100 Best Conservatism Books of All Time

Hailed by Thomas Jefferson as “the best commentary on the principles of government which was ever written", The Federalist Papers is a collection of eighty-five essays published by Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay from 1787 to 1788, as a means to persuade the public to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

With nearly two-thirds of the essays written by Hamil

Recommended by Barack Obama and Karl Rove.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

According to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, these titles are among his most influential forever favorites: Moby Dick, Herman Melville Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson Song Of Solomon, Toni Morrison Parting The Waters, Taylor Branch Gilead, Marylinne Robinson Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam The Federalist, Alexander Hamilton Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene The Quiet American, Graham Greene Cancer Ward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Gandhi’s autobiography Working, Studs Terkel Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren [source]

I think this is the greatest explanation, in one place, of the American constitution, of the essential underpinnings and structures that make American democracy possible. This is how to view the constitution in its proper perspective, as a document of limited government, and enormous personal freedom – as an attempt to understand human nature and draw on both its strengths and its weaknesses to achieve a community and nation. [source]

3

Capitalism and Freedom

Milton Friedman

4.7

Selected by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war"

How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achie

Recommended by Karl Rove and Dan Sullivan.

As soon as it became paperback. In fact I still have my paperback. [source]

4

The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition

F. A. Hayek

4.7

An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom

Recommended by Dan Sullivan, Geoffrey Miller, Mitch Daniels, and 1 others.

Geoffrey Miller

@bdmarotta No, The Road to Serfdom by Hayek is the best book on modern evil [source]

Mitch Daniels

This book convincingly demonstrated what was already intuitive to me: namely, the utter futility, the illusion of government planning as a mechanism for uplifting those less fortunate. [source]

Yuval Levin

The Road to Serfdom is a very polemical book. It was published in 1944. It’s a warning not exactly about Communism, but about the coming of statism in the West, about the ways that some of the governing élites that Hayek saw, especially in Britain, thought about governing. The book is really mostly about Britain. He talks about the dangers of central planning, of the attempt to take over the economic life of a society and to try and control it from the centre. It’s a book that is properly understood as a libertarian book, but it’s not libertarian in the way that a lot of contemporary libertarians would define themselves. It is a very, very sceptical book, and a very modest book. In a way, Hayek argues for limited government because he has a very limited view of human nature and human knowledge. I think he would call himself a Whig. I think he actually did call himself a Whig, when he was asked whether he was a libertarian or a conservative. It’s a book that shows that at its best, the libertarian strain of conservatism is a form of scepticism rather than of utopianism. [source]

5

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

Jane Mayer

4.7

Who are the immensely wealthy right-wing ideologues shaping the fate of America today? From the bestselling author of The Dark Side, an electrifying work of investigative journalism that uncovers the agenda of this powerful group.

In her new preface, Jane Mayer discusses the results of the most recent election and Donald Trump's victory, and how, despite much discussion to the contrary, this was a

Recommended by Brad Feld and Avi Asherschapiro.

Avi Asherschapiro

Who could forget that great book of reportage, "Dark Money," about the shadowy mechanization of the Nurses Union & the Climate Change Youth Movement. [source]

6

Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

Thomas Sowell

4.7

Basic Economicsis a citizen's guide to economics, written for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Bestselling economist Thomas Sowell explains the general principles underlying different economic systems: capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives t

Recommended by Ben Shapiro.

If you read this book and "Economics in One Lesson" you'll know more than all or your classmates combined about the basic workings of free markets and economics. [source]

7

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

Arlie Russell Hochschild

4.7

In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country – a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Russell Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly

Recommended by Clara Jeffery, Kate Marvel, and Tony Schwartz.

Clara Jeffery

@jwpetersNYT Anywho, Arlie spent 5 years embedded in Tea Party culture. Her book was an NYT best-seller and a National Book Award finalist. And she was hardly the only one that did deep reporting on the Tea Party before and after the 2016 election. [source]

Kate Marvel

Hochschild argues that all social groups have a ‘deep story’: a narrative that makes the complicated world make sense. [source]

Tony Schwartz

Arlie Hochschild is a brilliant writer and a sociologist of great empathy and insight. Although the book was written before Trump was elected president, it goes a long way toward explaining him, and more specifically toward explaining why people embraced him. [source]

8

Economics in One Lesson

Henry Hazlitt

4.7

Here is a publishing event: the new Mises Institute edition of the classic book that has taught many millions sound economic thinking. It is a hardbound volume, priced very low thanks to special benefactors, and now available in quantity discounts for distribution to your friends, family, and anyone you meet who needs to understand what economics implies for the society, government, and civilizati

Recommended by Ben Shapiro, Brian Tracy, and Chris Nichols.

