<$BlogRSDUrl$>                                                                                                                                                                   
The Third Estate
What Is The Third Estate?
 Everything
What Has It Been Until Now In The Political Order?
Nothing
What Does It Want To Be?
Something

Ten Influential Books

Sunday, March 21, 2010
There's a meme about telling you to list the 10 most influential books in your life, which I thought was sufficiently intriguing to rouse me from my blogging torpor. So here goes.

1. Imperial Spain, by John H. Elliott
This book changed my life. I literally can't conceive of my intellectual development without it.

2. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
The first real quality novel I ever read, the meaning of it has changed for me as I've grown older - the sign of a great book.

3. Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
The first fantasy novel I ever read - the first of very many - it introduced me to the genre, although I confess nowadays it seems a bit silly.

4. The Power of Iron Man by David Michelinie and Bob Layton
Yes it's technically a graphic novel, but it inspired me to collect comic books for years and to this day Iron Man (or Tony Stark really) is one of my favorite characters in fiction. I think Robert Downey Jr. did a splendid job, BTW.

5. Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by David Kennedy
I read this book in high school when when I was first developing an interest in politics. It really opened up thinking about public affairs in a whole new way.

6. The Art of War in the Western World, by Archer Jones
The first work on military history I read, I became obsessed with the subject for years.

7. The Prince, by Machiavelli
Don't laugh.

8. Robert Kennedy and His Times, by Arthur Schlesinger
One of the first biographies I remember reading, I became fascinated with the Kennedys.

9. The Federalist Papers, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
I read this in college, and it had a profound effect on my thinking about American history and politics, sparked a lifelong interest in Alexander Hamilton, AND got me interested in philosophy. Pivotal.

10. The First Man in Rome, by Colleen McCullough
A fantastic piece of historical fiction, I started reading it at my stepmom's over a holiday break and developed an immediate love affair with the classical world.
Posted by Arbitrista @ 7:43 AM
3 Comments:
  • Thanks for sharing your list!

    It's probably time for me to re-read The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm guessing (hoping) the meaning of the book has changed for me, too. I read it more than a dozen times between 7th grade and 12th, I think. At that time, I found its revenge storylines comforting because they gave me hope that the mean girls would get theirs. :)

    By Blogger Leslie M-B, at 2:01 PM  
  • I might be ruining it for you, but when I read it again a few years ago (when I discovered after 20 years that the version I had was expurgated!!) that the story is really about how pointless revenge is. Poor Dantes puts himself through hell to destroy his enemies and makes the people he loved/loves miserable, for NO REASON. The book is actually a pretty clever undermining of a lot of Romantic tropes. Kind of genius, actually.

    By Blogger Arbitrista, at 6:01 PM  
  • All right then--I'm definitely re-reading it!

    By Blogger Leslie M-B, at 6:45 PM  
Post a Comment
<< Home

:: permalink