NRO's BEACH BAG READS

National Review Online does a regular book symposium where they ask some of their contributors to suggest what books to read this summer.

Here are the suggestions from David and me:

DAVID FRENCH

The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq, by Bing West. This is easily the best book I’ve read about the Iraq War. Political histories of the war, which see the crucial decisions as all having come from Washington or from the (relatively) safe havens in the Green Zone, ignore a reality that West cannot and will not: that strategy matters, but even the best strategies only succeed when applied creatively and courageously by young soldiers and Marines province by province, city by city, and sometimes block by block. West keeps one eye focused on the generals and another eye focused on the troops on the line to describe the war as I experienced it during my recent tour in Diyala Province with the 2d Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment. Counterinsurgencies in multi-ethnic, sectarian countries require an enormous amount of flexibility and autonomy at the local level, and West is right to pull back from the big picture to show how battalion commanders, company commanders, and platoon leaders fought (and won) the fight in their own sectors.

The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America, by Walter R. Borneman. Moving from America’s latest war to arguably its first real war as a distinct people, The French and Indian War shows how close we came to following a distinctly different (think French-focused) path. Perhaps the most interesting part of this book is its description of the various Native American tribes not as pawns in a European struggle but as significant power players in their own right, capable of tipping the balance of power — especially early in the conflict. America’s transformation from a series of tiny, struggling colonies to continental power to superpower seems inevitable only in hindsight. As events played out in real time, our history was — to paraphrase Lord Wellington — a near-run thing.

The Rule of Two (Star Wars: Darth Bane, Book 2), by Drew Karpyshyn. I hesitate to let my geek flag fly, but this is NRO, and Jonah has made it a safe space for sci-fi fans everywhere. If you’re like me, and you finished the Star Wars prequels with the nagging feeling that the rebel alliance you unconditionally loved as a youth was — at the end of the day — fighting for nothing more than the re-imposition of a vast EU-style galactic bureaucracy, then this is the book for you. This book (along with the first in the Darth Bane series), traces the “modern” rise of the Sith and casts the Jedi as a sometimes-vainglorious lightsaber-wielding techno-elite. The Jedi command you to deny your human nature (or lose your head), while the Sith go all the way in the other direction and indulge their every desire — so long as it accrues to their advantage. Can’t anyone in the galaxy embrace ordered liberty?

— David French is a senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund and a captain in the United States Army Reserve. He recently completed his first tour of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.


NANCY FRENCH

When my neighborhood book club finally finished reading Les Miserables, we bought T-shirts with Jean Val Jean’s prison number to commemorate the experience and breathed a sigh of relief. So I almost spit out my coffee when someone suggested our next book, The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. At 633 pages, it took me a while to crack it open. But when I did, I found it was chocked full of poems, short stories, essays, and speeches, as well as excerpts of novels, memoirs, political analyses, and historical masterpieces. Solzhenitsyn is known for the Gulag Archipelago — which is excerpted — but this book contains lesser-known pieces, such as his autobiographical poem “The Trail,” secretly written in the labor camp without the benefit of paper. Also included is his famous Harvard address, a jewel of a short story called “Matryona’s Home,” along with countless other poignant, powerful pieces. New in paperback, more than one-quarter of the book’s material has never before appeared in English. Rick Brookhiser put it best when he wrote, “Reagan and Thatcher ruled states, the Pope ruled a church. Solzhenitsyn had his pen.”

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Think Britney Spears, peer pressure, and Twitter are making modern kids sullen, detached, and generally rotten? Think again. Richard Weissbourd’s book about modern parenting trends places the responsibility for kids’ moral well-being squarely where it belongs — on the parents. In his book, The Parents We Mean To Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children’s Moral and Emotional Development, the lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education talks about popular parenting techniques such as being “positive parents,” focusing on self-esteem, and praising our kids excessively.

And the shock is? He’s against these things.

Weissbourd’s countercultural parenting advice suggests that parents’ intense focus on their children’s happiness actually makes kids less happy, that excessive praise stunts character development, and that “over-parenting” can turn children into “fragile conformists. Additionally, he challenges the “self-esteem” craze — the belief that if parents bolster their kids’ sense of self, they’ll invariably turn out to be good people. This is the first time in history that people have succumbed to this backwards idea about morality and explains that bullies, delinquents, and gang leaders often have the highest self-esteem.

I was fully prepared to read his book to figure out why other people’s kids were throwing popcorn in the movie theater, but every chapter challenged my own parenting.

It’s a meddlesome book, in other words. One you should definitely pick up.

Hello from Hawaii

Chris Cillizza just wrote,"Let the search for a new champion for fiscal conservatives begin!" in response to Gov. Sanford eliminating himself -- in a rather dramatic fashion -- from the 2012 Presidential race.

Well, Chris, I think we know just the guy.

On a more uplifting note, we are in Maui! This is the view of where we are staying.
After the kids' luggage took a scenic tour to Tokyo, it has arrived today! But not after we had to buy them new clothes here. Nevertheless, having a wonderful time and are about to go get sushi!