If you read this book and "Basic Economics" you'll know more than all or your classmates combined about the basic workings of free markets and economics. [source]

Chris Nichols

@fishin_me @IslesFGC @AsSeenOnTv55 @IlhanMN The best economic book written. [source]

9

Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand

4.7

This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor — and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when

Recommended by Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Ev Williams, and 14 others.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

A counterpoint to communism and useful as such, but should be tempered with kindness. [source]

Steve Jobs

Founder/Apple

is said by his Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, to have regarded Atlas Shrugged as one of his “guides in life”. [source]

Travis Kalanick

Travis Kalanick mentioned this book in a Washington Post interview. [source]

10

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith

4.6

In his book, Smith fervently extolled the simple yet enlightened notion that individuals are fully capable of setting and regulating prices for their own goods and services. He argued passionately in favor of free trade, yet stood up for the little guy. The Wealth of Nations provided the first--and still the most eloquent--integrated description of the workings of a market economy.

Recommended by Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and 10 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

Obama, unsurprisingly, appears to be more drawn to stories sympathetic to the working classes than is McCain. Obama cites John Steinbeck’s “In Dubious Battle,” about a labor dispute; Robert Caro’s “Power Broker,” about Robert Moses; and Studs Terkel’s “Working.” But he also includes Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” and “Theory of Moral Sentiments” on his list. [source]

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Adam Smith FTW obv. [source]

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist, Author & Science Communicator

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? … The Wealth of Nations (Smith) to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world. [source]

11

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

J. D. Vance

4.6

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegratin

Recommended by Bill Gates, Ryan Holiday, Ben Shapiro, and 2 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

The disadvantaged world of poor white Appalachia described in this terrific, heartbreaking book is one that I know only vicariously. Vance was raised largely by his loving but volatile grandparents, who stepped in after his father abandoned him and his mother showed little interest in parenting her son. Against all odds, he survived his chaotic, impoverished childhood only to land at Yale Law School. While the book offers insights into some of the complex cultural and family issues behind poverty, the real magic lies in the story itself and Vance’s bravery in telling it. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

In terms of other surprising memoirs, I found JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy to be another well-written gem. [source]

A very well-written book. … The whole thing is a critique of individual decisions. [source]

12

Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis

4.6

Recommended by Anoop Anthony.

Anoop Anthony

"Mere Christianity" is first and foremost a rational book — it is in many ways the opposite of a traditional religious tome. Lewis, who was once an atheist, has been on both sides of the table, and he approaches the notion of God with accessible, clear thinking. The book reveals that experiencing God doesn't have to be a mystical exercise; God can be a concrete and logical conclusion. Lewis was a man of formidable intellect, and he brought it all to bear in this phenomenal book on the rationality of faith. [source]

13

The Conscience of a Conservative

Barry Goldwater

4.5

For a huge number of Republicans, Goldwater's book, The Conscience of a Conservative was must reading. I believe it is just as vital today as it was then, and Senator Goldwater addresses many topics that could be torn from today's headlines. In this book, Goldwater offered a clear warning about impending dangers to the survival of our American freedoms with recommendations of appropriate action to

Recommended by Karl Rove.

I think I was 12 or 13 when it came out, in the run-up to the 1964 elections. I remember someone giving it to me and, I hate to say it, but I think it was someone who was associated with the John Birch Society, in Sparks, Nevada. I read it and I wasn’t a Bircher, in fact I was with William Buckley on the issue of the Birchers. I remember reading it and just being blown away. I was a westerner – he spoke in a western vernacular and he spoke about things that as westerner I felt familiar with – and it was a rip-roaring good read. [source]

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14

Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto

Mark R. Levin

4.5

Conservative talk radio's fastest-growing superstar is also a New York Times bestselling phenomenon: the author of the groundbreaking critique of the Supreme Court, Men in Black, and the deeply personal dog lover's memoir Rescuing Sprite, Mark R. Levin now delivers the book that characterizes both his devotion to his more than 5 million listeners and his love of our country and the legacy of our F

15

Democracy in America

Alexis de Tocqueville, Isaac Kramnick, Gerald Bevan

4.5

Democracy in America has had the singular honor of being even to this day the work that political commentators of every stripe refer to when they seek to draw large conclusions about the society of the USA. Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat, came to the young nation to investigate the functioning of American democracy & the social, political & economic life of its citizens, publishi

Recommended by Karl Rove, Robert Reich, Stephen Breyer, and 1 others.

