The blog hosted by Penn State professor Michael Berube is one of the most popular sites of academic commentary on the web. Berube ranges from posts on politics, conservatives, and academic freedom to cultural theory, movies, and the professorial life, and dozens of commentators weigh in on each one. I think it’s worth a look, as are several of the other liberal academic commentaries to be found, such as The Valve and Crooked Timber. Yes, Berube is a solidly to the Left, he slips into sarcasm too often, and he’s made several of the contributors here the object of criticism. But amidst all that there are some substantive points, and even if you disagree with them, it is important to know what the other side’s thinking.

This is, I would say, a creeping problem for younger conservatives. One of the strengths of conservatism in recent years has been that conservatives have understood their antagonists better than liberals and progressives have understood conservatives. Because the education system has been oriented toward liberal traditions and progressive attitudes, the history, literature, and civics that one read in class were aligned accordingly. So, students were more conversant with Mill, Marx, Dewey, the New Deal, and the Great Society than with Burke, de Tocqueville, and Hayek. But as conservative ideas and values have become dominant in areas of politics and economics (though not in the arts and humanities), I see a trace of complacency spreading among groups such as the College Republicans. It’s understandable, to be sure, but one of the first things I tell them is that they must continue to read The German Ideology and Dewey’s democracy writings. And if they really want to understand our popular culture, take a look at The Greening of America.

It would be worthwhile to compile a list of classic liberal/progressive works that would parallel the list of conservative/libertarian works compiled by National Review. These would be the works that are an index of the Left-of-center mind. What are the books that are the shaping forces of liberalism?