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Roger Clegg
America in Black and White by Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom. This is the single most authoritative book on race relations in the United States as it begins the 21st century, chock-full of telling statistical data and beautifully written. If your Christmas list includes a Supreme Court justice, be sure to include this, which will be invaluable as the Court considers the issue of racial and ethnic preferences in university admissions in the new year. Anything by P.G. Wodehouse, and if it includes Jeeves, so much the better. Wodehouse is not just funny, and guaranteed to put life in a happier and better perspective — he's also one of the great English prose stylists. — Roger Clegg
is general counsel of the Center
for Equal Opportunity. On a lighter note, I would highly recommend Bobos in Paradise, by David Brooks, even though it came out last year. I am fascinated by contemporary culture, and his insight into people and places that we all know well had me nodding in recognition, even though it is hard to find a single person who has all of the qualities attributed to the class of people he calls "bobos" (bourgeois bohemians). The word bobos is a new bit of shorthand that I hear every now and then in contemporary discourse. Conservatives should know who these people are, since they have great influence in business, politics, urban policy, the environment, consumer products, entertainment, and just about everything else. Bobos in Paradise is also a good gift because it is not written only for conservatives — Elaine Donnelly
is president of the Center
for Military Readiness. How
to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs by David Pryce-Jones. Not to be a logroller, but this volume, back in print this year, by National Review senior editor David Pryce-Jones is essential reading for those who wish to understand the culture that has made, and may unmake, the Middle East. This is not dry geopolitical analysis, but a shrewd, penetrating and highly readable portrait of a complex culture condemned to despair and futility by its own values. The Pleasures of Slow Food by Corby Kummer. All about the philosophy and practice of Slow Food, a movement dedicated to preserving and reviving traditional culinary and agricultural practices, against monolithic factory farming. — Rod Dreher
is an NRO senior writer. Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty Over Liberalism, by Sean Hannity. A thoroughly researched, insightful and entertaining treatise on the modern conservative movement. It also provides a cogent analysis of the failings of the American left. Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism, by Peter Schweizer. A testament to Ronald Reagan's vision, strength and lifetime of confrontation with the American left and international communism. Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, by Ann Coulter A compelling and humorous expose of the left's — especially the mainstream media — rhetorical tactics in demonizing conservatives. — Mark R. Levin,
president of the Landmark
Legal Foundation, is an NRO contributing editor. — Rob Long
is a Hollywood writer and contributing editor to National Review. To my dismay, I currently
have no time for general reading. To my satisfaction, there are now shelves
of fascinating books exploring the issues on which I'm obsessively focused:
the terrorist war against the Free World and the ideologies that drive
that war. Top among them: — Clifford D.
Mary is president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and
former New York Times foreign correspondent and communications
director of the Republican party. An Unlikely Conservative, by Linda Chavez, is a stunner of a book. At least it stunned me. It's compelling both as political memoir and as personal autobiography. The book is searing, actually, to use an overworked reviewer's word. And it's great fun for the political junkie. Paul Hollander, as you know, is the anti-Communist sociologist from Hungary, one of the Most Valuable Players "we" have had in recent times. Many of his writings have been gathered in a book called Discontents. Much of what you need to know about the big issues is right here. Finally, Digby Anderson wrote a quirky and engrossing book called Losing Friends. As the title suggests, it is about friendship, a vast, important, and under-talked-about subject. No, let me make this
my final mention: William F. Buckley Jr.'s current book is Nuremberg:
The Reckoning. I have spent a good chunk of my life reading Buckley,
from God
and Man at Yale on. You simply feel better when you read him.
And you are better. For the sportsman (i.e. hunter and angler) on your list, you can't go wrong with The Hunter in My Heart by Robert F. Jones a novelist and essayist (and for many years, a regular at Sports Illustrated) who has an eye for the country and a feel for the hunt like nobody this side of Thomas McGuane. For the golfer, Legendary Golf Clubs of Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland. Photographs by Anthony Edgeworth, who is one of the best. The pictures of the legendary old courses and clubhouses are almost voluptuous. You might also add No Way to Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley, the only person writing who can satirize the Sunday morning blah, blah, blah shows with absolutely perfect pitch and make them funny. — Geoffrey
Norman writes on sports for NRO. The
Essential Canon of Classical Music, by David Dubal. An excellent
guide on what to listen to — and what to listen to next. — Michael Potemra
is literary editor of National Review. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany by Michael Beschloss. The best narrative of events in years, and full of original ideas and analyses. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. One of the funniest books ever written, to keep you laughing over the holidays. I read it at least once every five years. — Amir Taheri
is editor of the French quarterly Politique Internationale and
is reachable through Benador
Associates. The Savage Wars of Peace by Max Boot. This entertaining and insightful book corrects the common but mistaken view that the United States was isolationist until the middle of the 29th century. Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime by Eliot Cohen. Cohen always writes with insight on issues of national security. This is a first rate study of civil-military relations during a time of war. American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy, Andrew Bacevich. A nice companion piece to Max Boot's book above. Andy Bacevich, a professor of international relations at Boston University, is one of the best minds at work in the field. He argues that the goal of US foreign policy has been the same for both Republican and Democratic administrations: to make the world more open and more integrated. As a result, the United States presides over a de facto empire, but a liberal one. Managing this empire requires U.S. global leadership, achieved by maintaining preeminence in the world's strategically significant regions. To successfully manage this liberal empire, he contends, America must behave wisely. This wisdom demands foresight, consistency and self-awareness. Strategy for Chaos: Revolutions in Military Affairs and the Evidence of History by Colin Gray. Another excellent work by a very prolific strategic thinker. Here he examines RMAs as a form of strategic behavior, putting the current debate into historical context. Victory on the Potomac by James Locher. The Goldwater-Nichols Act Unifies the Pentagon. This is an entertaining and detailed account of the policy battles that led to passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986. It's a little Manichean and one-sided, but it provides insight into how Washington works. — Mackubin Thomas Owens, an NRO contributing editor, is professor of strategy and force planning at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. |
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o
help ease your Christmas shopping, we asked some of our regulars to suggest
some recent books that would make winning Christmas gifts. There's something
for everyone on the NRO list — good luck — and don't forget
to get yourself a gift, too. 
