What our President Should have read instead of Chavez's book!

This list comes from an article by Thomas Sowell of one of his reading lists. You can read his full article here http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell071403.asp.

To review what misfortuned happened at the Summit of the Americas read here http://brianleesblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/barack-stick-up-for-us-also-please.html

A detailed account is William McNeill's "The Rise of the West," which is about more than the West and in fact begins with the earliest known civilizations in the Middle East. (Click HERE to purchase).

For those interested in the economic problems of less developed countries, there is "Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion" by Professor Peter Bauer of the London School of Economics. He spent years living in poor countries and more years trying to talk sense to the foreign aid establishment in Western nations. (Click HERE to purchase).

Once dismissed as someone outside the mainstream, Peter Bauer was part of the mainstream by the time of his death last year. He hadn't changed. The mainstream had moved over to where he was, after decades of bitter experience had proved him right.

One of the reasons for the many disappointments of foreign aid programs has been that some cultures do and some do not promote the kind of behavior that produces economic development. This is particularly apparent in a book on Latin America by Lawrence Harrison titled, "Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind." (Click HERE to purchase).

Institutions -- or lack of institutions -- can also hold back development. "The Mystery of Capital" by Hernando de Soto explores why capitalism works in Western nations but not in most non-Western countries. (Click HERE to purchase).

The non-judgmental notion that "all cultures are equal" is unlikely to survive reading "The Character of Nations" by Professor Angelo Codevilla of Boston University. It is a grown-up's demolition of childish ideas that have become fashionable in our times. (Click HERE to purchase).