Liberty and Tyranny & Common Sense

I rarely read political commentary books but I listened to these two books right after the other for a few reasons. Both of these books are selling really well with both at the tops of best selling lists for weeks. These books have also seen a lot of traffic at the library, both on audio and in print. I wanted to know why.

From what I had read at Amazon and heard from people, these books were really good. I had high hopes. Liberty and Tyranny traced the historical concept of conservatism and liberalism (or statism). Glenn Beck's book examined Thomas Paine's common sense and wrote his own modern day version.  Both compared history with current events. It was the historical aspects of the books that intrigued and interested me.

I wasn't too disappointed in the history aspects of each book. Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny did a good job examining the Founder's and their beliefs about government. He takes the time to show how liberals or statists have moved us pretty far from where we started. Beck's audio book included an MP3 of Thomas Paine's original Common Sense, which was thoroughly enjoyable. His Common Sense inspired essay was boring because it wasn't much different from his radio or TV programs. In other words, if you listen to Beck at all, you will have already heard everything he discusses. Both books bogged down when the authors began to examine modern political corruption for exactly the same reason.

If you are a regular listener of either Mark Levin or Glenn Beck, you may or may not enjoy the books. They repeat what they say on their radio and TV shows. Mark Levin's book was better because there was more historical background, which I liked reading. I will probably skip reading Beck's latest book, Arguing with Idiots, because it's more of the same. But I will probably flip through it before my next debate with a liberal.