Person
Rod Dreher's book recommendations
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Rod Dreher appears on, in one place — not just one.
Rod Dreher’s most recommended books
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Dominion by Tom Holland
- A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander
- Submission by Michel Houellebecq
- The Captive Mind by Czesław Miłosz
- The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
Ray Oliver Dreher Jr., known as Rod Dreher, is an American conservative writer and editor. He was a columnist with The American Conservative for 12 years, ending in March 2023, and remains an editor-at-large there. He is also the author of several books, including How Dante Can Save Your Life, The Benedict Option, and Live Not by Lies. On Interesting Times, Dreher recommended Tom Holland's Dominion to explain how Christianity shaped Western secular values. During the same and other podcast appearances, he discussed several other influential works, including Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language in relation to architecture and human connection, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984 to illustrate modern versus historical totalitarianism, Michel Houellebecq's Submission to address European secularism and immigration, and Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism regarding totalitarian regimes. He also discussed the genesis of his own book, Live Not by Lies, on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast.
Books recommended by Rod Dreher
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Brave New World
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a classic dystopian science fiction novel that depicts a technologically advanced future society controlled through engineered reproduction, psychological conditioning, and constant superficial pleasure.
Discussed“Chapter 17 of Huxley’s Brave New World.”
Where to get it
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Live Not by Lies
Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher is a book that examines modern totalitarianism and draws inspiration from central European dissidents and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to explore how individuals can resist ideological conformity.
Discussed“but we are living in a time of a different kind of totalitarianism and that brings us to why the the book why i began to write the book the genesis of the book around 2015 i received a phone call from a man a physician at the mayo clinic”
Where to get it
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1984
1984 by George Orwell is a classic dystopian novel depicting a totalitarian regime characterized by extreme surveillance, historical denial, and psychological manipulation.
Discussed“the more i began to realize that the cause of this or the basic cause of this is that our idea of totalitarianism depends on the cold war it comes from stalinism it comes from george orwell's 1984. in which the all-powerful state forced totalitarian ideology on people by making them afraid and by inflicting pain and terror on them”
Where to get it
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Dominion
Dominion by Tom Holland is a sweeping historical work examining how Christianity shaped Western culture, secular values, and modern moral frameworks.
Recommended“Well, I would direct them to Tom Holland’s great book from a few years ago, “Dominion.””
Where to get it
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A Pattern Language
A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein is a foundational architectural and design treatise that maps universal patterns across towns, buildings, and spaces.
Discussed“He wrote a book called A pattern language, talking about how his study of what architecture thrives, what aspects of it make people feel good and feel connected to the whole.”
Where to get it
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Submission
Submission by Michel Houellebecq is a provocative dystopian novel that imagines a near-future France where an Islamic political party peacefully comes to power and reshapes French society, culture, and higher education.
Discussed“Now, this is the message that Michel houellebecq famously articulated in his book submission.”
Where to get it
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The Captive Mind
The Captive Mind by Czesław Miłosz is a classic philosophical and political analysis examining why intellectuals and ordinary people succumbed to the appeal of totalitarianism and communism in the twentieth century.
Discussed“you know jordan uh cheswald miwosch who was a former communist who defected from poland in the 1950s wrote an excellent book in the early 50s called the captive mind and in it he tried to describe to the west why people fell for communism”
Where to get it
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The Origins of Totalitarianism
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt is a foundational political science text that examines the historical roots, psychosocial conditions, and structural mechanisms that allowed Nazism and Stalinism to rise in the twentieth century.
Discussed“Well, what I mean by that, and this also goes back to Hannah Arendt in her famous 1951 book, the origins of totalitarianism.”
Where to get it
Books by Rod Dreher
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The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
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Crunchy Cons
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How Dante Can Save Your Life
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The Benedict Option
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Living in Wonder
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Live Not by Lies
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rod Dreher on Preparing for 'Weimar America' | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat | Interesting Times | 2026-07-09 | 5 |
| 268. Live Not By Lies | Rod Dreher | The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast | 2022-07-07 | 11 |
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And I think that Christian re-enchantment, which is the point of my last book, Living in wonder, I think that’s something we have to do, because we’re not going to re-christianize the world by moralism, or certainly not by politics.”
“I first came to Budapest around 2018 on a book tour but also I came a year later to do research for my book Live Not By Lies which is about the message that people who survived communism in Europe, Soviet communism, the message they have for us in the West today about the new softer totalitarianism that they see”
“this is the kind of thing i talk about in my book live not by lies the soft totalitarianism coming in”