American
History X
by
George Giles
by George Giles
DIGG THIS
 American
History X
is one of my favorite Edward Norton movies. He plays a fatherless,
LA skinhead, white power zealot that is involved in a racially motivated
homicide, serves prison time and is released. He has a transformative
experience as a result of all this and learns the error of his ways
and sets out to make amends. Sadly it ends in tragedy. This is a
powerful metaphor for learning revisionist American history during
these turbulent times
As you are
reading Lew Rockwell’s daily web site, probably support Ron Paul’s
presidential candidacy, and have a revisionist historical bent (even
if currently unrecognized) I welcome you to peruse my own American
History X. It is a personal blueprint of how to overcome mass media
and 19 years of public education. These will make beautiful Christmas
gifts for the revisionist, neo-Austrian, dedicated Misean or Libertarian
on your shopping list. Give the gift that shows you care. I present
them in chronological order from the oldest first to the most recent
to follow my personal path of growth from the watery gruel of etatist
swill that is passed off as history in public schools. You can support
the cause of freedom by purchasing these from Amazon through the
embedded links, or from the Mises Institute directly.
I consider
myself an educated man yet I was able to graduate from an American
University with only 3 credit hours in history required, a weak
survey course in Western Civilization. These intellectual jolts
run up your spine and set the brain ablaze.
 Socialism
by Ludwig
von Mises. This is the finest exposition of liberty proof
by negation of the converse, etatism. This opus clinically dissects
the state in its most virulent form. Mises' singular deductive
logic predicted the demise of the Soviet Union in 1922, 5 years
after its inception. His prophesy was realized 69 years after
this presentation. I find this to be his finest book (a much easier
read than Human
Action).- Omnipotent
Government by Ludwig
von Mises. Interpret the events of the Second World War from
the Austrian perspective. This is a fine companion to William
L. Shirer’s Rise
and Fall of the Third Reich. Shirer
exposits on how, Mises explains why. After reading Omnipotent
Government it will be obvious as to the reasons for the SS raid
on Mises' home during the Austrian occupation.
- Theory
of Money and Credit by Ludwig
von Mises. Finance, Money and Economics are confusing subjects
for many. This work peels the cloak of mystery back and demonstrates
that these really are for the common man. Economics is what all
governments do with everybody’s money. If this is heady stuff,
you might start with Gene Callahan’s sequel for everyman: Economics
for Real People, differential equations and Riemannian
geometry not required.
- The
New Dealers War: FDR and the War within World War II by
Thomas Fleming. Fleming starts with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s
treasonous collaboration with British agents against the people
and the Constitution he was sworn to protect and preserve.
 The
prose is excellent: it reads like a novel, I was compelled to
read this in a couple of sittings. His economics is Keynesian
and elementary but is kept it to a minimum and will be easily
overlooked by Austrians.
- Illusion
of Victory: America in World War I also by Thomas Fleming.
His previous work was so good I bought this immediately when I
saw the title. It is actually a better book as it lays bare, in
contemporary language, the perfidy of Woodrow Wilson et al., and
how they deceived the country while planning for involvement in
needless war to bail out their British co-conspirators on behalf
of the Morgan bank while preaching peace.
- The
Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo. This is a brilliant
recitation of Lincoln’s role as America’s first military dictator.
Honest Abe was anything but, and here you will read as to why.
The lawyer Lincoln cuts his teeth in the art of prevarication
as he represented railroad interests that fleeced the Illinois
taxpayer, which provided the training ground for what came next.
The unnecessary deaths of 600,000 Americans were required for
Lincoln to realize Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay’s vision
for America, and DiLorenzo pulls no punches. The cult of Lincoln
is still on the ropes after this one.
- The
Roosevelt Myth by John T. Flynn This is one of the finest
muck-raking works of the Twentieth Century. Flynn drives a stake
into the heart of the cult of Roosevelt worship: from his wife’s
boarding of card-carrying communists (McCarthy did have a point
on this one), to his son’s extortion of war-times suppliers, to
his senile capitulation to Stalin that doomed millions as a result.
You’ll like this one so much that his earlier work targeting robber
barons can be had for free.
 Washington’s
Farewell Address 1796 by George Washington. The previous 7
books are what our first president was presciently warning about.
His Excellency
is an excellent follow-up to this speech. Read how Washington
diversified his crops thanks to actually understanding something
about finance (Jefferson did not and died almost broke), freed
his slaves, and spread his wealth ensuring that hegemonic economic
dynasty would result (he was America’s wealthiest individual at
his death according to Ellis). - Reassessing
the American Presidency by John V. Denson. Freedom has
suffered at the hands of these ruthless men. He ranks them in
order, and by now it should come as no surprise that the picture
painted is not what most of us learned in school. I highly recommend
his other excellent works: A
Century of War, and The
Costs of War.
- Tragedy
and Hope by Carroll Quigley The previous nine books will
prepare you for Quigley’s exposé of the power behind the power
during the American Century that has lead us to the American Empire.
Quigley’s presentation of history is crystal clear. Quigley is
no apologist for the powers that be, but is a confidant at the
highest level. He wrote this book out of a belief that Americans
had the right to understand what is going on under their noses,
and in their pocketbook.
I became a
life-long Libertarian in 1972 with the candidacy of John Hospers
and Tonie Nathan. This was a visceral decision for an 18-year-old,
that turned out to be correct. You can undergo your own transformative
experience by reading some if not all of the above works. Many of
them are available for free at Mises
Institute web site.  Yet
I personally find reading books on the computer to be tiring. Nothing
invigorates the mind like the heft of a fine book, the feel of the
cover, the gentle caress of the paper as you turn page after page.
The satisfaction of sitting at the feet of intellectual giants is
palpable. These are old friends you will visit again and again.
These will
compel the necessity of the Ron Paul candidacy from a historical
perspective.
December
19, 2007
George
Giles [send him mail] thinks
heavily, drinks heavily, and makes many heavy notes in Nashville.
Copyright
© 2007 LewRockwell.com
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