Bookshelf

The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer
Recommended by Timothy Lane • An interesting history of the numerical representation (and basic arithmetic techniques, which depend on it) can be found in The Universal History of Numbers by Georges Ifrah.

Numbers: Their History and Meaning
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Extremely readable, jargon-free book for general readers traces the evolution of counting systems, from the primitive techniques of antiquity to computers. Text examines the earliest endeavors to count and record numbers.

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer—a pastor and author.

I, Claudius
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Considered an idiot because of his physical infirmities, Claudius survived the intrigues and poisonings of the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and the Mad Caligula to become emperor in 41 A.D. A masterpiece.

Claudius the God
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Robert Graves begins anew the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emporer in spite of himself. Captures the vitality, splendor, and decadence of the Roman world at the point of its decline.

Witness by Whittaker Chambers
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • 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.

The Gulag Archipelago
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Solzhenitsyn's gripping epic masterpiece, the searing record of four decades of Soviet terror and oppression, in one abridged volume, authorized by the author.

Shakespeare by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Edward de Vere’s life and letters indicate that he was the true author of the works of Shakespeare. Weaving together ten years of research, this biography of the adventurous Elizabethan earl is a triumph of literary detective work.

The Democrat's Dilemma
Suggested by Timothy Lane • The story of the Fabian Socialist movement from England to the USA, thanks to its promoter, George Bernard Shaw, who was laughed out of England for these ideas.

Coloring the News
Suggested by Timothy Lane • A carefully researched investigation of how the quest for "diversity" has affected American journalism. McGowan gives a fascinating analysis of what stories get reported and how. Along the way, he dissects the way the press "mis-told" key stories.

Freedom and Virtue: The Conservative / Libertarian Debate
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • A helpful primer to the fundamental rift among right-wing intellectuals in the United States. Which is more important: personal liberty or society's maintenance of a transcendent moral order?

The Tragedy of American Compassion
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Compassion means tough love in which those who give must demand self-help from those who receive. And the giver too must be personally involved. Olasky does not blame the system for poverty. He faults the poor, along with social workers back to Jane Addams and the founders of the settlement house movement.

Still the Best Hope
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Dennis Prager provides a bold, sweeping look at the future of civilization and offers a strong, cogent argument for why basic American values must triumph in a dangerously uncertain world.

The Devil's Delusion
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • Leading atheists have produced a steady stream of best-selling books denigrating religious belief. In response, mathematician David Berlinski, himself a secular Jew, delivers a biting defense of religious thought.

The Closing of the American Mind
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • Allan Bloom argues that the social and political crises of contemporary America are part of a larger intellectual crisis: the result of a dangerous narrowing of curiosity and exploration by the university elites.

The Culture of Disbelief
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • Stephen Carter explains how we can preserve the vital separation of church and state while embracing rather than trivializing the faith of millions of citizens or treating religious believers with disdain.

The 5000 Year Leap
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • Discover the 28 Principles of Freedom our Founding Fathers said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desire peace, prosperity, and freedom. Learn how adherence to these beliefs during the past 200 years has brought about more progress than was made in the previous 5000 years.

Liberal Fascism
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A startling new perspective on the theories and practices that define fascist politics. Replacing conveniently manufactured myths, Jonah Goldberg reminds us that the original fascists were really on the left.

Thinking in Pictures
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Temple Grandin has designed one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the U.S. and lectures widely on autism because she is a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us.

The Road to Serfdom
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Originally published in 1944 when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program, This book is a passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production.

The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Michael Novak, a former socialist, embraces and explains the virtues of freedom and free markets over that of state control and central planning. Novak rejects the pseudo-Christian notion that "any serious Christian must be a socialist."

The Professor and the Madman
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • An extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- and literary history.

Undaunted Courage
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • The bestselling author of Band of Brothers presents the definitive account of one of the most momentous journeys in American history: the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Experience of God
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Despite the recent ferocious public debate about belief, the concept most central to the discussion—God—frequently remains vaguely and obscurely described. Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing?

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Suggested by Anonymous • In the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane...until he meets Donald Shimoda—former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard's imagination soar.

