Friday - December 15, 2006

Christmas Gift Idea #10

What better gift could you give than a good book for Christmas? Here are my four favorite picks. I have read all four and give each a five-star rating. Order any or all of these books from Amazon, Conservative Book Club, Barnes & Noble or BooksAMillion.

Are you ready for a conflict between America and the rest of the world? In America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It, Mark Steyn (the most widely read and wittiest columnist in the world today) argues that that’s just what’s coming. European and Islamic anti-Americanism, he explains, threatens to leave us isolated in the world: the global situation is rapidly reaching a point at which America will have to confront the enemies of civilization without help from anyone else. And when the world is divided between America and the rest, all those who don’t want to see the world shrouded in a new Dark Ages should hope that America wins.

Steyn argues forcefully that much of the Western world as we know it will not survive the twenty-first century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes—including many if not most European countries. He shows how this process is already well advanced, and explains that whether we like the New Order in Europe and the world depends on whether America can summon the will to shape at least part of the emerging global picture. If not, then it will mean the end of the American moment and the beginning of the new Dark Ages: the return of much the planet to a primitive state.

America is facing this life-and-death challenge, says Steyn, because of the Western world’s demographic decline; the unsustainability of the welfare state in Europe (as well as in the United States, Canada, and Australia); and the apparent exhaustion of Western civilization. Suffused with Steyn’s trademark wit and piercing insights, this book calls on us to summon the will to fight this great struggle for Western civilization. In America Alone, Mark Steyn provides an enlightening primer to just how bad things are likely to get, and what we must do now to ensure that our children and grandchildren live in the bright light of freedom.

Conservative Book Club - $27.95

There is something in this iconoclastic book to offend just about everyone. Crocker, a journalist and former political speechwriter, seems to delight in poking fun at a wide variety of targets in his survey of U.S. military conflicts from the colonial period to the present: Native Americans were savage, merciless barbarians; in the War of Independence, British generals were timid playboys, and many American patriots fought to protect their right to smuggle; Eisenhower was a cautious, political general who should have pushed American forces further east to limit Soviet domination. The one constant object of Crocker’s admiration is the prowess of the ordinary American fighting man, portrayed by Crocker as tough, disciplined, and able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances on the battlefield. This isn’t a scholarly work, and specialists could cringe at Crocker’s sweeping generalizations and hyperbole. But laymen who wish to gain a general acquaintance with America’s military history might appreciate Crocker’s breezy narrative and irreverant style.

The central thrust of Harry Crocker’s sparkling book is that a nation’s very essence is reflected in the character of its military, that its history is written in the blood and courage of its fighting men. In prose as unblinking as it is fast-moving, he tells the story of the creation of the ‘American Empire.’ This book is a true one-of-a-kind; its power flows from Crocker’s focus on the dauntless warriors who forged and safeguarded the United States of America.

If more historians covered their subject matter the way Harry Crocker does, perhaps today’s younger generation wouldn’t suffer from the historical “amnesia” that afflicts it. Fast-paced, stirring, and thoroughly researched, “Don’t Tread on Me” is at once moving and action-packed. Painting a 400-year panoramic picture of the broad sweep of military history is difficult, but Crocker does it with bold and detailed strokes. This is a must-read.

Books A Million - $19.24

As Americans continue to worship at the altar of cultural diversity and endorse religious tolerance for tolerance sake, Muslims masquerading as “moderates” have insinuated themselves into the very fabric of American society, taking advantage of our blind trust and gaining footholds in our education system, government, workplace, law enforcement, and military. In this startling book, investigative journalist Paul Sperry uses revealing new interviews and classified documents to courageously explain how, for the past thirty years, these Islamist extremists have been covertly working to destroy our constitutional government and the Judeo-Christian ethics on which our nation was built. Their goal, according to Sperry, is to replace the U.S. Constitution with the Quran and turn America into an Islamic state. And, as Sperry details point-by-point, they have been unwittingly aided in their sinister aims by the politically correct media, government, and citizens, who don’t fully understand the dangers of the Muslim faith.