Tocqueville was seized by the sharp contrast between Paris and America, where people did not wait for the central government, but went ahead on their own, and I think that’s vital part of what it is to be both an American and a vital part of what is America. [source]

Robert Reich

Tocqueville was not only a brilliant sociologist but he also saw the connections between American society and the budding capitalism of the 1830s. [source]

Stephen Breyer

It’s a masterpiece of sociological and political analysis. Tocqueville’s work still helps us understand America, 170 years after he wrote it. [source]

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16

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America

Mark R. Levin

4.4

Author Mark Levin explores the philosophical basis of America’s foundations and the crisis that faces government today.

Mark R. Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny made the most persuasive case for conservatism and against statism in a generation. In this most crucial time, this leading conservative thinker explores the psychology, motivations, and history of the utopian movement, its architects, and its m

17

A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles

Thomas Sowell

4.4

Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. In this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes this pattern. He describes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power: the "constrained" vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfi

18

Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Thomas Sowell

4.4

This book presents the kind of eye-opening insights into the history and culture of race for which Sowell has become famous. As late as the 1940s and 1950s, he argues, poor Southern rednecks were regarded by Northern employers and law enforcement officials as lazy, lawless, and sexually immoral. This pattern was repeated by blacks with whom they shared a subculture in the South. Over the last half

Recommended by Ben Shapiro.

A really good book. [source]

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19

Witness

Whittaker Chambers

4.4

First published in 1952, Witness was at once a literary effort, a philosophical treatise, and a bestseller. Whittaker Chambers had just participated in America's trial of the century in which Chambers claimed that Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, was a spy for the Soviet Union. This poetic autobiography recounts the famous case, but also reveals much more. Chamber

Recommended by Grover Norquist.

Grover Norquist

I read both of them in the same summer at my public library, in Weston Public Library. [source]

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20

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Edmund Burke, L. G. Mitchell

4.3

This new and up-to-date edition of a book that has been central to political philosophy, history, and revolutionary thought for two hundred years offers readers a dire warning of the consequences that follow the mismanagement of change. Written for a generation presented with challenges of terrible proportions--the Industrial, American, and French Revolutions, to name the most obvious--Burke's Ref

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21

How to Be a Conservative

Roger Scruton

4.3

What does it mean to be a conservative in an age so sceptical of conservatism? How can we live in the presence of our 'canonized forefathers' at a time when their cultural, religious and political bequest is so routinely rejected? With soft left-liberalism as the dominant force in Western politics, what can conservatives now contribute to public debate that will not be dismissed as pure nostalgia?

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22

The Fountainhead

Ayn Rand

4.3

The revolutionary literary vision that sowed the seeds of Objectivism, Ayn Rand's groundbreaking philosophy, and brought her immediate worldwide acclaim.

This modern classic is the story of intransigent young architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite...of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy...and of

Recommended by Ev Williams, Travis Kalanick, Emma Watson, and 12 others.

Travis Kalanick

It’s one of my favorite books. [source]

Noah Kagan

Founder/Sumo

A few months ago, I was drinking a Noah’s Mill whiskey (cute) with my good buddy Brian Balfour and talking about life... During the conversation, we got on the topic of books that changed our lives. I want to share them with you. I judge a book's success if a year later I'm still using at least 1 thing from the book. [source]

Ashley Hathaway

Sometimes I want to nerd out and pick a heavy non-fiction book. I was reading The Fountainhead earlier this year which was pretty beefy. Got that checked off the list. [source]

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23

The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic

Mark R. Levin

4.3

For a century, the Statists have steadfastly constructed a federal Leviathan, distorting and evading our constitutional system in pursuit of an all-powerful, ubiquitous central government. The result is an ongoing and growing assault on individual liberty, state sovereignty, and the social compact. Levin argues that if we cherish our American heritage, it is time to embrace a constitutional reviva

24

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity

Douglas Murray

4.3

The challenging and brilliantly-argued new book from the bestselling author of The Strange Death of Europe.

In his devastating new book The Madness of Crowds, Douglas Murray examines the twenty-first century's most divisive issues: sexuality, gender, technology and race. He reveals the astonishing new culture wars playing out in our workplaces, universities, schools and homes in the names of social

Recommended by Andrew T. Walker and Peter Boghossian.

