100 Best Conservatism Books of All Time

Steve Jobsis said by his Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, to have regarded Atlas Shrugged as one of his “guides in life”. (Source)

Elon MuskA counterpoint to communism and useful as such, but should be tempered with kindness. (Source)

Travis Kalanick[Travis Kalanick mentioned this book in a Washington Post interview.] (Source)

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)

Bill GatesThe 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... (Source)

Ryan HolidayIn terms of other surprising memoirs, I found JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy to be another well-written gem. (Source)

Ben ShapiroA very well-written book. [...] The whole thing is a critique of individual decisions. (Source)

A.J. JacobsAll about trying to figure out the gap between the red and blue states – Republican and Democrat – and it’s really interesting. (Source)

Akin Oyebode@eggheader @OnemuVictor1 @JonHaidt Abeg order two. I read Righteous Mind which he also wrote, and that was a very fascinating book. (Source)

Andrew M. MwendaThe best work on this is a book by Jonathan Haidt “The Righteous Mind: Why good People are Divided by Religion and Politics.” He argues that human beings have deeply entrenched moral intuitions which guide their assessment of reality. Facts matter very little if at all. (Source)

Geoffrey Miller@bdmarotta No, The Road to Serfdom by Hayek is the best book on modern evil (Source)

Yuval LevinThe 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... (Source)

Mitch DanielsThis 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)

Karl RoveI 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 –... (Source)

Karl RoveTocqueville 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)

Yuval LevinIt lays out how ideas are translated into political institutions, and even more so into mores and habits and practices of everyday life. (Source)

Robert ReichTocqueville was not only a brilliant sociologist but he also saw the connections between American society and the budding capitalism of the 1830s. (Source)

Barack ObamaAccording 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... (Source)

Karl RoveI 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... (Source)

Karl RoveAs soon as it became paperback. In fact I still have my paperback. (Source)

Travis KalanickIt’s one of my favorite books. (Source)

Noah KaganA 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)

Tim UrbanI absolutely loved the book. Sure, the characters are extreme and one-dimensional - but to me, that was the point. (Source)

Grover NorquistI read both of them in the same summer at my public library, in Weston Public Library. (Source)

Ben ShapiroA really good book. (Source)

Arnold SchwarzeneggerThe 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... (Source)

Grover NorquistWith 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... (Source)

Mitch DanielsI chose this book because it expressed best to me the moral underpinnings of free economics, if one starts from the premise that the highest value is the autonomy and dignity and freedom of the individual. (Source)

Tony SchwartzArlie 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)

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 MarvelHochschild argues that all social groups have a ‘deep story’: a narrative that makes the complicated world make sense. (Source)

Avi AsherschapiroWho could forget that great book of reportage, "Dark Money," about the shadowy mechanization of the Nurses Union & the Climate Change Youth Movement. (Source)

Ben Shapiro[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)

Anne HellerThe best book you could read if you want to know about the development of libertarianism and Christian conservatism. (Source)

E J DionneIt (Source)

Sam TanenhausWhat 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... (Source)

Elon MuskAdam Smith FTW obv. (Source)

Barack ObamaObama, 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)

Neil deGrasse TysonWhich 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)

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... (Source)

Vote Dem For The Planet@DeVos1990 @CommentOnTWLB @GOP Yes, yes, yes! Great book, and a huge warning? (Source)

Nick CleggThe tradition is that it is given to the president of the Liberal Democrats rather than the leader, which is a subtle but important distinction in Lib Dem land. But you’re quite right. The traditions of J. S. Mill are still handed down like some sort of totemic emblem of everything that we’re supposed to still believe in, even now. It’s extraordinary, given it was written in 1859……What we’re... (Source)

A C GraylingOn 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)

Peter SingerMill points out that very often, throughout history, people have thought that they were certainly right, and then turned out to be quite wrong. (Source)

Guy KawasakiI 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 BurkeyObviously 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 FlorenceIt 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)

Adam Townsend@JackPosobiec I just finished reading Sowell's Vision of the Anointed yesterday morning. Amazing book (Source)

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)

Mark R. LevinPeter 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)

Daniel BaranowskiDon'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)

Greg MankiwMurray 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)

Peter BerkowitzThis 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)

Edward SkidelskyMacIntyre’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)

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)

Barack ObamaAs 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... (Source)

Donald J. TrumpGreat Book! https://t.co/HYO77j6KRT (Source)

Ivanka TrumpExcited for my amazing big brother @DonaldJTrumpJr as he releases his first book, Triggered. Order online now or pick it up on November 5! https://t.co/wqG3Tq5E2y (Source)

Aasif Mandvi.@DonaldJTrumpJr Congrats on the new book! Great read. https://t.co/6QfRgOxL7s (Source)

Tyler CowenHayek puts forward a general theory of how decentralised processes work, why they are so powerful and can use and mobilise and distribute information so well. (Source)

Peter BoettkeHe argues that the price system systematically communicates dispersed information that you and I hold. (Source)

Ayaan Hirsi AliThe 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 LindseyHayek’s case for a free society is one that resonates very well with the conservative imagination and easily lapses into a conservative sensibility. (Source)

Ravi Zacharias@benshapiro @RZIMhq @realDailyWire May I recommend very highly @benshapiro's latest book, The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great. It stands in the tradition of the late historian Russell Kirk who wrote The Roots of American Order. https://t.co/hZFd2bLkKk (Source)

Peter BoghossianThis is the best Gender Studies book ever written. Period. @DouglasKMurray https://t.co/DBs1NAaOhn (Source)

Andrew T. WalkerI'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)

Ruth Ben-GhiatHer 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)

Jon Gabriel@JonahNRO Was thinking of adding a great quote but the whole book is a great quote. (Source)

Donté Stallworth@JordanUhl this book is almost 13 years old, but it’s never been more important than right now. the clairvoyance of @ChrisLynnHedges in this book is amazing (Source)

Jordan B PetersonOur Culture: What's Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple https://t.co/LH56A26fG3, a book from my great books list https://t.co/AxBNX3QpMb (Source)

Jamie DimonWhen consulting firm McKinsey and Co. asked a group of CEOs in July what was on their reading list this summer, the two titles on Dimon’s to-read list were The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America, by American Enterprise Institute president Arthur C. Brooks and Ronald Reagan, by Slate Group chairman Jacob Weisberg. (Source)

Glenn BeckAt LAX waiting for my redeye to Sydney. I am about halfway through ⁦@BillOReilly⁩’s tome on Trump out in September. It will be his best selling book yet. Tough questions and even uncomfortable answers but fair and a very different look at ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩. https://t.co/L42eaEOZwR (Source)