Tag Archives: Politics-CivicInterest

A Consumers’ Republic

Posted on November 9, 2013 by smellincoffee

A Consumers’ Republic© 2002 Lizbeth Cohen576 pages What is the meaning of citizenship? To the Romans, and to the early Americans, citizenship was an exclusive state of being that depended on owning land, and so a stake in society. In … Continue reading →

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Taft 2012

Posted on October 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Taft 2012© 2012 Jason Heller246 pages In another world, William Howard Taft vanished from history after his presidential term. Rather than going on to become a Supreme Court Justice, he simply — disappeared. He became the world’s most famous missing … Continue reading →

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Crabgrass Frontier

Posted on October 3, 2013 by smellincoffee

Crabgrass Frontier:  The Suburbanization of the United States© 1985 Kenneth Jackson432 pages For thousands of years, people lived in either the country or the city, but with the coming of the industrial revolution that changed, and especially in America.   … Continue reading →

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Radicals for Capitalism

Posted on September 1, 2013 by smellincoffee

Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement© 2008 Brian Doherty740 pages Libertarianism has been in the news recently: Julian Assange referred to its rising wave in the Republican party as America’s best hope for halting … Continue reading →

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The Righteous Mind

Posted on August 26, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion© 2013 Jonathan Haidt528 pages The Righteous Mind begins with a question, seriously posed: why  can’t we all get along? To find the answer, Jonathan Haidt delves into the … Continue reading →

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Basic Economics

Posted on August 14, 2013 by smellincoffee

Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy © 2010 Thomas Sowell 789 pages (4th edition) Basic Economics is a sweeping introduction  to the fundamental principles of market economics and their application to  constituent elements of the local and global economy like … Continue reading →

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The Conservative Mind

Posted on August 5, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot© 1953 Russell Kirk534 pages (7th Edition) For most of human history, change has been a glacier — slow to move, retreating as much as it advances. Since the scientific and industrial revolutions, however, … Continue reading →

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The Choice

Posted on July 25, 2013 by smellincoffee

The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism© 2006 Russ Roberts128 pages  Imagine that George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life had wrestled not with the impulse to throw himself off of a bridge, but with the decision whether … Continue reading →

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It Can’t Happen Here

Posted on July 24, 2013 by smellincoffee

It Can’t Happen Here© 1935 Sinclair Lewis400 pages The Great Depression sent the entire western world reeling, destroying faith in the existing order and creating opportunities for charismatic, forceful leaders with vision to sweep into power and create societies anew … Continue reading →

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Getting There

Posted on July 19, 2013 by smellincoffee

Getting There: the Epic Struggle  between Road and Rail in the American Century© 1996 Stephen Goddard366 pages Regardless of the status of George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and William Pitt, each man of power traveled at the same speed as the … Continue reading →

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