Inside American Education
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Thomas Sowell indicts the American educational system — a system which has discarded the traditional goals of transmitting knowledge and fostering cognitive skills in favor of building self-esteem and promoting Progressivism.

Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity
Suggested by Brad Nelson • John Stossel tackles various myths and lies in an entertaining and politically incorrect tome. We are a country of low-information voters. Stossel's book is part of the answer to seeing through the lazy haze of Progressive propaganda.

The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West
Suggested by Brad Nelson • This is the best book since Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism." Despite the subtitle, most of it is an introspective look at how the West and America came to be the way they are now...and how that is changing fast due to their inability to defend themselves against fanaticism.

The Virtue of Selfishness
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The antitode to the namby-pampy pseudo-"caring" soft tyranny state that we are slowly building in the West. Ayn Rand's book is filled with concise and fresh wisdom on freedom vs. collectivism (and other related subjects). She often sounds exactly like Reagan or Thomas Sowell.

The Case for Democracy
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Natan Sharansky uses his well-earned moral authority as a Soviet dissident to make the case that the spread of democracy everywhere is not only possible, but also essential to the survival of our civilization. He espouses the same foreign policy views as Ronald Reagan.

The Way Things Ought to Be
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A virtual primer for conservative principles. His second book, See, I Told You So, is about three-quarters as good...but still worth a read.

Politically Incorrect Guide To The Constitution
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Kevin Gutzman, with a strong libertarian bent, shows how the Constitution is being interpreted out of existence. A good book written for the layman. See also his excellent Who Killed the Constitution? with Thomas E. Woods.

Animal Farm
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Off all the dystopia novels, this is the finest. George Orwell casts a nearly perfect piece of writing. It's an engaging story and an allegory for all time. And if you can't see Obama in this, you're not awake.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Suggested by Brad Nelson • There are a couple similarly-titled books out there. Make sure you get the one by Dr. Cialdina. This is a truly excellent read and not just another schlock pop psychology book. It is interesting with relevant info for daily living.

Race and Culture
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Dr. Thomas Sowell puts a stake in the heart of multiculturalism and various leftist myths. A wonderful and important read that highlights the importance of culture and the vapid dishonesty of racial politics.

Think a Second Time
Suggested by Brad Nelson • From the dangers of idealism to the roots of extremism to his thoughts on God and an afterlife, Prager offers challenging answers to up-to-the-minute questions. Of particular note is his chapter on the inherent pitfalls of TV.

What's So Great About America
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The title is self-explanatory. Dinesh D'Souza offers a much needed counter to the Cultural Marxist hatred for all things Western or American. To save yourself from reading the entire book, D'Souza's essay by the same name packs all the points in.

Bias
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A veteran CBS reporter, Bernard Goldberg, exposes how liberal bias pervades the mainstream media. Even if you've suspected your nightly news is slanted to the left, it's far worse than you think.

The Reagan Diaries
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A striking insight into one of this nation's most important presidencies and sheds new light on the character of a true American leader. Reagan kept a daily diary in which he recorded, by hand, his innermost thoughts and observations on the extraordinary, the historic, and the routine day-to-day occurrences of his presidency.

The Return of the Prodigal Son
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Henri Nouwen's meditations on Rembrandt's famous painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son. The author evokes powerful themes of homecoming, affirmation, and reconciliation that will strike a chord in all who have known loneliness, dejection, or jealousy.

Philosophy: Who Needs It
Suggested by Brad Nelson • This is a truly excellent collection of essays. There are a few clunkers. Rand's views on religion and self-esteem were naive, at best. But this book is well worth a read for the many other extraordinary essays. A must-read for all conservatives.

The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Andy McCarthy, one of the premier conservative thinkers, outlines the dire threat of the sophisticated forces of Islamism, which have collaborated with the American Left to undermine U.S. national security and shred the fabric of American constitutional democracy—freedom and individual liberty.

1607: A New Look at Jamestown
Suggested by Brad Nelson • 1607: A New Look at Jamestown is the last word on America's first colony. With expert appraisal of new archaeological evidence, this National Geographic title stands alone for timely authority and visual appeal. A concise and wonderful read.

