Spectator Recommendations

Blogs

Eunomia

A veritable garden of unorthodox thought, “Eunomia” is cultivated by Daniel Larison and bears the imprimatur of The American Conservative. Larison is something of a “front porch republican,” an antiwar traditionalist skeptical of all great concentrations of power. His blog is essential for those alienated from our tit-for-tat politics, and offers erudite commentary that forces the reader to reconsider his basic assumptions.

Consumerist

The Consumerist’s tagline, “Shoppers Bite Back,” says it all. The blog—with upwards of 20 posts per day—catalogues the bargains and rip-offs, super deals and sneaky cheats, of well-known businesses. Consumerist readers become submitters as soon as they have a lurid story of corporate mistreatment to share. The blog isn’t explicitly political – in fact, when politics shows up in a post, the editors generally call for “consumer protectionist” legislation—but is unconsciously libertarian. Why? It demonstrates that now, especially, consumers hold tremendous power in the market: the ability to shout from the rooftops so that everyone can hear them. The prompt redress of many of the wrongs shared on Consumerist shows that businesses are listening.

Books

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

Sixty years gone, Sinclair Lewis remains this country’s foremost satirist. Of his many jewels, none is as finely polished as Main Street. This stinging, hilarious novel scrutinizes the pretenses of the American exurban bourgeoisie. As relevant and revealing in 2010 as it was in 1920, Main Street is powerfully subversive, lambasting not without a little love the bluenosed, penny-pinching provincials who make this nation prosper—and who are not about to let anyone forget it!

The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes

Even for habitual fiction readers, once in a while there is a misconception so deeply rooted in public discourse that it takes a lengthy examination of fact, fiction, and figures to root it out. While The Forgotten Man is captivatingly written, it cogently presents an alternative history of the Great Depression; one that challenges the notion that Roosevelt, with the New Deal, invented Big Government and saved the American economy from the ruination of unbridled capitalism. Hoover was no libertarian, it seems, and unemployment was still , and Shlaes has the figures to back it up. With Obama at the helm and the federal government poised to mushroom, the 2008 release of this novel could not have been better timed.

Television

How to Make it in America” (HBO, Sundays at 10:00pm)

Generation Y has yet to really find its voice, but “How to Make It in America” is a stride toward self-expression. This new HBO series—well written, loosely plotted, acceptably acted— follows the urban escapades of two hip 20-somethings trying to make a killing as clothiers. The show presents Gen Yers in honest form: hyperactive but directionless, decadent though sincere, at once distracted and self-absorbed, hopeful and cynical, alienated and networked. We are at the bottom of a new century, heirs to a mighty empire. Anything can happen…. But first, Facebook.

The Wire” (HBO)

How fitting: The ‘Great American Novel’ is a television show. Probably the best-reviewed show ever (98 on Metacritic.com), The Wire’s five seasons deal with drugs, theft, the press, prostitution and politics (those last two may be redundant) in the city of Baltimore. “The Wire” achieves the eye-opening effect of an Upton Sinclair novel without the maudlin preachiness. “The Wire” has another advantage over Sinclair – several decades worth of insights on the people that aspire to governmental power, and the motives that inform their actions when they get there. Make sure you start with Episode 1, Season 1, and proceed in order. Long live Hamsterdam!