Conservatives often seem to resist reading fiction, preferring fact-laden books on history, philosophy, or economics. Similarly, conservatives are more likely to recommend the latest book by Mark Levin or Ann Coulter, or a philosophical evergreen by Thomas Sowell or Milton Friedman, than a work of fiction.
Yet fiction can be a powerful tool in advancing ideas, as the left well understands. Fiction can entertain and outrage, trigger sympathy or revulsion, provoke pity or pride, thus allowing the political or moral point to be absorbed by the reader indirectly.
To that end, this writer humbly submits ten books that can be read and enjoyed by a conservative looking for wisdom conveyed in a different form from nonfiction. These books can be recommended to an apolitical person who resists an overtly political screed. Or they can be part of a homeschooling curriculum for a bright high school student (though some have decidedly mature themes, as noted).
The list of books is eclectic, featuring both social and economic themes and both American and European authors. In an effort to be accessible, the roster is limited to “modern” (post-19th century) novels.
With the prologue established, the list follows. Let the brickbats fly!
1984 by George Orwell
The Bonfire of the Van...
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George Orwell’s 1984 is a dystopian novel focusing on an individual living in “Oceania,” a socialist society comprising the present-day nations of England and the Americas. Oceania is characterized by perpetual war; government surveillance; and the “thought police,” who persecute “thoughtcrime.”
The novel’s protagonist, Winston Smith, works for the “Ministry of Truth,” which is engaged in the practice of constantly editing history to conform to the current party line. People and places are changed, erased, or added as needed.
Although 1984 was intended as an indictment of totalitarianism, especially the USSR under Stalin, the novel today can be seen as a reflection of the current regime of political correctness in the popular media and academia.
The erasing of America’s past, renaming of holidays, and defacing and elimination of statues can all be seen as an effort to conform America’s history to the Progressive party line, in a manner similar to that foreseen by Orwell.
This is how Orwell described it:
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.
Sound familiar?
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, published in 1957, has influenced more conservatives and libertarians than any other novel, from the Alt-Right Milo Yiannopoulos to the establishment Republican Paul Ryan.
While the book’s atheism and materialism are off-putting to many on the right, the novel celebrates the power of the individual in human achievement, the morality of capitalism, and the centrality of the entrepreneur. These are many of the themes covered in Human Action, the treatise on economics by acclaimed economist Ludwig von Mises. But Ayn Rand’s book gives flesh and blood to the Misesian themes, presenting an exciting narrative with colorful characters and exuberance. In addition, the book seems to have particular appeal to younger readers.
It appears from recent surveys that our millennials have been infected with the virus of socialism. Atlas Shrugged is the ideal antidote.
Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
Long before Black Lives Matter and “Hands up, don’t shoot,” Tom Wolfe illuminated the reality of racial politics in the liberal big city.
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His 1987 novel, Bonfire of the Vanities, revolves around a young, wealthy investment banker named Sherman McCoy, self-described “Master of the Universe,” who accidentally enters the South Bronx at night while driving to Manhattan. Lost and disoriented, McCoy is involved in an accident with a young black man, which leads to criminal charges. But this isn’t an ordinary hit-and-run case. A liberal New York prosecutor seizes on the McCoy case for his own political ends. Whether McCoy is actually guilty or not quickly becomes irrelevant – all that matters is that he a white defendant against a black victim. The novel skillfully demonstrates how the interplay of the zealous prosecutor, radical black activists, and a biased media culminate in a state of hysteria where facts become meaningless.
Thirty years later, Wolfe’s take on America’s racial politics remains prescient. In both the Trayvon Martin case in 2012 and the Ferguson-Michael Brown case in 2014, we saw the same interplay of forces at work: the radical activists, the cowardly and scheming politicians, and the narrative-driven media.
Bonfire helps to make sense of it all.
Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail
Camp of the Saints was published in 1973 and quickly disappeared into obscurity. Its premise seemed too far-fetched: prompted by charitable overtures from Belgium, an armada of a million starving third-world immigrants sets sail from India, headed for Europe. The armada arrives on the shores of the French Riviera, and chaos ensues. The title of the book comes from the Book of Revelation, describing the apocalypse.
The focus of Raspail’s novel is less on the advancing immigrant armada than on the various ineffectual responses of the French intelligentsia, media, and clergy. (One of the voices in support of the advancing multitude is a left-wing Latin-American pope!)
What appeared far-fetched in 1973 is coming to pass in Europe today: the introduction of a million migrants into Europe, courtesy of Angela Merkel (and with the blessing of the pope) coupled with a demographic collapse that even Raispal could not envision. The book, which had languished in obscurity, returned to the French bestseller list in 2011.
In an insightful analysis in The Federalist, John Daniel Davidson observed:
At the heart of the novel is a moral question: Is the West willing to defend itself? Denounced upon publication four decades ago as a racist, xenophobic fantasy, Raspail’s book now seems vaguely prophetic – not because of what it tells us about refugees from the Third World but because of what it reveals about European civilization.
The book is uncomfortable, often painful, to read. It needs to be read anyway.
