Amity Shlaes on Glenn Beck

[Robert Campbell]

Here's a new piece by Amity Shlaes that I think captures something of importance about what Glenn Beck is doing:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/06/04/the_university_guild_vs_glenn_beck.html

Every author is glad to sell books. But the victory is far more Mr. Beck's than any individual writer's or publisher's. His genius has been in his recognition that viewers do not want merely the odd, one-off book, duly pegged to news. They want a coherent vision, a competing canon that the regulated airwaves and academy have denied them. So he, Glenn Beck, is building that canon, book by book from the forgotten shelf. Since the man is a riveting entertainer, the professors are correct to be concerned. He's not just reacting or shaping individual thoughts. He is bringing competition into the Ed Biz.

Robert Campbell

[syrakusos]

Here's a new piece by Amity Shlaes that I think captures something of importance about what Glenn Beck is doing:

Amity Shlaes, the author of "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression," is a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Council on Foreign Relations?

Are they not the internationalists of the Bilderberger Hotel whose Rockefellar agents delivered our republic to the bankers of debt?

Or is there another Council on Foreign Relations?

What does this have to do with Glenn Beck, I mean really? What wheels-within-wheels machinations bring the power of the puppetmasters and king makers to a conservative Christian federalist?

"They came first for the communists..." You and MSK with your man crush on Glenn Beck are going to be shocked, surprised and disappointed when it is you in the concentration camps of Glenn Beck's America.

[Robert Campbell]

Michael,

No, so far as I know, the Council on Foreign Relations has not acquired a Doppelgänger.

Have you read The Forgotten Man?

Why would the Bilderbergers want one of their own to portray Franklin D. Roosevelt or the leading New Dealers in the manner that her book does?

Robert Campbell

[syrakusos]

Why would the Bilderbergers want one of their own to portray Franklin D. Roosevelt or the leading New Dealers in the manner that her book does?

Robert Campbell

The Party Line has changed, comrade.

[Philip Coates]

> Glenn Beck, is building that canon, book by book from the forgotten shelf.

What books has he been recommending/discussing? Are they any good?

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Phil,

As a base, he recommends that people read the original writings of the Founding Fathers--and the original sources of any issue for that matter.

Then he builds on that base with other recommendations, issue by issue.

His genius is that he makes this entertaining, even as he tells middle-class working folks and small businesspeople things like, "I know when you get home, have supper and put the kids to bed, the last thing you want to do is read history. You're tired. I know. But you have to if you want to preserve the truth for your children. So make that effort and learn what the real history was from the people's own words."

If you like, I can try to drag up a video of him saying this stuff, but it's not really necessary. He says it often enough.

In my book, that just doesn't get any better as a foundation.

Michael

EDIT: Here's a Squidoo Lens that is pretty accurate from what I have seen on his shows over the last year or so: Glenn Beck's Most Recommended Books

Here's a little list of some of them--many of which became Amazon bestsellers after he talked about them:

A Patriot's History of the United States of America

The Real George Washington

Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Wives of the Signers

Samuel Adams: A Life

Federalist Papers

The Forgotten Man

George Washington's Sacred Fire

American History in Black and White

Seven Events That Made America America

The Five Thousand Year Leap

The Real Thomas Jefferson

The Real Ben Franklin

I have also seen him recommend things (and interview the authors) of books like Superfreakonomics and The Survivors Club.

I didn't mention the authors because I think I am going to put up a small thread with Amazon links to the books he recommends. (I'll even get my 40 cents a pop when people buy--capitalism at work, baby...)

[Philip Coates]

Thanks, Michael! That's a great post because it's very helpful and thorough.