DAVID ON MICHAEL MEDVED TODAY

Michael Medved has invited David on his show today to discuss ADF's Center for Academic Freedom's activities on the religious freedom front.

Interestingly, David invariably has these media appearances and I'll ask, "What are you going to speak about?"

This means, obviously, "what specific case is the topic of the day?"

Always a smart aleck, he thinks this is an absurd question, since he always is speaking on religious freedom on college campuses. So when I ask what he's going to speak on, he makes it up.

Once, it was the benefits versus the detriments of free trade coffee. Another time it was whether Adam Lambert would beat Kris Allen. Today?

Before he left for his 6 a.m. flight, I drearily asked him, "What are you going to talk about?" And he said, "the auto bailout."

To find out the real answer, tune in. Find your station here.

Save Yourself

Since David's been in Italy, I hadn't watched the season finale of 24... hoping we could watch it together one popcorn-filled night. However, I finally broke down and pressed "play" on my TiVo... All I can say is that it was more than disappointing.

Jack has a conversation with Agent Walker about how he tries to save people because, in a way, he hopes he can save himself . This introduces the idea of "self-salvation" to the 24 season that continues on to Jack's death bed. (Or is it? Kim -- surprise! -- decides to try the experimental adult stem cell surgery that could save his life.)

Jack is having pangs of conscience because he's done so many "bad" things in life. Whom does he call? The Muslim imam whom he'd previously accused of having terrorist sympathies. Does the imam come in and explain how the Quran emphatically explains there is a Day of Judgment on which God will decide the fate of each person according to their deeds? The Quran states:

But those who disbelieve say, “The Hour (i.e. the Day of Judgment) will not come to us.” Say, “Yes, by my Lord, it will surely come to you. [God is] the Knower of the unseen.” ... He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds. Those will have forgiveness and noble provision. But those who strive against Our verses [seeking] to cause failure (i.e. to undermine their credibility) - for them will be a painful punishment of foul nature. (Quran, 34:3-5)

Nope. This wasn't mentioned. (Not that I regret that 24 didn't delve into Islam.)

Had Jack gone nuts and called a Christian pastor, priest, or reverand, he would've heard about the bad news of the gospel (that he is, in deed, guilty of grave sin against God) and then the good news (Jesus paid the price). But instead Jack calls in an imam... who doesn't even get a chance to explain his own theology. It's almost as if the show's producers wanted to allay their critic's fears -- see, we aren't just an extension of the FoxNews network. We're the first "carbon neutral" television series, after all. Haven't you noticed all our annoyingly ubiquitous public service ads? -- but didn't have the guts to finish the job.

Jack confesses his sins to him, and then... the imam offered the same advice Oprah Winfrey would've in a similar situation. He grabs Jack's hand, closes his eyes in what looks like a prayer. However, "prayer" indicates you are praying to someone. The imam, however, just makes a statement. "Let us forgive ourselves."

Ugh!

So now we know that 24:Redemption (the original 2 hour movie that started this whole mess) was referring to "self-redemption." The whole wonderful season was cut off at the knees with some watered down narcissistic relativism served to us from a Muslim imam.

In honor of 24's awful finale, I think we should all say a prayer to ourselves and take a moment to learn a few songs that we can sing to ourselves if we ever feel down:



Final verdict? 24 should've stopped at 23 this season. Let's hope the producers get it right next time.

MEMORIAL DAY

Pete Hegseth writes beautifully on The Corner:

Memorial Day is about one thing: remembering the fallen on the battlefield and passing their collective story to the next generation. These stories, and the men who bear them, are the backbone of this American experiment and must never be forgotten. As John Stuart Mill once said, “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse.” The minute, excuse me—the second—we believe our freedoms "inevitable and/or immutable," we cease to live in history, and have soured the soldier's sacrifice. He died in the field, so we can enjoy this beautiful day (and weekend). Our freedoms—purchased on the battlefield—are indeed “worthy of war.”

And this day, with America still at war, it is also fitting that we remember the soldiers currently serving in harms way. Because, as any veteran can attest, just one moment, one explosion, or one bullet separates Veterans Day from Memorial Day. Soldiers currently in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting for our freedoms today, knowing it’s possible they may never see tomorrow. These troops—and their mission—deserve our support each day, and our prayers every night. May God watch over them—and their families; May He give them courage in the face of fear, and righteous-might in the face of evil.

Congratulations

David's friend from law school just won the Amazing Race!

A SAD COMMENTARY ABOUT ME

So I was at Zion Presbyterian Church a couple of weeks ago, and our fifth graders stood before the church to recite their catechisms.

"What is the chief end of man?" the teacher asked.

The group collectively responded, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever."

"What is God?" the teacher went on.

"God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. "

Although I was duly impressed with their memorization, my mind wandered a bit. Then, the question, "Which is the second commandment?"

The kids responded, "The Second Commandment is, 'thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth..."

Do you know what I was thinking during this? "No, no, no...! It's about protecting the right to keep and bear arms!"