Best Books 2016: Conservative Reading Choices – by Tevi Troy

the year 2016 was good for the books of men called yuval. over the past year, I’ve read two, and both were excellent. the first yuval is yuval levin, justifiably well known to readers of nr. his fractured republic deserves the accolades he has been receiving. it’s a compelling, well-reasoned look at how we’ve gotten to our current situation of bitter partisanship and broken politics, but it also makes a compelling case for a realistic way forward. he suggests a form of “subsidiarity”, that is, moving away from solutions at the federal level and finding more answers at the local level. the book is a devastating indictment of the welfare state and a good primer for effective conservative policymaking going forward.

The other Yuval is Yuval Harari, whose __sapiens __is a look at our unique species and all we’ve accomplished. harari shows that humanity as we know it hasn’t been around that long compared to the lifespan of our planet. more interesting and more original, he also convincingly explains why humanity as we know it cannot continue for so long in its current form either. Hariri outlines several ways this could happen, as technology could enhance both the human mind and body into something that might not be recognizable to previous generations.

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jeffrey toobin’s american heiress tells the full story of patty hearst’s kidnapping. she had certainly seen the famous photo of a gun-toting, militant-looking man in a beret, but she didn’t know much beyond that. Toobin explains why Hearst was so susceptible to the symbiote liberation army’s brainwashing, noting Hearst’s amusing recollection of his messy childhood: “My father is a registered Republican who always votes Democrat. my mom is a registered Democrat who always votes Republican.”

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In my opinion, the wall street journal publishes the best opinion page in the business, so I’m always impressed when people there manage to produce books too. Melanie Kirkpatrick, who has served as op-ed editor this fall, posted the lovely thanksgiving. I like thanksgiving holidays and all, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I opened the book. I was pleased to find it amusing and informative. I had no idea that Pilgrim Thanksgiving was not the first American Thanksgiving, that the history of Pilgrim Thanksgiving was lost until it was rediscovered in the 19th century, and that none of the traditional foods of thanksgiving was eaten at that first thanksgiving of the pilgrims. Along the way, I also learned a lot about presidents and Thanksgiving, and football and Thanksgiving, dating back to the 1870s.

sohrab ahmari, who works for the london journal, wrote an interesting and perplexing book called the new philistines, about the leftist politics infecting the art world . this short book is reminiscent of tom wolfe’s pre-novel books like the painted word and from the bauhaus to our house, which told funny but depressing stories about left-wing politics he was making his way into the art world, making both art and politics worse in the process.

mark landler’s alter egos analyze what hillary clinton’s foreign policy might have been like. The not-so-shocking answer: Not that different from Obama’s. Landler discusses the politics Hillary brought to the State Department, concluding that “never before has the nation’s seat of diplomacy been so blatantly political.” he notes that former senator bill cohen brought an aide with him when he became secretary of defense in 1997. instead, he notes that “hillary ended up bringing close to a hundred to the state.” As for Obama, Landler highlights how bad the relationship between him and Israel has been. Obama’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu “was, without exception, the worst relationship he had with any foreign leader.” Landler makes it clear that this issue stemmed directly from Obama. On this, Landler quotes a senior Israeli official: “There is tremendous personal animosity from Obama towards Bibi; there is no animosity from bibi towards obama”. outgoing president obama displayed this animosity once again this week, orchestrating his dismissal against israel through a misguided united nations agency. resolution that may harm israel politically, but will do little to bring about peace.

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while obama focuses on the negative when it comes to israel, seth siegel tells an incredible story about israeli know-how in his let there be water. Siegel exposes the immense difficulty of securing enough water to sustain a prosperous modern nation of 8 million people in a water-starved part of the world, and shows how Israel has used innovative new technologies to overcome the problem. By doing this, Israel is not only helping Israeli citizens, but Palestinians as well. Only about 10 percent of West Bank Palestinians had running water before Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967. Today, 96 percent of West Bank Palestinians have running water. Unfortunately, Siegel points out that there is no reciprocal generosity on the water front: “The goal of the PA’s water policy is, more generally, to damage Israel’s reputation.” Siegel also jokes with some humor, if you will, noting that Israel offered the Chinese a demonstration project on Israel’s water capabilities in a small Chinese town. the Chinese selected a city of 1 million, drawing laughter from the Israelis. As Prime Minister Netanyahu explained, “Mr. prime minister, we don’t have any city in israel with a population of one million people.”

As a father of four, I enjoyed Abby Schachter’s No Child Left Alone. Schachter wrote his gripping and disturbing book upon learning that Pennsylvania government regulators would not allow daycare workers to wrap his son. Schachter, a diaper advocate, decided to explore other areas where government got in the way of child rearing, and found material for an entire book. While Schachter is rightfully outraged at all the ways the government meddles in parenting, and in the process makes daycare more expensive for parents who need it, she also brings a sense of humor to the investigation. her. she at one point asks, “is there really a government entity that bans fun and takes toys out of children’s hands? why, yes, it’s called the consumer product safety commission.” Hopefully, with the Obama administration gone, we can at least eliminate some of these unwarranted attacks on freedom at the federal level.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank nro for his kind words in writing about my new book, did we wake the president? Two Centuries of Disaster Management from the Oval Office, Yuval Levin wrote about it here and later included it among his favorite books of the year; stanley kurtz said “it might really scare you, in the best way of course”; the felzenberg was favorably reviewed in dead tree; and jonah goldberg stuffed it into her indispensable g file. I am grateful to all of them, and to all of you readers, too. As a more hopeful 2017 begins, my advice remains the same: there are plenty of great books out there, so keep reading.