A Conservative’s Reading List – Oldies but Goodies

The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater

Although authorship is officially the late Arizona Senator’s, it was actually penned by his speechwriter.  The book’s publication catapulted Sen. Goldwater onto the political scene in a big way, leading to his selection as the 1964 GOP presidential nominee.  The text is a primer on commonly-held views on the right and is an easy and educational read.

Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt

This slim volume is a recitation of common sense free market principles (example:  “there’s no free lunch”) that lengthier and more sophisticated economic texts often avoid because they are not politically palatable.  

God and Man at Yale, by William F. Buckley, Jr.

This is a memoir of Bill Buckley’s student years as a religious conservative at an academic bastion of liberal secularism.  Apart from the verve with which the future founder of National Review writes, this book contains many cogent observations from the Right.