Editor’s Notes: Liberals Need to Know the Reading to Do

Last year about this time we published “The Liberal Currents Canon, or Some Good Books.” The title indicates the uncertain spirit in which liberals, who famously struggle to take their own side, would venture to offer a canonical reading list on liberalism.

The list itself, to be frank, underscores that spirit of uncertainty. Samantha Hancox-Li had the #1 pick (we chose the books through a draft), and—with my sincere respect to the authors of that work, which I own and have even cited before—later in the draft, at #13, I picked a book that I honestly might say you should read instead of the #1 pick. The currents of liberalism are wide.

Is there a socialist canon, or a Christian canon? Yes, in each case, and like the liberal canon, those canons range wide and far. But also, the first place in each canon is locked in: everything Karl Marx wrote and everything Jesus Christ said. Much of the rest of the socialist and Christian canons are notes on Marx and Jesus.

Having one overwhelmingly central figure serves socialism and Christianity in a remarkably useful way: Capital and the New Testament are the things to read in those traditions, and most people on earth know that. If you want to see if socialism or Christianity are for you, there are two particular books that are the ones to pick up and read—and such is their fame, you don’t even have to find a socialist or Christian and ask them what those books are. Once you have read the book, you have some of the group’s vocabulary and ideas. You still need a lot of guidance, but there is a set of basics that within a few weeks you were able to get all on your own. There are many ways into socialism or Christianity, but there is also a near-handbook, if you like reading.

How does a person get into liberalism?