“Layla” 

Derek and the Dominos – 1972 

“‘Layla’ came out in 1972, my senior year at the University of California, Santa-Barbara. It was on the only studio album of Derek and the Dominoes. The lyrics, which were written by Eric Clapton, are haunting and the rhythm is mesmerizing. I was so enamored by the song that I named my cat ‘Layla.’ Derek and the Dominoes were made up of some of the finest rock ’n’ roll artists of all time, including Clapton on lead guitar. Clapton was a member of a number of supergroups, including Cream, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Delaney & Bonnie, and Blind Faith as well as Derek and the Dominoes, and is my favorite rock guitar player. Duane Allman, another great guitarist, plays on ‘Layla’ and is notable for his slide guitar work in the second half of the song. Clapton and Duane Allman have both been named in the top two of Rolling Stone magazine’s lists of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. As my students know, I bring in a classic album of the week every Friday, and manage to include ‘Layla and Other Love Songs’ each semester.”

 

“Liberalism in the Classical Tradition” 

Ludwig von Mises – 1927 

“I have required this book in my Economics 105 class, Introduction to Political Economy, since I arrived at Hillsdale in the spring semester of 1989.  It is intriguing in that Mises wrote the book in 1927, in the middle of what is known as “The Roaring Twenties,” an era of notable economic expansion in the West. In the book, Mises predicts the Great Depression, that another world war will occur, that the fascists will start the world war, and they will not win the war. He also predicts that prohibition will fail. Mises closes his book by arguing that the West cannot be threatened by outside forces, but our society will collapse only if the ideas of classical liberalism lose out to a political philosophy that is hostile to free markets and limited government. It is crucial that those who believe in market capitalism and limited government be able to win the battle of ideas and Mises’s book provides the ammunition to do just that.”

 

“The Good the Bad and the Ugly” – 1966

“It is the third movie in a three-part series all directed by the Italian film director, Sergio Leone, one of the most influential directors in movie history. Clint Eastwood, one of my favorite actors, stars as The Good, Lee Van Cleef is the Bad, and the Ugly is Eli Wallach. Westerns are my favorite genre of film. I have autographed pictures of Roy Rogers and Hugh O’ Brian, who played Wyatt Earp in the television series. When I was a kid growing up, Westerns were a major share of television programming. ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly’ has all the features of a great Western, including a three-way gunfight, which I sometimes use as an example of game theory in my class. It is worth getting on YouTube just to watch this scene. The acting is superb and the story, which revolves around three gunfighters who are trying to find a stash of Confederate gold during the Civil War, is mesmerizing. This is a classic Western that everyone should be familiar with.”