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<p>Yes, but I don’t think any do that, unfortunately. I have a friend whose father reads several US newspapers, an Arabic newspaper, and several from different European countries. I know he gets the Economist, Newsweek, and the New Yorker, and I’m guessing that I’m missing some. Have you looked at the Economist? I know it’s got really thorough news coverage, and I keep thinking about subscribing, but I’ve only looked at it a few times so I don’t know about balance.</p>
<p>I agree that it will be difficult to get multiple points of view from one magazine. We solve that problem by subscribing to a couple of newspapers and half a dozen magazines. You might try this website, for links to a variety of points of view. <a href=“http://www.realclearpolitics.com%5B/url%5D”>www.realclearpolitics.com</a></p>
<p>The Economist is, hands down, the best newsmagazine in the English-speaking world.</p>
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Hear hear. It’s somewhat globalist meets libertarian lite in terms of stance. The style is unparalleled.</p>
<p>As for Jared Diamond’s work, it’s trash and takes little heed of modern scientific findings. If you want what Guns, Germs and Steel should have been, consider Before the Dawn, by Nicholas Wade, one of the New York Time’s top Science reporters. <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Before-Dawn-Recovering-History-Ancestors/dp/1594200793/sr=8-1/qid=1164775528/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6001367-4304667?ie=UTF8&s=books[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Before-Dawn-Recovering-History-Ancestors/dp/1594200793/sr=8-1/qid=1164775528/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6001367-4304667?ie=UTF8&s=books</a> or <a href=“Before the dawn review[/url] - Google Search”>Before the dawn review - Google Search;
<p>Perhaps Albion’s seed is worth investigation, though I haven’t read it. </p>
<p>It all depends on what he likes. If he likes to read what he agrees with, as most people do, find out what that is. If he’s more of a truth seeking sort, perhaps controversial books aspiring to that are appropiate, like Clash of Civilizations (or Huntington’s other recent book, Who Are We?).</p>
<p>I constantly hear that Diamond’s work is trash (mostly from people who don’t agree with him), but that shouldn’t preclude someone from reading it. Guns, Germs, and Steel may have problems, but it’s an interesting work and has generally been received well even by other scientists (Diamond is a biologist amongst other things). Both Wade’s and Diamond’s arguments have validity, and I recommend not simply passing over one or the other to support your personal beliefs. </p>
<p>For example, I disagree vehemently with Huntington on 90% of things, but I read his works with great anticipation.</p>
<p>i still say the Greene books…no left or right, just very interesting historical figures and how they think…it is a must for anyone wanting to understand leaders, followers, etc</p>
<p>if you want to know why people get and lose influence, these are the books</p>
<p>Diamonds work is meant to give historical perspective and it was published over 7 years ago so how many recent scientific advances do you think it should have contained?</p>
<p>[This would be a good book to read before Guns Germs and Steel](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Great-Human-Diasporas-Diversity-Evolution/dp/0201442310”>http://www.amazon.com/Great-Human-Diasporas-Diversity-Evolution/dp/0201442310</a>)</p>
<p>Let me add my voice to those recommending the Economist. Each week there are several articles each on the US, UK and other regions of the world. There are several articles apiece on the corporate world and on culture. Their reporting on the US is about as balanced as you are going to find.</p>
<p>Funding father (great name, BTW): I will second the suggestions in #8 above; they are excellent suggestions for someone who may be interested in entering politics. You should be aware, though, that a careful and open-minded reading of Hayek and M. Friedman may correct the leftward lean of your giftee.</p>
<p>Maine parent’s suggestions (post 15) are great also. The bio of John Adams was a very pleasant surprise for me, an interesting and inspiring read.</p>
<p>The Nightingale’s Story, Robert Timberg
This isn’t a new book (1996), but one I’ve recently re-read. It chronicles the lives of five Naval Academy graduates – John McCain, John Poindexter, Bud McFarlane, Jim Webb, and Oliver North – their time at Annapolis and where they went from there. Though the profiles are sympathetic they are not idealized. A timely and fascinating account.</p>
<p>Get The Economist. Definitely. The level of writing and analysis puts American newsweeklies to shame, and one certainly gets a better feel for what is going on in the rest of the world.</p>
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<p>To be fair, this doesn’t take much. The competition is pretty thin.</p>
<p>Sadly true, UCLAri.</p>