Infiltration explodes the facade of moderation and patriotism that Muslim scholars, imams, clerics, businessmen, and other leaders in the burgeoning Muslim community in America have conveyed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In reality, the Muslim establishment that publicly decries the radical fringe-represented by al-Qaida’s brand of Islam known as Wahhabism, the official religion of Saudi Arabia-is actually a part of it. The only difference is that they use words and money instead of bombs to accomplish their goals.

Now, thanks to Sperry’s peerless research, piquant prose, and forthright presentation, their cover is blown. He will not only make readers forget nearly everything they’ve been told about these “moderate” and “mainstream” leaders, he will expose the true agenda of these “moderate” and “mainstream” leaders, and he will explain the full scope of the dangerous threat of Islam in America.

With everyone still on edge after 9/11, this book will garner wide interest, appealing specifically to people interested in current events and/or religion. Additionally, the book will appeal strongly to women whose roles, values, and rights are greatly threatened by fundamentalist Islam.

Amazon - $17.24

The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister is a sweeping, dramatic account of how three great figures changed the course of history, as told by John O’Sullivan, former editor of National Review and the Times of London, who knew all three and has conducted exclusive interviews that shed extraordinary new light on these giants of the twentieth century. They were three “middle managers” no one imagined could reach the top.

Ronald Reagan was too old to be president and too conservative anyway. Margaret Thatcher was not only too conservative she was a woman, and not on anyone’s short list to lead Britain’s Conservative Party. And the idea of a Polish pope that was truly absurd, especially when the cardinal in question was a strong anti-Communist and defender of orthodoxy when many in the Church and throughout the world believed the future belonged to détente with the Soviets and social liberalism in the West.

Not only did Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Karol Wojtyla (the future John Paul II) rise to the top, but all three of them also survived assassination attempts, collaborated in the miraculous peaceful liberation of Eastern Europe from Soviet Communism, and reinvigorated their respective countries and the West. They were beacons of optimism cutting through the malaise and despair that afflicted 1970s America, strike-ridden and economically moribund post-imperial Britain, and a Catholic Church rocked by social and sexual revolutions.

In The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister, veteran journalist and former Thatcher speechwriter John O’Sullivan reveals:

● How Reagan, Thatcher, and John Paul developed as strong and individual leaders, perfectly suited to take power when liberalism failed How John Paul’s papal visit to Poland in June 1979 led to the birth of the Solidarity labor union

● How the pope’s moral undermining of Communism worried the Soviet Politburo more than any military threat

● Why Thatcher’s handling of the Falklands crisis was a turning point in the Cold War

● How Reagan arranged for the pope to receive U.S. intelligence on developments in the Soviet bloc

● Reagan’s reluctant support for the nuclear “balance of terror” and how he gratefully adopted the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) as an effective alternative

● The Soviets’ attempts to lure the pope into an anti-SDI campaign and his refusal

● How Reagan’s refusal to compromise with Gorbachev in Reykjavik precipitated the unraveling of Soviet power

● How Reagan, Thatcher, and John Paul II restored optimism and hope to their people

Today, as we face a new and perhaps even deadlier enemy than Soviet Communism, we need to revisit the powerful lessons taught by these three great leaders who revived the faith, prosperity, and freedom of the West.

John O’Sullivan covered the Reagan presidency as a Washington columnist, was a special adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and has written regularly on Pope John Paul II and the Catholic Church’s influence on international relations. A veteran journalist in Britain and the United States, he was the editor in chief of National Review, The National Interest, Policy Review, and United Press International, editorial page editor of the New York Post, op-ed and editorial page editor for the London Times, and an editor with the London Daily Telegraph. He is currently editor at large for National Review, a weekly columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, and a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute. A Commander of the British Empire and founder of the New Atlantic Initiative, he divides his time between his apartment in Washington, D.C., his home in Decatur, Alabama, and frequent trips to Britain, Europe, and Latin America.

Barnes & Noble - $22.36

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/15/2006 at 02:24 PM   
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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