The Mayflower and the Pilgrim's New World
Suggested by Brad Nelson • I wish all history books were this easy to read and this informative. It seems to enjoy a great balance as well. It's not axe-grinding nor does it sugar-coat. It's what we used to call in my day "fact-based history." I very highly recommend this book.

The Quest for Cosmic Justice
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Thomas Sowell shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how
confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies.

Ever Wonder Why?
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A marvelous collection of essays by Thomas Sowell. See also Barbarians Inside the Gate, Is Reality Optional (I really love this collection) and Controversial Essays. Each is an instant education. All together they are a PhD.

The Housing Boom and Bust
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The real story of the financial meltdown is fairly straightforward. Find out what that story is, and it's not Wall Street's fault and it's not the free market's fault either. The benefit of this book is that you'll recognize how government constantly blames capitalism for all its own faults...and mostly gets away with it.

The Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Who has history shown to be right? Go back back to the time when the adoption of the Constitution was the raging issue of the day. But the issue was, without a doubt, freedom. Ironically, the quibbles between the two factions pale in comparison to the assaults on liberty by today's Left.

The Great Melody: A Thematic Biography of Edmund Burke
Suggested by Andrew C. McCarthy • Edmund Burke was one of the most brilliant figures of the 18th century. This unorthodox biography focuses on Burke's thoughts, responses, and actions to the great events and debates surrounding Britain's tumultuous relationships with her three colonies—America, Ireland, and India.

Slouching Towards Gomorrah
Suggested by Andrew C. McCarthy (here) • Robert Bork offers a prophetic and unprecedented view of a culture in decline, a nation in such serious moral trouble that its very foundation is crumbling: a nation that slouches not towards the Bethlehem envisioned by the poet Yeats in 1919, but towards Gomorrah.

The Fortunes of Permanence
Suggested by Andrew C. McCarthy (here) • In this wide-ranging investigation into the vicissitudes of culture in the twenty- first century, the distinguished critic Roger Kimball traces the deep filiations between cultivation as a spiritual enterprise and the prerequisites of political freedom.

Economics in One Lesson
Suggested by Andrew C. McCarthy • Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993), was a libertarian philosopher, an economist, and a journalist. He was the founding vice-president of the Foundation for Economic Education and an early editor of The Freeman magazine, an influential libertarian publication.

Radical Son
Suggested by Andrew C. McCarthy (here) • Raised to be a committed Marxist by communist intellectual parents, Horowitz was in on the ground floor of Berkeley activism and emerged as a key player in the New Left. The murder of his friend started him on the path to conservatism and is one of the right's shining stars.

Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States
Suggested by Glenn Reynolds (here) • Joseph Story's famous and influential review of the origins, influences, and early interpretations of the Constitution is now presented in the author's own 1833 Abridged Edition—considered the most useful and readable version of this important work, from the Supreme Court's youngest Justice.

Kim
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The novel tells the story of Kim, the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor white mother. Living a vagabond existence in India under British rule in the late XIX, Kim has to learn how to survive in the streets of Lahore.

The Jungle Book
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Ostensibly a book aimed toward children, The Jungle Book is a delightful read for any age. When finished with this, proceed to The Second Jungle Book for the further adventures of Mowgli and his jungle friends.

Tarzan of the Apes
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Forget those somewhat cheesy Johnny Weissmuller films. Tarzan of the Apes is a mature, readable novel of fun, adventure, and some impressive literary moments, particularly when the young boy teaches himself to read. This first installment in Burroughs's serial is the most enjoyable.

A Princess of Mars
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Considered a classic example of 20th century pulp fiction, this book (and series) is a wonderful sci-fi adventure. I found the premiere book of this series to be the second installment, The God of Mars, closely followed by the excellent The Warlord of Mars. After that it's a bit of "been there, done that."

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Matt Ridley demonstrates why sex is humanity's best strategy for outwitting its constantly mutating internal predators. The Red Queen answers dozens of other riddles of human nature and culture.

