Human Events (a conservative publication in the US) made a list of books it thought were the most harmful. There were a few authors you could predict (Marx, Mao, Hitler) but some surprises too.

• 4 was the Kinsey Report which they thoughtfully characterise as "designed to give a scientific gloss to the normalization of promiscuity and deviancy". Heaven forbid we should actually know and come to terms with what people actually do in their bedrooms!
• 5 was Dewey’s Democracy and Education which "disparaged schooling that focused on traditional character development" (ie social control) "and encouraged the teaching of thinking ’skills’" (quel horreur!). And…
• 8 was Compte’s The Course of Positive Philosophy which just made me think I should look up Compte!

I also thought it entertaining that they include John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty among the runners-up. Wouldn’t want any of that nasty liberty…

Washington Monthly riposted with some books the Left would rather hadn’t been written. Christopher Tassava suggests his own list including the Bible which might put the cat among the pigeons!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 at 11:31 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.