The One with Liberty and Tyranny

166. Title & Author: Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin (205 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Politics

Completed: 22 November 2010

Summary & Review:

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin presents his take on what it means to be a Conservative and how Conservative principles can solve many of the most pressing problems in the country. Throughout the book, Levin takes aim at the Statist, a term which he uses to encompass all those who believe that government holds the answers and want more government intrusion in the lives of individuals, and repudiates their arguments on issues ranging from the Constitution to the free market to the welfare state to climate change.

I get to listen to Levin’s radio show most week days when I am driving home from school, and he has quickly become my favorite talk radio host (“Get off my phone, you dummy!”). He is pretty funny during his show, so I was surprised at how no nonsense this book was. He took a much more academic or serious approach to his book than Glenn Beck has in books like Arguing with Idiots (#132). I especially like how clear cut he made his arguments. With the way political discussion is today, there is a serious dearth of individuals who will explicitly delineate who they are and who their opponent is (e.g. the “War on Radical Islam”, or is it the “War on Terror?” or is it is the “War on Extremism?” or the “Overseas Contingency Operation???”). Levin went through many of the most important issues of the day and identified where the Statist stood, where he stood, and why he stood where he did. I especially liked the Epilogue where Levin offered his point by point solutions to various problems.

Rating: 8.5

The One with The Apostle

165. Title & Author: The Apostle by Brad Thor (516 pages)*

Genre: Fiction—Thriller

Completed: 16 November 2010

Summary & Review: A dark secret in the new President’s past is leveraged against him by an important donor whose daughter was kidnapped in Afghanistan. With no one else to turn to, the President must enlist the help of a man he shunned, operative Scot Harvath. Despite having been tossed aside when the new President came to power and with no knowledge as to why the President is so adamant about this rescue, Harvath agrees to go and find the woman. As Harvath negotiates the dangers of Afghanistan, a young Secret Service agent delves into the President’s past to discover and bring to light the terrible secret he wants so desperately to bury.

A couple of months ago I read and reviewed Empire of Lies by Andrew Klavan (#152) which had been mentioned by publications like National Review as a conservatively minded novel. Really, Brad Thor’s books do a much better job of promoting conservative politics than Klavan’s did. Throughout the novel, Thor took to task some of the more asinine liberal policies, especially those regarding the war on Islamist terror. Also, the new, untested president in the book more than slightly resembled President Obama, and Thor was not exactly kind in his assessment of either.

As usual, Thor’s writing was fast and relentless and the story was what a thriller plot should be.

Rating: 8.0

The One with America Alone

164. Title & Author: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It by Mark Steyn (214 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Politics & Current Affairs

Completed: 6 November 2010

Summary & Review:

With the threat of Islamist Extremism ever growing, Mark Steyn laments the very plausible fate that America will stand as the last bastion of individual liberty on the planet. He argues that not only are Islamists actively subverting free societies, but the European states are basically committing suicide. One of Steyn’s critical points is the changing demography of the European continent. European countries have shackled themselves to unsustainable welfare states yet have birthrates that are halving their populations every generation. With no posterity to take over the work force and pay for these lavish handouts, Europe is looking to immigrants to fill in the widening gap between earnings and payouts. Unfortunately, those immigrants are often part of a pan-Islamist identity that does not support the ideals free societies are built on.

This book was so clearly a work of the mind of Mark Steyn. He presented serious and sobering realities, but managed to do so with his usual pith and wit. After reading Andrew McCarthy’s The Grand Jihad (#160), the threat of radical Islam was not news to me, but Steyn still offered very salient points and observations. For example, America has often been accused of imperialism by various countries, yet it has failed to actually spread, by force or otherwise, the ideals and concepts that make it “America.” To me, this is a major failure in our country's history. Millions of members of our armed forces have given their lives to liberate various oppressed peoples from Holland to Iraq, yet after their liberation we expected those people to simply fall into the exceptional American system of governance that is an enigma in the history of the world. This, of course, has not happened, thus the major export of America has not been individual and economic freedom, but rap and Hollywood movies. By trying to be to light-handed in foreign affairs, we have allowed other ideologies, such as Saudi Wahhabism, to take root.

I recommend this book.

Rating: 9.0

The One with The Silent Man

163. Title & Author: The Silent Man by Alex Berenson (501 pages)*

Genre: Fiction—Thriller

Completed: 1 November 2010

Summary & Review:

A small band of Islamists infiltrate a Russian nuclear weapons depot and manage to steal two functional bombs. With the help of John Wells, the CIA must track down the bombs before disaster happens.

My dad is a pretty big fan of Berenson’s three novels. I think he may be a little biased since they share the same alma mater, but I agree that Berenson is a talented thriller writer. The plot was fast and entertaining and Berenson’s writing was deft and clean. Personally, I don’t find John Wells to really be that intriguing of a protagonist, but the stories he has been featured in have made up for that shortfall.

I do have one complaint about this novel. Throughout the book, the Islamist characters ranted about the supposed “evils” and “sins” of America. The writing took shots at the Iraq war from the point of view of a Islamist extremist, but, there was never a counter argument from any of the “good guy” characters defending the actions of America. This caused a lot of the novel to read like an anti-American tirade. While these statements were put forth by the terrorist characters, the fact that there was never any countering point of view leads the reader to feel that those disparaging opinions must be those of the author as well.

Rating: 7.5