Why Do I Include Certain Authors In My Reading List And Not Others?

Who is not included in my reading list and why?

You might notice that I don’t include Steven Ozment and other great romantic historians. If you want to read them, then that’s fine. I agree with their rapture. On the other hand, I’m a POLITICAL ECONOMIST which means I care only about the necessary institutions needed to produce the greek and british miracles. It is an emotionless pursuit. And the romantics do not help me in that regard. I have the same problem with much of the conservative reading list produced by the National Review, which I view as, like that of Kirk, romantic and inspirational, but not helpful to an analytical intellectual looking to define institutions to create romantic attachments rather than assuming that those attachments create those institutions if such feelings could be instilled somehow. From my view this is simply illogical: it’s putting the cart before the horse. People feel romantic attachments to their institutions. But it is the institutions that created that sentiment.

(Thanks to FredR for suggesting I include Victor Davis Hanson’s “The Other Greeks”.)