BEACH BOOKS FOR THE BRAIN

SUMMER READING (Thomas Sowell, July 11, 2003, Jewish World Review)

From time to time, parents write to ask how they can counter all the steady diet of slanted political correctness their children are getting in the schools and colleges. The summer vacation is probably as good a time as any to get them something to read to let them know that there is another side of the story, other than the one that classroom propagandists keep forcing down their throats.

One book that every American ought to read is "The Federalist," also known as "The Federalist Papers," since it is a collection of popular 18th century essays written to explain to the general public why the government of the United States was being created the way it was in the Constitution. It is a gem. [...]

A landmark experience is reading "Life at the Bottom". by Theodore Dalrymple, about the effect of the welfare state on poor people and the social degeneracy to which it has led in Britain.

Happily, both The Federalist Papers and many of Mr. Dalrymple's essays are available on-line. But if you don't have a copy of The Federalist, this is a really nice edition. One suggestion though, you should really read the Anti-Federalists too, who were wrong in the short term, but right in the long. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 11, 2003 1:40 PM