Matt Franck Book Recommendations & Book Mentions
This list consists of recommendations or mentions of books spotted in media, social media accounts, podcasts or other public websites.
Matt Franck on X
Retired Politics Lecturer @Princeton. Senior Fellow @WitherspoonInst. Contributing editor @PublicDiscourse. Professor Emeritus of Political Science @RadfordU.

Treasure Island
R. L. Stevenson
From Wyeth’s illustrations for Stevenson’s Treasure Island— https://t.co/NTtysZp2CR
Paperback, 2014
$16.99$8.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Casino Royale: A James Bond Novel
Ian Fleming
This movie has the same relationship to Agatha Christie that the David Niven–Peter Sellers “Casino Royale” had to Ian Fleming, except that CR had the advantage of being clever. Too bad, because Tony Randall could have played Poirot straight. #TCMParty
Paperback, 2023
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Edith Hamilton
I was probably 8 or 9 when I read Edith Hamilton's little paperback Mythology. https://t.co/fCkYxQw6QQ
Paperback, Mass Market, 2011
$10.99$5.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
A Distant Trumpet
Hugh Eichelberger
Since a friend recommended the novel, I thought “A Distant Trumpet” might be worth watching. But the frame-shuddering lousy copy @tcm is showing is unwatchable. It’s giving me a headache. #TCMParty
Paperback, 2006
$15.99$7.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Right Ho, Jeeves
P. G. Wodehouse
PG Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster describes the effect on him of Jeeves's hangover cure. From Right Ho, Jeeves, 1934. https://t.co/wgqqdIwlzH
Paperback, 2011
$13.95$6.97 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Lost Horizon
James Hilton
@JohnQBarrett He gave us in Lost Horizon a name for an imaginary paradise that entered the language to stay: Shangri-La. More people have used that expression than have ever heard of James Hilton.
Paperback, 2012
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students
Allan Bloom
.@micahmattix, in this review @NRO, you say Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind argued “the liberal arts teach us primarily how to reason well and so to smash the shackles of ignorance fastened on us by our parents or upbringing.” https://t.co/FxoBuCnYCU
Paperback, 2012
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Black Narcissus
Rumer Godden
If you enjoy Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus (and who does not?), I strongly recommend Rumer Godden’s novel on which it’s based. The film is very faithful to it. #TCMParty
Paperback, 2020
$18.99$9.49 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder
I did not think it possible that anything about Donald Trump could surprise me, but I’m amazed he’s even heard of Sunset Boulevard. (Mind you, I would not put it in my top five Billy Wilder films.) https://t.co/BqA7n1c1ln
Paperback, 1999
$26.95$13.48 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Republic
Plato
Tell me you’ve never read Plato’s Republic without. . . yeah, you know the rest. https://t.co/ugBaMsDGDR
Paperback, 2012
$13.00$6.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book