Andrew T. Walker

I've finished @DouglasKMurray's book "The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, and Identity" and it is one of the most intellectually honest books I have ever read. Such insightful cultural criticism. [source]

Peter Boghossian

This is the best Gender Studies book ever written. Period. @DouglasKMurray https://t.co/DBs1NAaOhn [source]

25

American Marxism

Mark R. Levin

4.3

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26

God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of 'Academic Freedom'

William F. Buckley Jr.

4.3

In 1951, a twenty-five-year old Yale graduate published his first book, which exposed the extraordinarily irresponsible educational attitude that prevailed at his alma mater. This book rocked the academic world and catapulted its young author, William F. Buckley Jr., into the public spotlight.

Recommended by Sam Tanenhaus.

Sam Tanenhaus

What is important about God and Man at Yale is that, although it’s not the best argued or even the most serious of modern conservative books, it changed the argument. It made the conservative argument about culture. What Buckley is saying is that if you want to identify your adversary, he’s in the ivory tower of the Ivy League, and not only there, but in the most conservative of the Ivy League universities. [source]

27

Why We're Polarized

Ezra Klein

4.3

Discover how today’s rigidly partisan politics came to be, why we all participate in it, and what it means for America’s future—from star journalist, political commentator, and cofounder of Vox, Ezra Klein.

Over the past 50 years, our partisan identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. Those merged identities have attained a weight that is

Recommended by Ben Dreyfuss.

Ben Dreyfuss

It is 4am so obviously not a great time to promote someone’s book but I just finished reading @ezraklein’s new book and it is very smart and good. He has a chapter on how social media has contributed to polarization that is one of the best things I’ve read on the subject. [source]

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28

The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945

George H. Nash

4.3

In this revised and updated edition of what Insight magazine has called "the standard work" on the history of post -- World War II American conservatism, Nash shows how a diverse group of men became an effective intellectual force in American life.

Recommended by Anne Heller and E J Dionne.

Anne Heller

The best book you could read if you want to know about the development of libertarianism and Christian conservatism. [source]

E J Dionne

It [source]

29

Free to Choose: A Personal Statement

Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman

4.3

The international bestseller on the extent to which personal freedom has been eroded by government regulations and agencies while personal prosperity has been undermined by government spending and economic controls. New Foreword by the Authors; Index.

Recommended by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Grover Norquist, John Quiggin, and 1 others.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Actor, Politician & Businessman

The other book that I have given hundreds of copies to is Free to Choose by Milton Friedman. It kind of lays out why the private sector is really the answer to a lot of problems that we have and not government. I think it’s a real great philosophic kind of a book about how to approach our problems, if it is education, if it is economic growth, all of those various kinds of different issues. He lays it out. It’s a very simple book to read, but it is very good and it makes an impact on your when you read it. [source]

Grover Norquist

With Free to Choose, the title summarises it. He deals with vouchers in education and the whole idea of what we’re promoting. This goes back to the argument on the science stuff. We’re not for freedom because it brings economic growth. We’re not for freedom because it brings technology and improvements in standards of living. We’re for freedom because we’re for people being free. It also happens to be the case that a free people are going to be more financially and economically successful than an un-free people. But the goal is freedom, not that you’re allowed to have a little freedom because it brings more prosperity. That’s the New Economic Policy of Lenin: ‘We’re starving, so we are going to allow a little freedom to have stores operate and people grow food.’ Freedom is a tool that you let people have a little bit in order to get what you want – which is food for the cities. For us, freedom is the goal. [source]

John Quiggin

Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose: that book very much takes the view that what matters is the individual choice. The problems of people’s interactions with others can all be solved reasonably straightforwardly without any real interference with individual choice and so the best thing governments can do is back out and leave people alone to make their own choices. [source]

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30

Russell Kirk's Concise Guide to Conservatism

Russell Kirk and Wilfred M. McClay

4.3

The modern conservative intellectual movement began in 1953 with Russell Kirk’s groundbreaking book The Conservative Mind. Four years later, he published a pithy, wry, philosophical summary of what conservatism really means. Originally titled The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Conservatism, this little book was essentially a popular version of The Conservative Mind.

Now, a century after its author’s

31

On Liberty

John Stuart Mill

4.3

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780140432077

Published in 1859, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty presented one of the most eloquent defenses of individual freedom in nineteenth-century social and political philosophy and is today perhaps the most widely-read liberal argument in support of the value of liberty. Mill's passionate advocacy of spontaneity, individuality, and diversity, along with his con

Recommended by A C Grayling, Anne Heller, Brink Lindsey, and 8 others.