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Excuse my vitriol, but Jared Diamond has forgone the truth for the fortunes that only political correctness can deliver. A lying vain profiteer basically. He basically denies that ‘we are not all equal’ in Guns, Germs and Steel and yet he published a paper titled “Ethnic differences: Variation in human testis Size” with some choice text and pictures, <a href=“http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/jared_diamond/jared_diamond_race_testis_1986_page1.pdf[/url]”>http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/jared_diamond/jared_diamond_race_testis_1986_page1.pdf</a> and <a href=“http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/jared_diamond/jared_diamond_race_testis_1986_page2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/jared_diamond/jared_diamond_race_testis_1986_page2.pdf</a></p>
<p>Basically, Diamond denies that humans have adapted to their varied environments via natural selection in the recent human past (up to 50k years ago), while Wade does not, with much evidence at his side.</p>
<p>( I don’t disagree with Diamond, I think he’s wrong. What’s worse, he himself knows it.)</p>
<p>And since I’m posting, I guess I’m obligated to make another suggestion. I nominate Reflections on the Revolution in France, for a politics of prudence and thereby an antidote to libertarianism. I was a libertarian for a short bit, after reading Capitalism and Freedom, which is worth reading, but I abandoned ‘reason,’ i.e. tortuous ideology, for empiricism.</p>
<p>Also of interest, The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America, by E. Digby Baltzell. I find myself disagreeing with the author at times but respecting him all the same. And, as any good book should, it has influenced me. </p>
<p>Democracy in America by Alex de Tocqueville is a requisite classic.</p>
<p>And, though it isn’t quite politics, there’s Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. Perhaps unwise to read for in my case it made me radically aware of class here in America. It gives a context of sorts to what one sees on a daily basis.</p>
<p>EmanuelGoldstein,</p>
<p>Take the debate [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=3244119#post3244119]here.[/url”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=3244119#post3244119]here.[/url</a>] It definitely has potential, but we can both agree that it doesn’t belong here. Cheers.</p>
<p>Oh, and Democracy in America is a requisite classic for anyone in the world. I might even suggest reading the Federalist Papers.</p>
<p>I liked the autobiography by Norman Shwartzkopf (spelling). (it’s been out a few years, we found it in a thrift store.) He weaved in some of his earlier life lessons, what he learned from them and how he applied the principles during Desert Storm, and other postings. The funny part is that he said his father in law was most impressed --by his wiring of their unfinished basement --out of everything he had done in his career! Also Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August, Distant Mirror and Washingtons Crossing.) I also like some of the programs by the Teaching Company. (audio CD’s or DVD’s) I can’t afford all of them, but you can get a set from the library if you are lucky. I thought “America in the Middle East since 1914” was terrific. The professor had fabulous diction, along with a fascinating and educational script. You get a suggested reference list in the course booklet which is nice for extra research. They also have some histories of Russia, China, Europe that I’ve gotten through part of before they’ve had to be returned. Issac’s Storm ( and the new one the author has out this year) There’s another one I brought home from the thrift store about the oil companies in earlier times that my husband liked. The Prize by Daniel Yergin (it’s kind of obsure also) It’s 800 pages–published in 1991.</p>
<p>Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel is another interesting read… it is based on a series of letters between the two…the reason I recommend it here is that it tells how Galileo got his ideas out to the general public since they were condemned by the church. He basically wrote plays and used names of deceased people who had influence as participants in the play. He put his own works/ideas in their mouths…and voila, they gained instant credibility. I still marvel at this guy… he really thought outside the box, at the same time the church forced him to live isolated in a box. This book may give the op’s intended audience some insight into mixing politics with religion.</p>
<p>Another vote for The Economist here, on the magazine front. It’s really, really good. However, hard-core American conservatives will find its basic Tory-establishment stance discomfitting. While in European terms it is distinctly pro-American and conservative, in American terms its view of America comes across as leftish. W gets harsher treatment than the mainstream American media feels comfortable with, and religious conservatives in general are treated as a peculiar American disease.</p>
<p>But what The Economist really has is lots and lots of information about lots and lots of places, pitched to an audience presumed to be capable of understanding subtleties and conversant with basic political and economic theory. I tend not to read its American coverage much anyway, since I hardly need it for that, or for America’s wars. What it does great is cover the rest of the world.</p>