Monday, June 06, 2005

The Ten Most Dangerous books?

Every so often we all read about panels and polls that list who is the greatest president of the U.S. or what even most shaped world politics or what kind of toothpast do people like the most. But now we have a ranking of the most dangerous books (and of course, that is really about what ideas are the most dangerous to the Rising Hegemon that this country has become). The list and the reasoning behind the list makes for fascintating reading, so to better understand our conservative, Neocon, and religious far right winger foes, take a look at it. I wonder if we should do the same and create a list? Naw, why would we do that? The far right doesn't have any new or significant ideas.

HUMAN EVENTS asked a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders to help us compile a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Each panelist nominated a number of titles and then voted on a ballot including all books nominated. A title received a score of 10 points for being listed No. 1 by one of our panelists, 9 points for being listed No. 2, etc. Appropriately, The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, earned the highest aggregate score and the No. 1 listing.

But to truly understand how strange this kind of list is, take a look at who made the list:

The Judges
These 15 scholars and public policy leaders served as judges in selecting the Ten Most Harmful Books.

Arnold Beichman
Research Fellow
Hoover Institution

Prof. Brad Birzer
Hillsdale College

Harry Crocker
Vice President & Executive Editor
Regnery Publishing, Inc.

Prof. Marshall DeRosa
Florida Atlantic University

Dr. Don Devine
Second Vice Chairman
American Conservative Union

Prof. Robert George
Princeton University

Prof. Paul Gottfried
Elizabethtown College

Prof. William Anthony Hay
Mississippi State University

Herb London
President
Hudson Institute

Prof. Mark Malvasi
Randolph-Macon College

Douglas Minson
Associate Rector
The Witherspoon Fellowships

Prof. Mark Molesky
Seton Hall University

Prof. Stephen Presser
Northwestern University

Phyllis Schlafly
President
Eagle Forum

Fred Smith
President
Competitive Enterprise Institute


I see that they recruited the best minds available to them. Boy, that alone should make us all feel better.

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