Recommended Reading

Democratic Traditions

Greek & Roman Thought

Homer, The Odyssey (c. 750BC)
Plato, Meno (c.402BC)
Plato, The Republic (c. 380 BC)
Aristotle, The Poetics (c. 335BC)
Aristotle, A Treatise on Government (c. 330BC)
Livy, History of Rome (c.27BC-14AD)
Plutarch, Roman Lives (c. 80-120)
Tacitus, Histories (c.100-110)
Cicero, In Defense of the Republic (c. 54-51BC)

Renaissance & Enlightenment

Magna Carta (1215)
Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (1265-1274)
Moore, Utopia (1516)
Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy (1532)
Machiavelli, The Prince (1532)
Bacon, Essays (1597)
Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1605)
Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana (1615)
Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace (1625)
Coke, Institutes of the Lawes of England, 1st (1628)
Coke, Institutes of the Lawes of England, 2nd (1628)
Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)
Milton, The Ready and Easy Way... (1660)
Milton, Paradise Lost (1667)
Penn, The Political Writings of William Penn (1670)
Petyt, The Antient Right of the Commons... (1680)
Locke, Concerning Human Understanding, vol. 1 (1689)
Locke, Concerning Human Understanding, vol. 2 (1689)
Locke, Two Treaties on Civil Government (1689)
Sidney, Discourses Concerning Government (1698)
Trenchard, A Short History of Standing Armies in England (1698)
Trenchard, Cato's Letters (1720-1723)
Voltaire, Letters on the English Nation (1733)
Pope, An Essay on Man (1733-34)
Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws (1748)
Hume, Political Discourses (1752)
Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of the Inequality of Men (1754)
Voltaire, Candide (1759)
Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)
Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments (1764)
Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765)
Delolme, The Constitution of England(1771)
Sommers, The Judgement of Whole Kingdoms and Nations (1774)
Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776)

Early Republic

Declaration of Independence (1776)
Price, Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty (1776)
Adams, Thoughts on Government (1776)
Price, Observations on the Importance... (1784)
United States Constitution (1787)
Robertson, The History of America (1787)
Federalist Papers (1788)
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France(1790)
Paine, Rights of Man (1791)
Anti-federalist Papers (1787-1790s)
Pacificus-Helvidius Essays (1793-94)
Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1785)
Jefferson, Writings (1760-1826)
Madison, The Virginia Resolutions (1798)
Jefferson, The Kentucky Resolutions(1799)
Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. 1 (1835)
Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. 2 (1835)

Political Critiques

Modern Classics

Lewis, The Abolition of Man (1943)
Popper, Open Society & its Enemies (1945)
Orwell, 1984 (1949)
Kirk, The Conservative Mind (1953)
Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Buckley, Up From Liberalism (1959)
Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics (1962)
Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (1971)
Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974)
Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought (1978)
Macintyre, After Virtue (1981)
Bernstein, Are We to Be a Nation? (1987)
Gerson, The Essential Neoconservative Reader (1996)
Scalia, A Matter of Interpretation (1998)

Contemporary Works

Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1991)
Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed (1995)
Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (1998)
Peterson, Maps of Meaning (1999)
Borjas, Heaven's Door (1999)
Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000)
George, Great Cases in Constitutional Law (2000)
Shlaes, The Forgotten Man (2007)
Ferrara, Liberty: The God that Failed (2012)
Bawer, The Victims' Revolution (2012)
Putnam, American Grace (2012)
George, Conscience and its Enemies (2013)
Sheehan, The Mind of James Madison (2014)
D'Souza, America: Imagine a World Without Her (2014)
Kibbe, Don't Hurt People (2014)
Jones, Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty (2015)
Sowell, Wealth, Poverty and Politics (2015)
Hanson, The Decline and Fall of California (2015)
McClanahan, 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America (2016)
Borjas, We Wanted Workers (2016)
Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018)
Sowell, Discrimination and Disparities (2018)
May, Jefferson's Treasure: How Albert Gallatin... (2018)
Scruton, Conservationism: An Invitation... (2018)

Free Markets

Bastiat, The Law (1850)
Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (1944)
Hayek, Constitution of Liberty (1960)
Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (1962)
Friedman, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (1980)
Freedman, A Less Perfect Union (2015)
Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974)
Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776)
Read, I, Pencil (1958)
von Mises, Human Action (1949)
Weber, The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (1905)

Free Speech

Abrams, The Soul of the First Amendment (2017)
Chemerinsky, Free Speech on Campus (2018)
Cose, The Short Life and Curious Death of Free Speech in America (2020)
Dershowitz, Cancel Culture: The Latest Attack on Free Speech and Due Process (2020)
Downs, Free Speech and Liberal Education: A Plea for Intellectual Diversity and Tolerance (2020)
Downs, Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus (2007)
Garton Ash, Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World (2017)
Gillman, Free Speech on Campus (2017)
Lukianoff, Unlearning liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate (2014)
Lukianoff and Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (2018)
Mill, On Liberty (1859)
Post, Democracy, Expertise, & Academic Freedom: A First amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State (2013)
Power, The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech (2015)
Rosenberg, The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases that Define Our First Amendment Freedoms (2021)
Shapiro, Bullies: How the left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans (2014)
Stone, The Free Speech Century (2018)
Strassel, The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech (2016)
Strossen, Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (2018)
Sunstein, Liars: Falsehoods and Free Speech in an Age of Deception (2021)
Whittington, Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech (2018)

Race in America

D'Souza, Death of a Nation: Plantation Politics and the Making of the Democratic Party (2018)
D'Souza, The End of Racism: Principles for a Multiracial Society (1995)
Isenberg, White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America (2016)
Katznelson, When Affirmative Action was White (2006)
Lynch, The Diversity Machine (1996)
Mac Donald, The Diversity Delusion (2018)
McWhorter, The Elect: Neoracists Posing as Anti-racists and their Threat to a Progressive America (2020)
McWhorter, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America (2007)
Murray, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 (2012)
Murray, The Madness of Crowds (2019)
Reilly, Taboo: 10 Facts You Can't Talk About (2020)
Riley, Please Stop Helping Us (2016)
Sander, Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students Its Intended to Help (2012)
Steele, Shame: How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country (2015)
Steele, White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights (2007)
Sowell, Black Rednecks and White Liberals (2005)
Sowell, Intellectuals and Race (2013)
Sowell, Intellectuals and Society (2012)
Swain, The New White Nationalism in America (2002)
Themstrom, America in Black and White (1997)
Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis (2016)
Wood, Diversity Rules (2020)

Podcasts, Videos, Lectures

Uncle Tom: An Oral History of the American Black Conservative (documentary film screening)
Featuring Larry Elder, Chad Jackson, Brandon Tatum, Candace Owen, and others.
Thursday, March 18, 2021