The buzz centered on Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, and her new book, "Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas."Bethlehem being the Christmas City, it was a fitting kickoff for Palin's new book. The Fox News pundit met her fans...

Hungry Souls (a bit of a review) Posted on 20 August 2010 by becomewhatyouare I can’t remember where I first saw a reference to the book, Hungry Souls – Supernatural Visits, Messages and Warnings from Purgatory. I saw it mentioned in a few places and what I read was enough to make me decide I wanted to read it.I was surprised by the quality of the (physical) book. Being published by TAN, I didn’t expect much by way of paper and binding quality. This book is as well made as any Ignatius book I own. I noticed that St. Benedict Press...

... The advent of the Internet has not seen off the format of the book, nor is its demise coming anytime soon. Yehuda Miklaf, a Jerusalem-based bookbinder, has a backlog of orders, and his highly regarded editions are still in demand. Despite the specialized and somewhat exclusive nature of Miklaf’s work, his burgeoning trade testifies to the fact that books remain very much in the cultural domain and will for some time to come. Born Seamus McClafferty (he converted to Judaism in 1986 and moved to Jerusalem with his wife), Miklaf hails from Nova Scotia. In 1968 he moved to...

Hollywood put out some great movies in 1939, films such as Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. But one movie that year—now largely forgotten—served a purpose even greater than helping a Depression-ravaged American public forget their dire straights, not to mention the storm clouds gathering around the world. It was called, Code of the Secret Service, and it starred a handsome young actor named Ronald Reagan. Jerry Parr was nine years old the day his dad took him to a Miami theater to see Reagan play a...

It’s damn nice to be in the hands of an author who leaves nothing to chance. Who knows how to convey a thought that is deeper than the words he uses to convey it. Consider this sequence: “I couldn’t stand another of those damned prayer sessions without bursting out with the news that I’d been laying his wife so frequently that the only excitement left in it was the increasingly likely possibility that we’d be found out.” The other man, though, is kind and generous, and this quickly follows: “By the time I left I disliked Harding because he had...

This book is going to be big, a near-lock for the bestseller lists. First Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard teamed up to write a book about Killing Lincoln and it sold more than a million copies. They followed it up with Killing Kennedy and it sold briskly as well. And now they turn their attention to their greatest subject: Jesus of Nazareth. Killing Jesus: A History is a short biography of Jesus, focusing on the events leading to his death. From the outset, the authors make it clear that though they are Roman Catholics, they are not writing a religious...

Ian Fleming 'was sexist, racist and sadistic': New Bond author says his book is well-written... unlike the originals The author of the new James Bond book, says he deliberately wrote about women and African people 'not in a way Fleming would write them'. William Boyd, the third writer in recent years to pen a new installment to the classic spy series, said he found it difficult to read the descriptions of 'negros' and chapters entitled 'Nigger Heaven'. Boyd, who was born in Ghana in 1952 and spent his childhood travelling between Africa and his Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun, said: 'It's...