cehwiedel: Books, CDs, DVDs for Xmas

The Bad Catholic's Guide to Good Living
by John Zmirak
Yeah: Catholics have a sense of humor! The cover picture of JPII is worth the price all by itself.

A War Like No Other
by Victor Davis Hanson
Does the Peloponnesian War teach us lessons for today? Dr. Hanson’s triumphalism makes me uneasy, but his writing is great fun.

Greatness: Reagan, Churchill, and the Making of Extraordinary Leaders
by Steven F. Hayward
Biographies fascinate me, and this book joins two of the 20th Century’s fascinating leaders.

A Catholic Woman’s Book of Days
by Amy Welborn
Devotional books aimed at women are usually too treacly for my taste. This book is supposed to be different, and I would love to find out that it is.

Truth And Tolerance:
Christian Belief And World Religions
by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI
The translations of his writings that I have read so far make me want to read the German originals to find out if they are as felicitously phrased and as clearly stated.

Law’s Quandary
by Steven D. Smith
I recently finished Separation of Church and State by Philip Hamburger, giving the history of the changing understanding of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. This title by Steven D. Smith looks like a good follow-on, to continue deepening my understanding so that I can write well-informed pieces about religion in the public square.

Mother Knows Worst
by James Lileks
Life is short, and children grow up: laugh!

* The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945
by George H. Nash
I’m reading a library copy, and would love one of my own. Is Santa listening?

Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine
by Robert Dodaro
I stumbled across this title in a post in The Catholic Carnival, and checked it out from My University’s library. Maybe Santa can include this one, too?

Team of Rivals:
The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Read about this on Power Line; sounds good.

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution
edited by Edwin Meese et alia
Like I don’t already have too many big fat books! But this one’s on the Constitution — and it’s from the Heritage Foundation! If it shows up under the tree, can I keep it? Please?

Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man
by Henri de Lubac
An insight into the “we” of Catholicism, and an insight into Pope Benedict XVI, who said this “book was for me a key reading event.” Rave review!