Nature Via Nurture (aka "The Agile Gene")
Suggested by Brad Nelson • One of the best layman science books that I've ever read. Matt Ridley delves into the issue of nature vs. nurture and shows that it is not an either-or situation but both. This is a great book for gaining insights into human nature and evolution.

Of Human Bondage
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Is this the greatest novel of our time? Well, it's too long, a bit repetitive, but it is indeed an alluring novel full of countless statements about human nature, human yearning, and just the dark cloud that tends to follow people around, good or bad. Truly great, but not everyone's cup of tea.

A Wrinkle in Time
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Part of a Harry Potteresque series of books, two young boys and a young girl battle "It" which is basically one of many stand-ins for an all-pervasive dark cloud of evil that from time-to-time comes to eclipse (at least spiritually) the whole planet when the people of that planet begin to wander off course.

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's diary is a powerful reminder of the horrors of totalitarianism (National Socialism, in this case) and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. This is a must-read classic.

The Shadows of the Images
Suggested by Brad Nelson • From the author of the Bogie movie, The Left Hand of God, I stumbled upon this book at a garage sale and found it to be a good, if long and somewhat dense, read. But for those who like skilled prose and thick meaning, it's a splendid novel.

Battle for Destiny
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A Welsh youth, imprisoned in a monastery and outcast from his lands, is befriended by countryman Harry Tudor whose allegiance he pledges through adventures that end on Bosworth Field in a battle that terminates the Wars of the Roses and puts Harry on the throne of England.

The Closed Circle
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • This book explains how Arabs are closed in a circle defined by tribal, religious, and cultural traditions. David Pryce-Jones examines the forces which “drive the Arabs in their dealings with each other and with the West.”

The Sunne In Splendour: A Novel of Richard III
Suggested by Timothy Lane • In this beautifully rendered modern classic, Sharon Kay Penman redeems Richard III— vilified as the bitter, twisted, scheming hunchback who murdered his nephews, the princes in the Tower—from his maligned place in history.

The Killing of Richard III: Wars of the Roses I
Suggested by Timothy Lane • 1483: King Edward IV dies, leaving two innocent young princes in line to the throne. But when scandal and conspiracy explodes around their claim, Richard of Gloucester is proclaimed king. Shortly after, the princes vanish, and storm clouds begin to gather around the newly crowned King Richard III.

The Un-Civil War: BLACKS vs NIGGERS
Suggested by Taleeb Starkes • A disgusted Black man boldly confronts the dysfunctional and criminal subculture (along with their apologists) that exists within the African-American community. This race-realist endeavor exposes many inconvenient truths and will certainly become a catalyst for candid conversation.

White Girl Bleed A Lot
Suggested by Taleeb Starkes • "Reading Flaherty's book made it painfully clear to me that the magnitude of this problem is even greater than I had discovered from my own research. He documents both the race riots and the media and political evasions in dozens of cities across America." — Thomas Sowell

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Oliver Sacks recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. This book tells the stories of individuals afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations.

Seeds of Discontent: The Deep Roots of the American Revolution, 1650- 1750
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A history of the largely unexplored events—starting almost a century before—that inspired the colonists to launch the American Revolution. Before reading this, I had no idea that there had been a first revolution. The final one makes no sense without the context of the first.

The War Against Boys
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Christina Hoff Sommers argues that our society has continued to overemphasize the troubles of girls while our boys suffer from the same self-esteem and academic problems. Boys need help, but not the sort of help they've been getting.

Spies of the Revolution
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A strange message in code! Messages in silver bullets and jacket buttons! Letters written in invisible ink. All across revolutionary America, spies for the patriots and the redocats are stealing through enemy lines, getting vital information.Who are these spies?

Remarkable Trees of the World
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Let loose your inner tree hugger. This is a remarkable picture book. As the title says, it is full of remarkable trees from around the world and the photos are spectacular. This is the sequel to Meetings with Remarkable Trees.

When the Air Hits Your Brain
Suggested by Brad Nelson • This book tells the story of Frank Vertosick's metamorphosis from naive intern to neurosurgeon through intimate portraits of his patients and nerve-jangling descriptions of surgical procedures. Riveting, poignant, and sometimes shockingly funny.

