Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Mein Kampf is, perhaps, the one book on this list that I know espouses an ideology that I find repugnant. Yet I can't say that I find the book dangerous.

What I find odd is the inclusion of the last book, which is one of Keyne's work. Some conservatives may not like Keynesian economic policies, but Keynes' ideas are pretty standard mainstream ideas. To list his book as one of the ten most dangerous really indicates just how extreme the compiler of this list really is.

Oh my god! John Stuart Mill's On Liberty made "Honorable Mention". At least we now know these people aren't the libertarian wing of conservatism.

I like their comment on Das Kapital: They shouldn't be so hard on poor Karl. I'm living at the beginning of the 21st century, and I can't make this prediction either. But we still have 95 years to go -- maybe it will come to pass.

I've just read their blurb on Keynes' book and found this gem: Strange that they don't mention that the last president to balance the federal budget was that "liberal" Democrat Bill Clinton, while the current record deficits are being racked up by our most Keynesian president in history, GWB (with help from a Congress dominated by his party).

Could be a case of kindred minds thinking alike.

Indeed, regimes ban books because, ultimately, their policies and ideologies can't withstand scrutiny. I would say that if a society that cannot withstand scrutiny then it must be based on some falsehood or irrational ideology, in which case scrutiny and rational debate is all the more necessary.

That's Ned's point: you are having a conversation about what is appropriate for children to read while the subtitle of your posts reads "Re: The list is a greater threat than the terrorists."

It doesn't sound as if the book itself is dangerous. At a railroad crossing, it's not the bell and flashing lights that are dangerous.

Man, I wish I said that!

I read The Mill on the Floss. I don't think that it is as bad as people are making out, but I agree that if that novel is typical of George Eliot's works then I don't why she is considered such a big deal.