A C Grayling

On Liberty is a very important document, and one which, because of the clarity with which one can read it and its brevity, is slightly passed over. [source]

Anne Heller

Imagine how John Stuart Mill would feel if he were made to wear a seatbelt because the federal government tells him so. [source]

Brink Lindsey

I think liberals, of both a libertarian, classical, liberal stripe and a more modern egalitarian stripe, see John Stuart Mill as a common ancestor. [source]

32

The Vision Of The Anointed: Self-congratulation As A Basis For Social Policy

Thomas Sowell

4.3

Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the an

Recommended by Adam Townsend.

Adam Townsend

@JackPosobiec I just finished reading Sowell's Vision of the Anointed yesterday morning. Amazing book [source]

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33

Ideas Have Consequences

Richard M. Weaver

4.3

In what has become a classic work, Richard M. Weaver unsparingly diagnoses the ills of our age and offers a realistic remedy. He asserts that the world is intelligible and that man is free. The catastrophes of our age the catastrophes of our age are the product of unintelligent choice and the cure lies in man's recognition that ideas--like actions--have consequences. A cure, he submits, is possibl

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34

Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!

Andrew Breitbart

4.3

"Brash, funny, fiery, and irreverent." -- Rush Limbaugh

Known for his network of conservative websites that draws millions of readers everyday, Andrew Breitbart has one main goal: to make sure the "liberally biased" major news outlets in this country cover all aspects of a story fairly. Breitbart is convinced that too many national stories are slanted by the news media in an unfair way.

In Righte

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35

The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin

Corey Robin

4.3

Late in life, William F. Buckley made a confession to Corey Robin. Capitalism is "boring," said the founding father of the American right. "Devoting your life to it," as conservatives do, "is horrifying if only because it's so repetitious. It's like sex." With this unlikely conversation began Robin's decade-long foray into the conservative mind. What is conservatism, and what's truly at stake for

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36

The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World

W. Cleon Skousen

4.3

This is the best-selling Original Authorized Edition regularly featured by Glenn Beck to Fox TV viewers as a Must Read! The nation the Founders built is now in the throes of a political, economic, social, and spiritual crisis that has driven many to an almost frantic search for modern solutions. The truth is that the solutions have been available for a long time -- in the writings of our Founding

37

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America

Nancy MacLean

4.2

Behind today’s headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules, but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did. Democracy

Recommended by Vote Dem For The Planet.

Vote Dem For The Planet

@DeVos1990 @CommentOnTWLB @GOP Yes, yes, yes! Great book, and a huge warning? [source]

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38

Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

Rick Perlstein

4.2

Politically insightful, Nixonland recaptures the turbulent 60s & early 70s, revealing how Dick Nixon rose from the political grave to seize & hold the presidency. Perlstein's account begins with the '65 Watts riots, nine months after Johnson's landslide victory over Goldwater appeared to herald a permanent liberal consensus. Yet the next year, scores of liberals were tossed from Congress, America

39

The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)

Margaret Atwood

4.2

In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades.

When the van door slammed on Offred's future at the end of The Handmaid's Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her--freedom, prison or death.

With The Testaments, the wait is over.

Margaret Atwood's sequel picks up the story more than fift

Recommended by Guy Kawasaki, Mary Burkey, and Peter Florence.

Guy Kawasaki

Author & Entrepreneur

I love @MargaretAtwood’s message and appreciate her efforts to prevent the end of the world. Her latest book is The Testaments, sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. 📕 Read it and spread its message to help prevent Making America Gilead again. PODCAST 🎧 https://t.co/9wBq98MWf0 https://t.co/W950dsLLN6 [source]

Mary Burkey

Obviously the book is totally fascinating as a print book. What happened with the audiobook is that because of the Netflix adaptation, a lot of the actors who were in the Netflix program were used for the audiobook production. [source]

Peter Florence

It is a completely standalone, independent novel. If you read The Handmaid’s Tale, it will satisfy some of your need for understanding what happened next. If you haven’t—and incredibly, there are people who haven’t read it—it just gives you an extremely savage and exhilarating look at contemporary life and its most alarming manifestations. [source]

40

The Law

Frederic Bastiat and Tony Darnell

4.2

How is it that the law enforcer itself does not have to keep the law? How is it that the law permits the state to lawfully engage in actions which, if undertaken by individuals, would land them in jail? These are among the most intriguing issues in political and economic philosophy. More specifically, the problem of law that itself violates law is an insurmountable conundrum of all statist philoso

