Friday, March 25, 2005
Current Reading
I'm currently reading, A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland. It's a brand new book by Yale historian John Mack Faragher. The title is pretty self-explanatory. It begins with the sailing of the Jonas in 1606. This story is an intersection of two of my passions, my love for the Acadians of Louisiana, and my love of liberty. The Acadians pretty much governed themselves in L'Acadie (Canada) for over a century with little help and much hindrance from the civil governments of France and England. They were some of the earliest libertarians, certainly the first European libertarians in the New World. Due to over three centuries of significant cultural isolation, the Acadians in Louisiana retained many of the customs of 16th and 17th century rural France. Though for the most part the Acadians in Louisiana have now become "Americanized", even today many remain very medeival in many of their ways.
In Sunday School we're studying through My Life for Yours: A Walk through the Christian Home, by Douglas Wilson. It shows us how the Gospel should manifest itself, room-by-room, in our hearts, lives, and homes. It deals with hospitality, family life, holidays, celebrations, and temptations and sins. I recommend this book, along with all other titles by Douglas Wilson and Canon Press. www.canonpress.org
The other book I'm reading is, Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt. From the Preface to the First Edition, "This book is an analysis of economic fallacies that are at last so prevalent that they have almost become a new orthodoxy." This is dated March 25, 1946, 59 years ago today, and in those 59 years the prevalent understanding of economics has only gotten worse, especially among mainstream economists and politicians. Among other things, this book deals with tax-funded "public works", taxes, credit, bureaucracies, employment, tariffs, exports, prices, rent control, minimum wage laws, unions, profits, inflation, and saving.
In Sunday School we're studying through My Life for Yours: A Walk through the Christian Home, by Douglas Wilson. It shows us how the Gospel should manifest itself, room-by-room, in our hearts, lives, and homes. It deals with hospitality, family life, holidays, celebrations, and temptations and sins. I recommend this book, along with all other titles by Douglas Wilson and Canon Press. www.canonpress.org
The other book I'm reading is, Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt. From the Preface to the First Edition, "This book is an analysis of economic fallacies that are at last so prevalent that they have almost become a new orthodoxy." This is dated March 25, 1946, 59 years ago today, and in those 59 years the prevalent understanding of economics has only gotten worse, especially among mainstream economists and politicians. Among other things, this book deals with tax-funded "public works", taxes, credit, bureaucracies, employment, tariffs, exports, prices, rent control, minimum wage laws, unions, profits, inflation, and saving.
