Books

Here are some of the books that I’ve read over the years.  All of the books on this list are ones that I keep in my library, and I would recommend to anyone.  If you buy these books from the links below, you’ll be helping to support the Right of Middle blog, too!

102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers – Jim Dwyer, Kevin Flynn – Hailed upon its hardcover publication as an instant classic, the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller 102 Minutes is now available in a revised edition timed to honor the tenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Counter Hack Reloaded – Ed Skoudis – Five years ago, says top infosec expert Ed Skoudis, attacks on corporate computer systems were more likely to come from kids than hardened criminals. Now, though, with organized crime and, yes, even terrorists mastering their computer attack skills, things have taken a turn for the dark and sinister. When Skoudis sat down to rewrite his classic Counter Hack, he had his hands full. The result: a new book that is every bit as useful to IT people as the original, and even more urgently important. As in the first edition, Skoudis carefully describes the entire attack process: reconnaissance, scanning, and the methods used by attackers to gain, maintain, and hide their access. Skoudis addresses both UNIX/Linux and Windows environments and presents state-of-the-art countermeasures for the exploits he discusses. From wardriving to kernel-mode rootkits, this book tells you what you must know — and what you must do.

The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution – Brion McClanahan, Ph.D - Are liberals right when they cite the “elastic” clauses of the Constitution to justify big government? Or are conservatives right when they cite the Constitution’s explicit limits on federal power? The answer lies in a more basic question: How did the founding generation intend for us to interpret and apply the Constitution? Professor Brion McClanahan, popular author of The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to the Founding Fathers, finds the answers by going directly to the source — to the Founding Fathers themselves, who debated all the relevant issues in their state constitutional conventions.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers – Brion McClanahan, Ph.D. – How much do you really know about the Founding Fathers? And how much of what you “know” is actually myth perpetuated by leftist history professors who dismiss the Founders as wealthy, racist, sexist, dead-white-males whose principles deserve to be as dead as they are? In The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, Dr. Brion McClanahan sets the record straight. He provides a neat summary history of America’s founding documents, profiles all the leading Founders (and some unjustly neglected ones), and shows how they have better answers to today’s problems than our politicians do.

Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan – Del Quentin Wilber - Nine days before Ronald Reagan became the first serving president to survive an assassination attempt, he visited Ford’s Theatre. Looking up at the box where Abraham Lincoln had been fatally shot, he admitted “a curious sensation” about the vulnerability of attack. Then, on March 30th, 1981, less than seventy days into his White House occupancy, the 70-year-old president became the victim of deranged would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. Rawhide Down (which borrows part of its title from the Secret Service’s codename for Reagan) recounts the buildup and circumstances of this horrific episode. Many of its details are odd: All six of the bullets Hinckley fired in those fateful three seconds missed the president; it was a chance ricochet off the presidential limousine that felled the chief executive. New details about an unforgettable day.

That Every Man Be Armed – Stephen P. Halbrook – This is an authoritative study of the second amendment, using history and current-day analysis. It is one of the only scholarly works on the subject, but has proven widely accessible. Halbrook traces the origins of the Second Amendment back to ancient Greece and Rome, and then through the “freemen” movement in 18th-century England and France. He demonstrates that the framers of the Constitution were conscious of such history when they drafted the Second Amendment, and that the Second Amendment was clearly intended to allow possession of firearms not just for defense of personal life and property but also to prevent government infringement of human liberties

Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand - In May 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific and quickly sank, leaving behind only two survivors bobbing helplessly in the restless seas. One of them was Louis Zamperini, a 26-year-old airman who had overcome a troubled past to become an Olympic athlete. After 47 perilous days adrift on a raft, Zamperini and his companion survivor were rescued by the Japanese navy. He remained a prisoner of war until the end of hostilities. This riveting narrative by the author of Seabiscuit is the story of one plucky man.