41

Intellectuals and Society

Thomas Sowell

4.2

Thomas Sowell's classic book on the influence of modern intellectuals
The influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by those like Machiavelli and others who have wanted to directly influence rulers. It has not been by shaping the opinions or directing the actions of the holders of power that modern intellectuals h

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42

Men in Black: How Judges are Destroying America

Mark R. Levin, Rush Limbaugh

4.2

"A modern conservative classic." - Sean Hannity

"Men in Black couldn’t be more timely or important….a tremendously important and compelling book.” - Rush Limbaugh

“One of the finest books on the Constitution and the judiciary I’ve read in a long time….There is no better source for understanding and grasping the seriousness of this issue.” - Edwin Meese III

“The Supreme Court has broken throug

43

The Gulag Archipelago: (Abridged edition)

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

4.2

The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn's masterwork, a vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres and secret police, of informers and spies and interrogators and also of heroism, a Stalinist anti-world at the heart of the Soviet Union where the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair.

The work is based on the testimony of some two hundred survivors, and on the recollection of Solzhenitsyn

Recommended by Jordan B Peterson.

Jordan B Peterson

"The Gulag Archipelago" audiobook is available now in the UK (https://t.co/FwqDKSEp2w) with a forward narrated by me as well as a Q&A with myself and Ignat Solzhenitsyn at the end of the book that I believe you'll enjoy! Who here has previously read the book? https://t.co/SHldoeI0sY [source]

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44

America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great

Ben Carson M.D.

4.2

What is America becoming? Or, more importantly, what can she be if we reclaim a vision for the things that made her great in the first place? In America the Beautiful, Dr. Ben Carson helps us learn from our past in order to chart a better course for our future. From his personal ascent from inner-city poverty to international medical and humanitarian acclaim, Carson shares experiential insights th

45

The Closing of the American Mind

Allan Bloom, Saul Bellow

4.2

The Closing of the American Mind, a publishing phenomenon in hardcover, is now a paperback literary event. In this acclaimed number one national best-seller, one of our country's most distinguished political philosophers argues that the social/political crisis of 20th-century America is really an intellectual crisis. Allan Bloom's sweeping analysis is essential to understanding America today. It h

46

The Abolition of Man

C S Lewis

4.2

Alternative cover for ISBN: 978-0060652944

The Abolition of Man, Lewis uses his graceful prose, delightful humor, and keen understanding of the human mind to challenge our notions about how to best teach our children--and ourselves--not merely reading and writing, but also a sense of morality.

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47

The Meaning of Conservatism

Roger Scruton

4.2

First published in 1980, The Meaning of Conservatism is now recognized as a major contribution to political thought, and the liveliest and most provocative modern statement of the traditional "paleo-conservative" position. Roger Scruton challenges those who would regard themselves as conservatives, and also their opponents. Conservatism, he argues, has little in common with liberalism, and is only

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48

Orthodoxy: Centennial Edition

G. K. Chesterton, Chesterton Books

4.2

G. K. Chesterton's brilliant memoir of faith.

Visit ChestertonBooks.com to see other books in this series.

Recommended by Jon Gabriel.

Jon Gabriel

@JonahNRO Was thinking of adding a great quote but the whole book is a great quote. [source]

49

The Case for Trump

Victor Davis Hanson

4.2

This New York Times bestselling Trump biography from a major American intellectual explains how a renegade businessman became one of the most successful -- and necessary -- presidents of all time.

In The Case for Trump, award-winning historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson explains how a celebrity businessman with no political or military experience triumphed over sixteen well-qua

Recommended by Neal Houston.

Neal Houston

@VDHanson on “The Case For Trump” How did blue-collar voters connect with a millionaire from Queens in the 2016 election? Senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson addresses that question and more in his newly released book, The Case for Trump. Very insightful https://t.co/EEL6cjO5WT [source]

50

After Virtue

Alasdair MacIntyre

4.2

Drawing on more than 500 years of history, this title explores the causes of the crisis in moral description and shows how attempts to formulate moral principles had grown progressively more difficult in the period after the Enlightenment. It explains what has driven moral philosophy into its quagmire and suggests ways out of it.

Recommended by Edward Skidelsky and Peter Berkowitz.

