Colleges and universities are fond of issuing summer reading lists to incoming students. I thought I might provide an alternative list, after this brief introduction.
Intending to spark a student’s thinking toward higher themes that will thread through all of the educational experience, too often, modern collegiate lists devolve into mere indoctrination. Yet originally, these lists had a noble purpose of opening the ‘Canon’ or list of the noblest works of Western Civilization to new liberal arts students. While I’d argue there is plenty of room to expand the Canon, if a work withstood the tests of time, sadly, the tendancy among educators in these days is to waive off all “dead white male” writers who were once prevalent on the list, and replace them with “Anyone But.”
This Mason disapproves of such a sheltered, and illiberal practice…
You see, Masonry endures. And Masonry is, among other things, a repository of, in the words of my dear friend, Jason Berger, “the Awesome Inheritance of Western Civilization.” I think therefore that it would be a service to those young men or women who seek something to counterbalance their innocent indoctrination into anti-Western, anti-male, irreligious and anti-capitalistic tripe. Oh yes, there is much to be retained in the Canon. Further, I proudly note that these works stand on their own merits. These are the works that fire the mind, that have inspired centuries of explorers, leaders, scientists, and other thinkers. In comparison to the alternatives, the original Canon will win any fair fight. And anyway, if a college is to be a marketplace of ideas, or a haven for “free inquiry,” what are the indoctrination-supporters so afraid of, concerning these works?
Books to Read Before Graduating from College
NON-FICTION
A Guide to Effective Study/Dr. Edwin A. Locke
HISTORY
The Histories / by Herodotus
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire / by Edward Gibbons
A World Lit Only By Fire / by William Manchester
The Discoverers / by Daniel J. Boorstin
A History of the United States and Its People / by Edward Eggleston
Washington’s Crossing / by David Hackett Fisher
In Pursuit of Reason: The Life of Thomas Jefferson / by Noble E. Cunningham, Jr.
Life & Times of Frederick Douglass / by Frederick Douglass
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich / by William Shire
American Caesar / by William Manchester
Ethnic America: A History / by Thomas Sowell
The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle and the Struggles for the Soul of Western Civilization / by Arthur Herman
Out of America / by Keith B. Richburg
POLITICAL & ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHY
A Familiar Exposition of The Constitution of the United States / by Joseph Story
Political Writings of John Locke / by Editor: David Wooten
Selected Essays on Political Economy / by Frederic Bastiat
The Road to Serfdom / by F. A. Hayak
Planned Chaos / by Ludwig Von Mises
Economics In One Lesson / by Henry Hazlitt
The Authentic Confucius: A Life of Thought and Politics / by Ann-ping Chin
EDUCATION/ENGLISH
The Discovery of the Child / by Maria Montessori
God and Man at Yale / By William F. Buckley (1951)
and for comparison, Stover at Yale / by Owen Johnson (1911, public domain)
and for even further comparison, Sex and God at Yale / by Nathan Harden (2012)
read these along with I Am Charlotte Simmons / Tom Wolfe (2004 not great lit, but vivid,
accurate themes depicting the decline of education at our formerly best schools.)
How to Raise a Brighter Child / by Joan Beck
Marva Collins’ Way / by Marva Collins
The War Against Boys / by Christina Hoff Sommers
Twice As Less / by Elizabeth Wilson Orr
Less Than Words Can Say / by Richard Mitchell
Woe Is I / by Patricia T. O’Conner
SCIENCE
The Billion Dollar Molecule / by Barry Werth
Longitude / by Dava Sobel
An Endless Series of Hobgoblins / by Eric Hagen & James Worman
Facts, Not Fear / by Michael Sanera & Jane S. Shaw
The Blind Watchmaker / by Dr. Richard Dawkins
A Modern Introduction to Ancient Indian Mathematics / by T. S. Bhanu Murthy
PSYCHOLOGY
The Psychology of Self-Esteem
Boys Adrift / by Dr. Leonard Sax (Especially for teachers and new parents)
The Hero With a Thousand Faces / by Joseph Campbell
PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION
The Pocket Aristotle / by Aristotle
The Pocket Aquinas / by Thomas Aquinas
The Virtue of Selfishness & The Voice of Reason/Ayn Rand
The Screwtape Letters / by C.S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy / by C.S. Lewis
A Grief Observed / C.S. Lewis
The Ominous Parallels / by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
BIOGRAPHICAL
The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes / by John Dickson Carr
All Creatures Great and Small / by James Herriot
Brunelleschi’s Dome / by Ross King
Longitude / by Dava Sobel
Flight / by Chris Kraft
FICTION
NOVELS
The Sketch Book / by /Washington Irving
The Scarlet Letter & Selected Tales and Sketches / by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Count of Monte Cristo / by Alexander Dumas
I Am Charlotte Simmons / by Tom Wolfe (because you are in college)
Tales of Hoffman / by E.T.A. Hoffman
Ninety-Three, Notre Dame de Paris, The Man Who Laughs & Toilers of the Sea / by Victor Hugo
The Brothers Karamazov & The Possessed / by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court & The Prince and the Pauper / by Mark Twain
Around the World in Eighty Days / by Jules Verne
Scaramouche / by Rafael Sabatini
The Secret Garden / by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Nerve of Foley / by Frank Spearman
The Scarlet Pimpernel / by Baroness Orczy
The Four Feathers / by A.E.W. Mason
Captains Courageous & The Days Work / by Rudyard Kipling
Sherlock Holmes / by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Calumet K / by Merwin-Webster
Collected Stories of O. Henry / by O. Henry
Riders of the Purple Sage / by Zane Grey
It Can’t Happen Here & Babbit / by Sinclair Lewis
The Best Western Stories / by Ernest Haycox
A Separate Peace / by John Knowles
Quo Vadis / by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Anthem & The Fountainhead, & Atlas Shrugged / by Ayn Rand
Shane / by Jack Shaeffer
Big Red / by Jim Kjelgaard
National Velvet / by Enid Bagnold
The Lord of the Rings / by J.R.R. Tolkien (the books are better)
The Heart of Princess Osra / by Anthony Hope
Strong Poison / by Dorothy Sayers
A Town Like Alice, Trustee from the Toolroom & The Far Country / by Nevil Shute
I, the Jury / by Mickey Spillane
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd / by Agatha Christie
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest / by Ken Kesey
Barometer Rising / by Hugh MacLennan
Advise and Consent / by Allen Drury
Exodus / by Leon Uris
This Perfect Day / by Ira Levin
PLAYS
Antigone / by Sophocles
Othello / by William Shakespeare
Monna Vanna / by Maurice Maeterlinck
Cyrano / by Edmond Rostand
The Importance of Being Earnest & A Woman of No Importance / by Oscar Wilde
The Miracle Worker / by William Gibson
Inherit The Wind / by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
Night of January 16th / by Ayn Rand
Who’s Life Is It, Anyway? / by Brian Clark
Some are ‘high Canon’, and others are more recent, in response to current trends. Any other suggestions? Add them to the comments!