Democracy in America
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America remains the most penetrating and astute picture of American life, politics, and morals ever written, as relevant today as when it first appeared in print nearly two hundred years ago.

The Sea-Wolf
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A man is forcibly conscripted onto a boat with the brutal captain. Bloody fights are regular. The air is one of aggression and sadism. This is a side of life that Mr. Van Weyden, the erstwhile literary scholar and man of leisure and freedom, had never known. And it's starting to effect him.

Steve Jobs
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years, Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur.

The Pillars of the Earth
Suggested by Brad Nelson • This epic—a twelfth-century tale of the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral—stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity. One of the truly best historical novels.

The World According to Mister Rogers
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A timeless collection of wisdom on love, friendship, respect, individuality, and honesty from the man who has been a friend to generations of Americans.

Civilization and its Enemies
Suggested by Brad Nelson • An extraordinary tour de force by America's "reigning philosopher of 9/11", Lee Harris. Harris write about the war between the civilized world and the international terrorists who wish to destroy it....and much more.

Washington's Crossing
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. The startling success of Washington and his compatriots not only saved the faltering American Revolution, but helped to give it new meaning.

Reagan: In His Own Hand
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Ronald Reagan was an inveterate writer. Most of Reagan's original writings are pre- presidential. From 1975 to 1979 he gave more than 1,000 daily radio broadcasts, two-thirds of which he wrote himself. This book also includes writings selected from throughout his life.

Amusing Ourselves to Death
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The premise of this book by Neil Postman is that TV is now the predominate (but not exclusive) means through which people get their information, and that this is turning us all into fools and idiots. It's hard to argue with that.

The Once and Future King
Suggested by Brad Nelson • T.H. White's masterful retelling of the saga of King Arthur is a fantasy classic as legendary as Excalibur and Camelot, and a poignant story of adventure, romance, and magic that has enchanted readers for generations.

King Solomon's Mines
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon.

Allan Quatermain
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A great addition to the first book, "King Solomon's Mines." This is the story of Allan Quatermain's last adventure. He, Sir Henry Curtis, and Commander John Good go in search of a lost city in Africa. Also read Maiwa's Revenge for another fine Quatermain adventure.

The Cruise of the Dazzler
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Joe runs away from home and enlists on a private schooner. He, of course, finds out immediately that the words of his father may be true, that the world isn't a playground. But he's having a heck of a lot of fun regardless. Another terrific adventure story from Jack London.

Psychology of Crowds
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • In this clear and vivd book, Gustave Le Bon throws light on the unconscious irrational workings of a group thought and mass emotion as he places crowd ideology in opposition to free-thinking and independent-minded individuals.

Toxic Charity
Suggested by Ron Nelson • The author re-calibrates the basic philosophy of good charity being learning to take the oath of compassionate service. Such an oath puts the development of the recipient's potential as primary, and the fulfillment of the giver's emotions as secondary.

The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them
Suggested by Bruce Price • A powerful, compelling, and unassailable argument for reforming America's schooling methods and ideas—by one of America's most important educators, and author of the bestselling Cultural Literacy, E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

Cultural Literacy
Suggested by Bruce Price • In this forceful manifesto, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. argues that children in the United States are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society. Includes 5,000 essential facts to know.

Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination
Suggested by Timothy Lane • This is the untold story of Lincoln's assassination: the forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night, and what each of them witnessed in the chaos-streaked hours before John Wilkes Booth was discovered to be the culprit.

Why Johnny Can't Read
Suggested by Bruce Price • The classic book on phonics--the method of teaching recommended by the U.S. Department of Education. Contains complete materials and instructions on teaching children to read at home.

Debt-Free Living
Suggested by Trevor Thomas • Determined at the outset of their marriage to avoid the hardships of financial issues, one young couple heard biblical teaching on finances, took it to heart, and patterned their lives after what God has to say about handling money.

History of Political Philosophy
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • This volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century.