Edward Skidelsky

MacIntyre’s point is that we think we’re talking about morality, but actually we’re just left with the fragments of morality. Because what’s been lost is the central idea of human beings as creatures with an inherent end or purpose. [source]

Peter Berkowitz

This is a sweeping book that goes from Aristotle up to today. The argument is not just the collapse of communities, it’s also about the transformation in how we think about the moral life that has purged the language of virtue from our speech and from our sensibility. [source]

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51

What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

Thomas Frank

4.1

With a New Afterword by the Author

The New York Times bestseller, praised as "hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests" (Molly Ivins)

Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic" (Chicago Tribune), "very funny and very painful" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "in a different league fr

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52

After America: Get Ready for Armageddon

Mark Steyn

4.1

In his giant New York Times bestseller, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Mark Steyn predicted collapse for the rest of the Western World. Now, he adds, America has caught up with Europe on the great rush to self-destruction.

It’s not just our looming financial collapse; it’s not just a culture that seems on a fast track to perdition, full of hapless, indulgent, childish people who

53

Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite

Peter Schweizer

4.1

Washington insiders operate by a proven credo: when a Peter Schweizer book drops, duck and brace for impact.

For over a decade, the work of five-time New York Times bestselling investigative reporter Peter Schweizer has sent shockwaves through the political universe.

Clinton Cash revealed the Clintons' international money flow, exposed global corruption, and sparked an FBI investigation. Secret Empi

Recommended by Daniel Baranowski and Mark R. Levin.

Daniel Baranowski

Don't you love this! This will be the book of 2020! Maybe even the decade! Impeachment is really all about the Bidens! And I don't give a Beaver's DAM how many push-ups Creepy Joe can do! Pack up & go home you old crook! https://t.co/9Mvf44XoX1 [source]

Mark R. Levin

Peter Schweizer’s great new book is out now - Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America's Progressive Elite https://t.co/7tvZ6PNVEh https://t.co/ByxizHmnph [source]

54

The Constitution of Liberty

Friedrich A. von Hayek

4.1

"One of the great political works of our time, . . . the twentieth-century successor to John Stuart Mill's essay, 'On Liberty.'"—Henry Hazlitt, Newsweek

"A reflective, often biting, commentary on the nature of our society and its dominant thought by one who is passionately opposed to the coercion of human beings by the arbitrary will of others, who puts liberty above welfare and is sanguine that gr

Recommended by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Brink Lindsey.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The meaning of freedom, Hayek says, is negative. It’s not about what government or others should do, it is about freedom from coercion. [source]

Brink Lindsey

Hayek’s case for a free society is one that resonates very well with the conservative imagination and easily lapses into a conservative sensibility. [source]

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55

America: Imagine a World Without Her

Dinesh D'Souza

4.1

Is America a source of pride, as Americans have long held, or shame, as Progressives allege? Beneath an innocent exterior, are our lives complicit in a national project of theft, expropriation, oppression, and murder, or is America still the hope of the world?

New York Times bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza says these questions are no mere academic exercise. It is the Progressive view that is taug

56

Why Liberalism Failed

Patrick J. Deneen

4.1

Has liberalism failed because it has succeeded? Of the three dominant ideologies of the twentieth century—fascism, communism, and liberalism—only the last remains. This has created a peculiar situation in which liberalism’s proponents tend to forget that it is an ideology and not the natural end-state of human political evolution. As Patrick Deneen argues in this provocative book, liberalism is bu

Recommended by Barack Obama.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved. It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before. Here’s my best of 2018 list. [source]

57

How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time

Sarah Longwell

4.1

The playbook for consigning MAGA-style politics to the ash heap of history (where it belongs). This program is read by the author and features a foreword written and read by Jonathan V. Last.After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Sarah Longwell did what she's done nearly every week for the past eight years: She sat down with voters. She conducted hundreds of focus groups, listening to thousands

58

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt, Nadia May, et al

4.1

Hannah Arendt's definitive work on totalitarianism and an essential component of any study of twentieth-century political history

The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. Arendt explores the institutions and operations of

Recommended by Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Her most useful (and her most chilling) conclusion for today is that totalitarian tools were not specific to Nazism or Stalinism or any ideology. Arendt’s words should be studied today by those who want to prevent the further spread of authoritarian regimes and the ideologies they are propagating. [source]

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59

Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition

Roger Scruton

4.1

"...one of the most eloquent and even moving evocations of the conservative tradition in Western politics, philosophy and culture I have ever read...the ideal primer for those who are new to conservative ideas..." --Richard Aldous, Wall Street Journal

A brief magisterial introduction to the conservative tradition by one of Britain's leading intellectuals.

