Books That Make Us Human: My Top Ten List
By Jonathan Bean • Tuesday September 13, 2011 5:46 PM PDT • 6 Comments
Professor Brad Birzer, a man of unbounded energy, asked several of us to contribute a “top ten” list of books that make us human. Quite a challenge: limited to ten books, what would you (dear reader) choose and why?
See my list at The Imaginative Conservative web site. It starts with a book by this man:
Tags: Censorship, China, Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Conservatism, Culture, Education, Intelligence agency, Law, Liberty, Personal Liberty, Philosophy, Power, Surveillance, The State 
Its funny but I am reading “Thomas More” by Richard Marius. Marius was a prof at Harvard and before that at University of TN. My cousin also attended UT and then wrote a textbook for the Harvard business school where she met Marius.
The above photo is on the cover of Marius’ book. The book talks about English common law and how vital Anglo Saxon traditions and beliefs are to our people.
We can see that our traditions are being destroyed and Western civilization is in decline as a result.
Barbara | Sep 14, 2011 | Reply
Since the Bible is more than one book, I’ll start with a) Ecclesiastes, b) Job, c) Judges and d) The Gospel of Mark
2) Shakespeare: a) Hamlet, b) King Lear, c) King Henry IV, Part I and d) Othello
3) Paradise Lost
4) The Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
5) Moby-Dick
6) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
7) The Damnation of Theron Ware
8) Absalom, Absalom!
9) (More plays) a) The Iceman Cometh, b) Long Day’s Journey into Night c) A Streetcar Named Desire d) The Sunset Limited
10) The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
Richmond Adams | Sep 14, 2011 | Reply
My list would have John Ross’ book Unintended Consequences. It is an amazing look at how Americans have lost more and more freedom and have had to submit to more and more authority.
Lyn | Sep 14, 2011 | Reply
1) The Twelve Caesars – by Suetonius – to clearly illustrate the depraved nature of those who would be masters of men.
2) The Old Man and the Boy – by Robert Ruark -A personal favorite that I’ve resd several times. It makes me nostalgic for days gone by and the outdoors.
3) The collected works of Ernest Hemingway – I love Hemingway’s ability to tell a story in strong, concise language. I must be nostalgic, as these works make me miss the almost Platonic ideal of the American male that I grew up with.
4) Tao Te Ching – Law Tsu – universal truths that transcend time and place.
5) Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud – Whether you pronouce the author’s name as Freud or Fraud, these are ground breaking ideas with far reaching consequences.
6) The collected works of Robert Service. – A man’s poet, well worth reading and memorizing. The Men That Don’t Fit In. The Shooting of Dan McGraw. Good stuff.
7) For a New Liberty – Murray Rothbard. Good summation of natural law/rights theory.
8) The Collected Works of C. G. Jung – delving into the importance of symbols and their timelessness.
9) Red Neck Manifesto – Jim Goad. Good screed on the often overlooked, much maligned poor white underclass, which has been used as cannon fodder or spear fodder for centuries. Get this book. Sit down, shut up and hang on!
10) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter Thompson. Makes me laugh out loud every time I read it. Makes we want to get a big red Caddy convertible, a trunk full of psychedelics, a radical attorney riding shotgun, and strap on a .357 Ruger, hit the highways and see what the day has to offer.
Paul Z | Sep 15, 2011 | Reply
And who is the man in the picture?
I would begin with Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Thanks
Dilsia Martinez | Sep 15, 2011 | Reply
Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
William Meyer | Sep 15, 2011 | Reply