Your Mandarin was fortunate enough to be awarded a gift certificate to Amazon.com and decided to purchase the following books:

– The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents – The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek) by F.A. Hayek and Bruce Caldwell
– Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History by Andrew P. Napolitano
– The Overton Window by Glenn Beck

Although it has been many years since your Mandarin was required to produce a summer book report, I thought it would be interesting to review these various works.

Being a holiday weekend, your Mandarin was feeling in the mood for some pure entertainment. As of late your Mandarin’s reading list has been composed of non-fiction tomes dealing with history, politics, and economics. So of the three books listed above, your Mandarin decided to dive into – or should that be through – the Overton Window.

The book is the fictional tale of Noah Gardner, the son of the founder of one of the most influential public relations firms in the world. To distill the book down to its core elements – and not give away any key plot points that would spoil the book if you plan on reading it – it is the story of two competing ideologies – a small federal government bound by the constraints of the Constitution, and a large federal government that is responsible for the needs of its citizens and that is subservient to a larger one world government. Noah is caught in the middle of this struggle and has to decide which side he will support.

Glenn Beck goes through great lengths both in the foreword and the afterword to let the reader know that this book is not entirely fiction nor is it entirely fact, but rather what he calls faction, or a work of fiction that has elements of fact within the story line. He further goes on to give the links to the various real life events and news stories that are referenced throughout the book to encourage the readers to do their own research and draw their own conclusions as to whether or not the scenario in the book could be possible.

While I found the book to be entertaining, the book is in some ways difficult to read. The reason for this is that you have to constantly change your train of thought as you read it. One minute the book is your standard thriller/action adventure novel, then it is a philosophical discussion of various political and societal issues, and finally it is a history lesson. The way that this material is presented really gives the book a conspiratorial feel. Critics of the book will focus on this point to ridicule the book and dismiss it, but in reality this conspiratorial feel pulls you further into the story which is focused on a “conspiracy” to replace the Constitution with a more modern version.

Overall the book is fairly well written and all of these elements do blend together to further the story along. Can you see certain plot elements unfolding from a mile away, yes. Is some of the dialogue forced and somewhat contrived, yes. But then again this book is not looking to be the next Tom Clancy thriller.

What the book strives to achieve is for the reader to stop and think (or at least you should) as you read the book on where you stand on the issues presented. Will there be those individuals out there that read the book and decide that it is their call to arms against the government? Sure, just as there are those individuals that will read books from authors on the left leaning end of the political spectrum that take those works as their call to arms. The problem is that sometimes to make a subtle point it needs to be exaggerated to be seen, and it is this exaggeration that some people focus in on and totally miss or misinterpret the actual meaning of the point being raised.

The Mandarin

The Mandarin, whose real name is 吏恆, joined the order in 1309, and introduced the Gormogons into England during the 18th Century.

The Mandarin enjoys spending time with his pet manticore, Βάρἰκος, or Barry (who can be found in the Bestiary). When not in the Castle…well, frankly, nobody is quite sure where he goes.

The Mandarin popularized the fine art of “gut booting,” by which he delivers a powerful kick to the stomach of anyone that annoys him. Although nearly universal today, the act of gut booting or threatening someone or something with a gut boot is solely due to him.