The Ten Most Harmful Books of the Last Two Centuries

Posted: Thursday, June 16, 2005 at 4:39 am ET

Subscribe

Human Events asked "a panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders" to identify the ten most harmful books of the 19th and 20th centuries. The list:

1. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

2. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

3. Quotations from Chairman Mao by Mao Zedong

4. The Kinsey Reports by Alfred Kinsey

5. Democracy and Education by John Dewey

6. Das Kapital by Karl Marx

7. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan

8. The Course of Positive Philosophy by Auguste Compte

9. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

10. General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by John Maynard Keynes

It's hard to argue with that list, but it seems a bit weighted toward economics. I would argue for putting The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in the top ten, and Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead wouldn't be far behind. Any suggestions?

SOURCE: Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Human Events, May 31, 2005