Dangerous Liaisons
Reason Book was Chosen:
I was invited to the 2021 Liberty Fund Conference and this is a required book for the conference reading list.My Thoughts
This was incredible. A novel from 1780s France that consists solely of letters back and forth between the main characters. It’s a book that covers a lot of territory but one that boils down to competing moral worldviews – one leading to life and the other to death. It is said of one of the worst characters – “his conduct is the result of his principles.” Those principles place personal pleasure as the highest good no matter the toll it takes on others. When innocence meets a man with these principles, this book shows the result.
I kept hearing the Kipling quote of “never the twain shall meet” as I read this book. People from opposite ends of the moral worldviews should not meet. The innocent will be devastated. The devastator will view it as a victory.
This was not a book I would normally read, but it completely surprised me and I really enjoyed it. It had weight.
