Jay Nordlinger recommends

As we hosted Jay Nordlinger over the past few days, our conversation naturally turned to books. First and foremost we discussed his own new book, Peace, They Say, a history of the Nobel Peace Prize. It is, to borrow John’s comment in a nearby post, much like Jay’s writing for National Review — smart, balanced, funny, fair. To those adjectives I would add thoughtful and deep. It is a current favorite of mine.

But what about Jay’s favorite books? Jay mentioned several. I asked if he would repeat the first of his recommendations in the short cinéma vérité video below (less than a minute). Please check it out.

Although the book is obscure, it is available from Amazon here, and I have it on order.

What else? Jay also recommended Romancing Opiates, by Theodore Dalrymple (bad title, great book, according to Jay), Abraham Lincoln: A Biography, by Benjamin Thomas, Churchill, by Paul Johnson, and Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard, by Minnesota’s own Fan Shen (Jay thinks it is simply a great book, one that should last 250 years).

FOOTNOTE: Thanks to my daughter Deborah for patiently helping me upload and produce the video posted above and the one in “Peace, They Say: Bush Congratulates Carter.”

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