This page is for info and links (if possible) for books that provide a good discussion and facts regarding American history and politics. Also, anything that covers world history & politics, European history & politics, or any other region (I research EU and East-Central Europe so that’s why those). Basically, anything that is as free of SJW nonsense as possible.
Some that popped into my head:
- The Federalist Papers (the linked version also has the Anti-Federalist papers which is where the Bill of Rights comes from)
- James Madison’s notes from the Constitutional debates of 1787
- De Tocqueville, Democracy in America
- Kidd, Thomas S. American History
For international politics:
- Schrad, Mark Lawrence, Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy, and the Secret History of the Russian State.
- Dawisha, Karen, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?
- Drakulic, Slavenka, Cafe Europa; How we survived communism and even laughed; They would never hurt a fly: War criminals on trial in the Hague (really, anything by Drakulic for a good view of life under and after communism).
For kids:
Charles Carroll and the American Revolution available from Bethlehem books (where they have a lot more!)
There are a lot more and I have to go through my bookcases to remember what I have. In the meantime, post your own recommendations in the comments.
The Tuttle Twins was mentioned elsewhere.
https://www.amazon.com/Tuttle-Twins-Set-8/dp/B07PRNJFKL/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1Z7K91WI110BT&dchild=1&keywords=tuttle+twins&qid=1611435593&sprefix=tuttle+t%2Caps%2C197&sr=8-3
Anything by Thomas Sowell.
Or anything by Walter Williams.
Unrestricted Warfare, Liang Qiao
Cocktails from Hell, Austin Bay
The Absent Superpower, Peter Zeihan
The Face of Battle, John Keegan
Victor Davis Hanson, any
13 Hours in Benghazi, Mitchell Zuckoff
A Christian Directory, Richard Baxter
Civil Government, James M. Wilson
An Introduction to Constitutional Law, Randy Barnett
The Judiciary’s Class War, Glenn Reynolds
A Justice Primer, Douglas Wilson
The Liberty Amendments, Mark Levin
A Christian Manifesto, Francis Schaeffer
By the People, Charles Murray
The Ruling Class, Angelo Codevilla
Out of the Ashes, Anthony Esolen
The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis
MARXISM/SOCIALISM, A SOCIOPATHIC PHILOSOPHY CONCEIVED IN GROSS ERROR AND IGNORANCE, CULMINATING IN ECONOMIC CHAOS, ENSLAVEMENT, TERROR, AND MASS MURDER: A CONTRIBUTION TO ITS DEATH, George Reisman
American Contempt for Liberty, Walter Williams
Restoring the Foundation of Civilization, Gary DeMar
Lex Rex, Samuel Rutherford
Federalist Papers
AntiFederalist Papers
God and Government, Gary DeMar
The Book that Made Your World, Vishal Mangalwadi
The Theory of Money and Credit, Ludwig von Mises
Human Action, Ludwig von Mises
The Maker vs the Takers, Jerry Bowyer
Rating America’s Presidents, Robert Spencer
Vern Poythress
Memoirs of General Sherman, William Tecumseh Sherman
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant
The Art of War, Sun Tsu
Tranformation of War, Martin van Creveld
The Road to Serfdom, Hayek
Socialism An Economic and Sociological Analysis, Ludwig von Mises
George Gilder
US Historical Documents app on google play
All I can think of right now
A highly specialised history (written for a British audience) is “Churchill’s Wizards” by Nicholas Rankin. It’s a history of British military deception during both World Wars, so includes e.g. the deception programmes that helped the Allies succeed on D-day and win the Battle of Normandy. (Questions for the reader include is there a line in wartime between acceptable deception and unacceptable – and if so where is it?) It doesn’t shy away from the flaws of the various protagonists.
