Albert H Hobbs - Conservative Sociologist

- Note - used editions of this book are selling for over one thousand dollars - I wouldn't spend a thousand to buy it, but I would see if your library has it!

A few years ago, an author by the name of Jonathan Haidt wrote The Righteous Mind : Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion and claims to have discovered that  Conservatives are under-represented in the field of Behavioral Sciences and that in the last 50 years, liberals have, not only 'taken over' behavioral sciences, they have created a hostile environment (liberals, being intolerable? What!! Absurd!!)for those who think logically and believe in self honor/value.
I can't even remember what led me to this book...perhaps because I've been a student of the behavioral sciences and when I woke from my deep political slumber to realize all the crappy choices I made in life were based on Liberal Values, I started searching for Conservatives in behavioral sciences which was like trying to find Obama's college transcripts - luckily, I finally...finally discovered Man is Moral Choice...and then also The vision and the constant star and The claims of sociology: A critique of textbooks.
Talk. About. Taking. Off. Blinders.
Wow.
His book(s) expose the discrimination and devaluation of strong character values and how the rank strivers (liberals)in behavioral sciences are often really doing nothing but creating disease(s) for only which they have the cure.
Other than my family and my dogs, the only other thing I'd bother to save in a fire would be my 3 books by Hobbs. They are invaluable in insight and knowledge - and prove that Jonathan Haidt's claim is BS - conservatives have never been represented in the behavioral sciences, and his "shocking new theory" is actually 64 years old.
This book will help you get clued, not screwed - because happiness and success is up to you; not the government, not the pretentious elite professors who think they are better then everyone because they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for a piece of paper (jokes on them, no wonder they are so bitter!), not self help gurus like Deepak Chopra who shrills that people should not have attachment to money while, of course, he wears his diamond encrusted designer eyeglasses.
Wake up World.

Betty Halbreich - From Rich to Poor to Happy

Amazon Link 

Betty Halbreich is the essence of true USA moxie - she came from a very wealthy family, cared more about being superior - lost everything, but sucked it up, no excuses, and at age 80 - is still happily going to work everyday. 

From an Amazon Reviewer
QG: 
I loved loved loved this book. I'm not a "fashionista" in any sense of the word (I shop consignment!) however, Betty's long journey through life is really what this book is about and I found it so refreshing in a world filled with doing things for "shock" value or to show how "rebellious" you are (seriously - the in your face sex references from clothes to books to movies have been "trending" since the 60's - it's no longer "rebellion" it's now "group think." ) Betty's journey takes us back to a world filled with manners, class, and glamour.
I found her description of food more fascinating than her description of clothes - but never felt this was a book about fashion - it's a book about a women who grew up dependent on others (it happens to the rich just as much as it happens to the poor) which in turn led to her having very low self esteem/respect. But as soon as she found her calling (which she knew all along - but as soon as she PUT IT TO WORK) - she flourished. At 86 years old, she still works five days a week. HELLO! If that isn't testament to the fact that work + meaning = happiness...I don't know what does.
I truly loved this story, one of the best non-fiction I've read all year. Actually, probably the best.

Bill Cunningham - True USA Moxie!

Bill Cunningham, New York; The Documentary
Though not a book, this is a great documentary to watch and worth trying to find. It is uplifting. Bill Cunningham is the very essence of USA Moxie - he lives his life with Character, Independence, Integrity, and strives to be Significant, rather than superior.

This is from a reviewer on Amazon which sums Mr. Cunningham up beautifully. Also note, I was so moved after watching the documentary, I wrote him a letter, sent it to the NY TIMES, and a few months later, I received a handwritten letter back from him, with a picture he had taken of the some boys in Central Park building a snowman. That, my friends, is true character. He is a beautiful soul. And such an Independent Spirit!

Amazon Review from D.G:
I came across this doc film clicking around on Netflix streaming late one night. At first it seemed puzzling why anyone would make a documentary about an old guy who works for the New York Times riding a bicycle around and photographing street fashions. But I quickly got drawn into the film and understood how the filmakers had chosen this unusual man.

Bill Cunningham, now in his 80's, has worked for many years as a street photographer, riding precariously around Manhatten on his bicycle and snapping (film) photos of what people are wearing. In an age when there is so much corruption in all walks of life, what comes out in the film is Cunningham's unique sense of personal integrity. In a city obsessed with status, he seems to care nothing for status or celebrity or personalities; he is only interested in the clothes, the ideas. When he attends society and fashion functions in the evening, which he does almost every evening, he declines to accept food or drink; it would compromise his ethics. Indeed here is a man who has no apparent vices and minimal personal life. He lives frugally. He strives to be honest. He strives to do no harm. He cares little for his comfort. He has simply made a life of observing how people in New York express themselves through fashion; it is enough for him. "I have tried to play a straight game" he says about his life.
One might not be surprised to hear that a medieval monk or pure mathematician or a scholar of ancient languages had such an ascetic and, one may say, spiritually refined existence, but in the New York fashion world! And so he is a beloved fixture in New York. An inspiring documentary, which affirms how one can live in the everyday world and yet hold to an "impeccable path."