Question from a viewer, and it's a good one. If only more people were ASKING this question, it would be a good thing. What are you thoughts, what political books should every college student read to develop a sense of the world?
Assuming we want college/university students to get a well-rounded education and information to make the choice of what they agree with and what they don’t, it’s probably a good idea to give them books from various perspectives and then let them sort out how they feel about it, in addition to some “survey” books that give a broad outline of various topics.
So I’d suggest the following (in no particular order and with the understanding that with some of these m, I,personally, disagree with almost every word found in the book):
Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey - History of Political Philosophy (Great as a broad outline)
Daniel Drezner - Theories of International Politics and Zombies (Another great and attention-keeping general outline)
Pauline Maier - Ratification - The People Debate the Constitution: 1787 - 1788 (A great book that gives a broad and relatively objective outline of the beginnings of the U.S. Constitution, and so touches on American history of politics, intersection of law and politics, etc...)
John Rawls - A Theory of Justice to be read in conjunction with, Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Great as a combination to understand competing political philosophies and their fundamentals and foundations)
Carl Schmidtt - The Concept of the Political (He was a piece of garbage human being and his ideas, out of context, are silly. But this is an important book for understanding how political philosophy can work, and provides a unique perspective on politics.
Richard Posner - Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy (A kind of “4th way” in addition to the the broad concepts promoted by Rawls, Nozick, and Schmidt.
And then probably throw some stuff in their like Hayek’s Constitution of Liberty, Proudhon’s What is Property, the Federslist and Anti-federalist papers, some modern political science general textbook, and then maybe some sort of world history that also touches on political science. Finally, throw in some economic history articles or short books from various schools of thought (some Murray Rothbard, some Karl Marx, some Henry George, some Milton Friedman, and some Keynes, and then at least one book that gives a good world history outline, with a little bit of everything and extensive bibliographies.
And your curriculum is set.
Teachers and curriculum builders feel free to consult with me, my advice is literally free.
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, For moochers and looters
-The Law, Frederic Bastiat, Don't break glass just for the sake of breaking glass
-The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, How to treat your political enemies and all those with whom you disagree.
-1984, George Orwell, What's Big Brother doing?
-The Road To Serfdom, Hayek, The Great Utopia?
-The Lost Science of Money, Stephen Zarlenga, The mythology of money, the story of power.
I knew someone would suggest 1984. Wasn't sure if David was only looking for textbooks but hey, nothing wrong with being entertained while you're learning. If you can call reading about a dystopian future entertaining. Hopefully folks actually ready the book and don't just watch the movie.
Maybe I should elaborate: Everyone talks about Nazis, Hitler and that time period, but nobody has read the one ideological book that stands in the center of it all. Reading the book is essential to get a basic understanding of what was going on.
My answer would be, to read different books with opposing views. Read Marx, read Rand, read about the history of democracy, how politics evolved... essentially, all systems advocate for a better world, but they are not always compatible with human nature or the environment, that's why i would also include books about evolutionary psychology and environmental science in there too.
For me "political" is very vague. I would personally start with philosophy then cultural anthropology. Read and re-read. I agree with ankapolo about reading a variety of POV .. most people would suggest mein kampf because Hitler almost took over the world and convinced masses of people to murder. But if you do that also read other, lesser known leaders that have been prolific and/or damaging.
There is actually a great bookstore in Boston (since you are apparently in Boston)
I dont know how many of your followers are in Boston but they should def go there to read about lesser know revolutionaries. They might not have taken over the world but if you ask me, taking over a country when you are dirt poor is a lot more prolific.
Obviously I think one should also read from a feminist view point.
I think so book written by mechavlie is ever importent to understand the politics its name is "the prince" one must read it to get idea about politics.
There's almost never a week goes by but that something happens to remind me of one or the other. True classics. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
I actually majored in political science for my undergrad. I wish I would have read those books back then. Not as much free thinking going on in universities as you'd think.
Assuming we want college/university students to get a well-rounded education and information to make the choice of what they agree with and what they don’t, it’s probably a good idea to give them books from various perspectives and then let them sort out how they feel about it, in addition to some “survey” books that give a broad outline of various topics.