In Conservatism, Roger Scruton offers the re

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60

America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

Mark Steyn

4.1

It's the end of the world as we know it...
Someday soon, you might wake up to the call to prayer from a muezzin. Europeans already are. And liberals will still tell you that "diversity is our strength"--while Talibanic enforcers cruise Greenwich Village burning books and barber shops, the Supreme Court decides sharia law doesn't violate the "separation of church and state," and the Hollywood Left d

61

The Republic: The Influential Classic

Plato

4.1

The newest deluxe edition in the bestselling Capstone Classics Series This ancient classic has had a make-over. In recent years these Capstone Classic deluxe editions have caught the book buying public's imagination. The volumes of international bestsellers such as Think and Grow Rich and The Art of War have quickly become the market leaders. Now Plato's best known work, one of the most intellectu

Recommended by Bryan Van Norden, David Heinemeier Hansson, Jonathan Glover, and 6 others.

Bryan Van Norden

It’s very readable even if you aren’t a professional philosopher. Take the story of ‘The Ring of Gyges,’ which raises the question of whether you would continue to act like a good person if you had a ring of invisibility that let you get away with doing whatever you wanted to do. That’s a fascinating thought experiment that anybody can appreciate. [source]

David Heinemeier Hansson

I’m about a third through this and still can’t tell whether Plato is making a mockery of Socrates ideas for the idyllic society or not. So many of the arguments presented as Socrates’ are so tortured and with so disconnected leaps of logic that it’s hard to take it at face value. Yet still, it’s good fun to follow the dialogue. It reads more like a play than a book, and again, immensely accessible. It’s fun to see the lines that continue from a book like this to the considerations of the Stoics all the way to Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations and then onto a modern critique and history in that Debt: First 5,000 Years. A conversation spanning millennia. [source]

Jonathan Glover

It contains a tremendous amount of nonsense about what the ideal society would be like. But it is an unmissable book because of Socrates. He invented the method of doing and teaching philosophy that has never been improved on. [source]

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62

The Politics Of Prudence

Russell Kirk

4.1

In this classic title, Kirk outlines ten principles of conservative thought, summarizes ten vital conservative books, and offers brief accounts of ten eminent, internationally important conservatives. Written by the founder of twentieth-century conservatism in America, Kirk's The Politics of Prudence reflects several decades of learning, travel, and practical politics.

63

The Thomas Sowell Reader

Thomas Sowell

4.1

A one-volume introduction to over three decades of the wide-ranging writings of one of America's most respected and cited authors

These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of a half century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell's letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly jour

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64

Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed

Jason L. Riley

4.1

Why is it that so many efforts by liberals to lift the black underclass not only fail, but often harm the intended beneficiaries?

In Please Stop Helping Us, Jason L. Riley examines how well-intentioned welfare programs are in fact holding black Americans back. Minimum-wage laws may lift earnings for people who are already employed, but they price a disproportionate number of blacks out of the labor

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65

Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010

Charles Murray

4.1

From the bestselling author of Losing Ground and The Bell Curve, this startling long-lens view shows how America is coming apart at the seams that historically have joined our classes.

In Coming Apart, Charles Murray explores the formation of American classes that are different in kind from anything we have ever known, focusing on whites as a way of driving home the fact that the trends he describ

Recommended by Greg Mankiw.

Greg Mankiw

Professor/Harvard

Murray made me realize that in thinking about the growth in inequality in recent decades, we need to think about more than just the economic forces at work. Sociological trends, such as differences in marriage patterns, may be just as important in explaining why the gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown so large. [source]

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66

The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule

Thomas Frank

4.1

From the author of the landmark bestseller What's the Matter with Kansas?, a jaw-dropping investigation of the decades of deliberate―and lucrative―conservative misrule

In his previous book, Thomas Frank explained why working America votes for politicians who reserve their favors for the rich. Now, in The Wrecking Crew, Frank examines the blundering and corrupt Washington those politicians have give

67

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Jonah Goldberg

4.1

68

Discrimination and Disparities

Thomas Sowell

4.1

An enlarged edition of Thomas Sowell's brilliant examination of the origins of economic disparities

Economic and other outcomes differ vastly among individuals, groups, and nations. Many explanations have been offered for the differences. Some believe that those with less fortunate outcomes are victims of genetics. Others believe that those who are less fortunate are victims of the more fortunate

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69

American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia

Bruce Frohnen, Jeremy Beer, et al.

4.1

"With contributions from more than two hundred leading scholars, American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia offers information and insight on the major persons, schools, concepts, organizations, events, and publications that have contributed to the development of the conservative intellectual movement in America since World War II." Its 626 entries cover social issues from abortion to welfare, thinker

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70

Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation

Candace Owens

4.1