Second The Abolition of Man
Also,
The Captive Mind by Czesław Miłosz
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass by Theodore Dalrymple
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
The Quest for Cosmic Justice by Thomas Sowell
Royal Vendetta: The Crown of Spain 1829-1965
by Theo Aronson
Astolphe de Custine’s Le Russe in 1839 — in some edition (They’re usually redacted, but still useful)
When Huai Flowers Bloom: Stories of the Cultural Revolution by Shu Jiang Lu (Adolescent in particular since the full horrors are hard to read)
The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell
The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage
Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles
The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han by Mark Edward Lewis
Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History by Mark Girouard
Russia Under the Old Regime by Richard Pipes
Life in the French Country House by Mark Girouard
The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan by Ivan Morris
Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths by Régine Pernoud
The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England by Barbara A. Hanawalt
The Wonder That Was India: A survey of the history and culture of the Indian sub-continent before the coming of the Muslims: Vol 1 by A.L. Basham
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain by Darío Fernández-Morera
Jefferson and Hamilton, by Claude G. Bowers, published 1925. Pre- woke look at the centralist / individualist tensions in the founding of America.
Founding Brothers, by Joseph J. Ellis. Looking at the families and influencers of the Founders.
As a place to start with kids / people who “don’t like history” is Barbara Tuchmans’ “A Distant Mirror”, a history of 14th C Western Europe told as a biography.
Readable, detailed, and entertaining.
John Sage/ John in Indy
Religion (cultus) is upwind of culture, which is upwind of politics.
1. The Bible. Geneva version with notes. King James commissioned his bible because of the “seditious” nature of this
2. Works by the Puritans. Richard Baxter and Thomas Watson are relatively easy to read. John Owen is important, but very difficult to read.
3. Pilgrims Progress and other works by John Bunyan
4. Harvard Classics. Available on Kindle for $1.99 all 71 volumes
5. Great Books of the Western World. Also on kindle for $15 or less
6. Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States from American Vision
7. Passing the Torch of Liberty to a New Generation–a collection of Revolutionary War era sermons. American Vision
8. The Cathedral Builders by Jeffrey Ventrella
9. The Devil’s Pleasure Palace by Michael Walsh
10. Our Culture, What’s Left of It. Theodore Dalrymple
11. John Locke
12. Rules for Radical Conservatives, Michael Walsh
13. Idols for Destruction, Herbert Schlossberg–Very Important
14. Encyclopedia Brittanica of 1980s or earlier
Strongly recommend Sebastian Haffner’s memoir of life in Germany between the wars. Valuable not only for the light it sheds on this particular and dreadful era in history, but also for its more general analysis of the factors leading to totalitarianism and of life under a totalitarian state.
I reviewed it here:
https://ricochet.com/875108/how-a-country-abandoned-law-and-liberty-and-became-a-threat-to-humanity/
I recently bought a good general history of Western Civilization, published 1963, and so, pre-woke.
The Rise of the West, William McNeil, U of Chicago Press.
Another couple places to get books free:
Online Library of Liberty
Mises.org
Adam Smith wasn’t explicitly writing about politics, but “The Wealth of Nations” is surprisingly readable for a tome published in 1776. It also serves as a good example of empirical analysis, the polar opposite of SJW.
Hildreth History of the United States. 6 Volumes. Finished in 1850, so that he looks forward to the Compromise of 1850 as solving our problems. marvelously detailed.
Rhodes, History of the United States — 9 volumes, 1845 to the turn of the century. Much of a Volume on the Johnson impeachment. Johnson’s defense on removing Stanton: ‘He’s not covered by the Tenure in Office Act. go read it.’ Rhodes’ opinion on why Reconstruction failed will sit poorly with modern readers.
The Far Traveler:
Voyages of a Viking Woman
by Nancy Marie Brown
Based on extensive research linking several sagas with modern archaeological findings.
The Landmark Thucydides:
A comprehensive guide to the Peloponnesian War
Edited by Robert B. Strassler
Newly translated with 100’s of maps, linked directly to content. This is the definitive English translation.
Fusiliers: Eight years with the Redcoats in America.
by Mark Urban
A view from the other side of the Boston Massacre to the battle of Yorktown.