So I’d suggest the following (in no particular order and with the understanding that with some of these m, I,personally, disagree with almost every word found in the book):
Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey - History of Political Philosophy (Great as a broad outline)
Daniel Drezner - Theories of International Politics and Zombies (Another great and attention-keeping general outline)
Pauline Maier - Ratification - The People Debate the Constitution: 1787 - 1788 (A great book that gives a broad and relatively objective outline of the beginnings of the U.S. Constitution, and so touches on American history of politics, intersection of law and politics, etc...)
John Rawls - A Theory of Justice to be read in conjunction with, Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State, and Utopia (Great as a combination to understand competing political philosophies and their fundamentals and foundations)
Carl Schmidtt - The Concept of the Political (He was a piece of garbage human being and his ideas, out of context, are silly. But this is an important book for understanding how political philosophy can work, and provides a unique perspective on politics.
Richard Posner - Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy (A kind of “4th way” in addition to the the broad concepts promoted by Rawls, Nozick, and Schmidt.
And then probably throw some stuff in their like Hayek’s Constitution of Liberty, Proudhon’s What is Property, the Federslist and Anti-federalist papers, some modern political science general textbook, and then maybe some sort of world history that also touches on political science. Finally, throw in some economic history articles or short books from various schools of thought (some Murray Rothbard, some Karl Marx, some Henry George, some Milton Friedman, and some Keynes, and then at least one book that gives a good world history outline, with a little bit of everything and extensive bibliographies.
And your curriculum is set.
Teachers and curriculum builders feel free to consult with me, my advice is literally free.
:)
Super interesting list!
everything by Orwell and Joseph Heller.
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, For moochers and looters
-The Law, Frederic Bastiat, Don't break glass just for the sake of breaking glass
-The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, How to treat your political enemies and all those with whom you disagree.
-1984, George Orwell, What's Big Brother doing?
-The Road To Serfdom, Hayek, The Great Utopia?
-The Lost Science of Money, Stephen Zarlenga, The mythology of money, the story of power.
I knew someone would suggest 1984. Wasn't sure if David was only looking for textbooks but hey, nothing wrong with being entertained while you're learning. If you can call reading about a dystopian future entertaining. Hopefully folks actually ready the book and don't just watch the movie.
It's time people start reading Mein Kampf.
edit
Maybe I should elaborate: Everyone talks about Nazis, Hitler and that time period, but nobody has read the one ideological book that stands in the center of it all. Reading the book is essential to get a basic understanding of what was going on.
My answer would be, to read different books with opposing views. Read Marx, read Rand, read about the history of democracy, how politics evolved... essentially, all systems advocate for a better world, but they are not always compatible with human nature or the environment, that's why i would also include books about evolutionary psychology and environmental science in there too.
Great ideas
For me "political" is very vague. I would personally start with philosophy then cultural anthropology. Read and re-read. I agree with ankapolo about reading a variety of POV .. most people would suggest mein kampf because Hitler almost took over the world and convinced masses of people to murder. But if you do that also read other, lesser known leaders that have been prolific and/or damaging.
There is actually a great bookstore in Boston (since you are apparently in Boston)
http://lucyparsons.org/
I dont know how many of your followers are in Boston but they should def go there to read about lesser know revolutionaries. They might not have taken over the world but if you ask me, taking over a country when you are dirt poor is a lot more prolific.
Obviously I think one should also read from a feminist view point.
start here
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfjp20/current
I think so book written by mechavlie is ever importent to understand the politics its name is "the prince" one must read it to get idea about politics.
I think Animal Farm or 1984 might be some interesting reads for this day and age.
those both used to be required reading in High school
There's almost never a week goes by but that something happens to remind me of one or the other. True classics. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
I actually majored in political science for my undergrad. I wish I would have read those books back then. Not as much free thinking going on in universities as you'd think.
Animal farm... necessity.
48 laws of power..
you are saying that reading of political books helps us with a good sense of the world?