Introduction to the Book REVIEW Series

I think that the main goal I have at this point will be getting back to my current Book REVIEW Series, where I am currently reading classic books on political/economical thought  that may have inspired the Founding Fathers. "REVIEW" in this case is meant to mean that we 'go through it together,' like when you review your notes for an exam; as opposed to a movie review, where I tell you what I thought of it and whether I think it is worth your time and money. I have nothing against move reviewers -- I love film, and love movie reviews (as those who know me can attest). I'm just clarifying that my REVIEWs of these books will be different in approach, in format, and in content than what is meant more commonly these days by the word 'review' as it pertains to books.

I am currently reading/reviewing Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes. Other books in this particular series will include Two Treatises on Government by John Locke, The Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu, Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, and Aristotle's Republic.


I also discovered a page on the Online Library of Liberty (http://oll.libertyfund.org/), entitled "Founding Father's Library" (http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/founding-father-s-library), which included a Top 40 Authors Cited by the Founding Fathers in their writing, as well as a separate list containing the books they read of the various authors included in the Top 40 Authors Cited list. I mention it here because, now having found such a  list,  it seems worthwhile to make it a goal to eventually REVIEW all of the books on the list.

I think it is interesting to point out that the Number 1 most often cited author according to this list is Paul the Apostle, which means that the Number 1 most cited source among the Founding Fathers was the Bible, namely the New Testament. I'm sure that we'll come across more details about this in our readings, but as my knowledge stands at this point, this detail seems to me counter-intuitive to the popular interpretation of Jefferson's words regarding the First Amendment 'building a wall between Church & State' (https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html) as meaning that either no religion be present in government, or that the federal government ought to strive to effectively disallow (suppress?) any public religious discourse, display, or practice (which at the same time effectively promotes atheism or secularism) in the name of promoting religious protection.