The Frontiersmen
Suggested by David Ray • Eckert has recreated the life of one of America's most outstanding heroes, Simon Kenton. Kenton's role in opening the Northwest Territory to settlement more than rivaled that of his friend Daniel Boone.

The Last Gunfight
Suggested by Timothy Lane • The real story of the O.K. Corral is far different from what we’ve been led to believe by countless TV Westerns and Hollywood films. Drawing on new material from private collections, Jeff Guinn gives us a startlingly different and far more fascinating picture of what the West was like.

The God That Failed
Suggested by Timothy Lane • A classic work and crucial document of the Cold War that brings together essays by six of the most important writers of the twentieth century on their conversion to and subsequent disillusionment with communism. In describing their own experiences, the authors illustrate the fate of leftism around the world.

With the Old Breed
Suggested by Steve Lancaster • In The Wall Street Journal, Victor Davis Hanson named With the Old Breed one of the top five books on epic twentieth-century battles. Studs Terkel interviewed the author for his definitive oral history, The Good War. Now E. B. Sledge’s acclaimed first-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa returns to thrill, edify, and inspire a new generation.

Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Continuing the saga begun in his New York Times bestselling novel Roma, Steven Saylor charts the destinies of the aristocratic Pinarius family, from the reign of Augustus to the height of Rome’s empire.

Credentialed to Destroy: How and Why Education Became a Weapon
Suggested by Bruce Price • This book provides the necessary information to confront what is intended to be a wholesale transformation of the US economy and our society without our consent...why the logical, rational mind is the real target of education reforms.

Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Spanning a thousand years, and following the shifting fortunes of two families though the ages, this is the epic saga of Rome, the city and its people. Roma weaves history, legend, and new archaeological discoveries into an interesting and informative narrative.

The Cult of the Nation in France
Suggested by Griffonn • Bell offers the first comprehensive survey of patriotism and national sentiment in early modern France, and shows how the dialectical relationship between nationalism and religion left a complex legacy that still resonates in debates over French national identity today.

Mugger Blood (The Destroyer #30)
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Remo Williams, the Destroyer, goes hunting for punks. Stalking the slums with Chiun, master Sinanju assassin, Remo starts his own program of urban renewal. The Big Apple will never be the same.

If Symptoms Still Persist
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A collection of sardonic or humorous essays taken from Theodore Dalrymple's columns in the Spectator and the Telegraph - a look at the foibles of contemporary Britain which ranges from the NHS to the individual complaints of patients.

The Morality of Everyday Life
Suggested by Daniel Flynn • Fleming offers an alternative to enlightened liberalism, where moral and political problems are looked at from an objective point of view and a decision made from a distant perspective that is both rational and universally applied to all comparable cases.

The West's Last Chance
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The Nazis failed to take Europe, but Islam might take The West, says author Tony Blankley. Within our lifetimes, Europe could become Eurabia: a continent overwhelmed by militant Islam that poses a greater threat to the United States than even Nazi Germany did.

The Glorious Cause
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • The despair and triumph of America’s first great army is conveyed in scenes as powerful as any that Jeff Shaara has written, a story told from the points of view of some of the most memorable characters in American history.

The Wages of Destruction
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • This book explores Hitler's surprisingly prescient vision to create a German super-state to dominate Europe and compete with what he saw as America's overwhelming power in a soon-to-be globalized world.

Hitler's Beneficiaries
Suggested by Timothy Lane • The Nazis met the population's desire for material security and an improved standard of living, redistributing wealth in favor of the lower classes and opening up avenues of social mobility. The Holocaust, then, was not just a result of the ideology of anti-Semitism but also of the policies of plunder that won the regime the support of the vast majority of the German people.

Lies My Teacher Told Me
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Loewen explores how historical myths continue to be perpetuated in today's climate and adds an eye-opening chapter on the lies surrounding 9/11 and the Iraq War. Thought provoking, nonpartisan, and often shocking, Loewen unveils the real America.

The New World of Mr Tompkins
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Follow the experiences and dreams of Mr. Tompkins and discover the cosmic mysteries, including: Einstein's theory of relativity, bizarre effects near light-speed, the birth and death of the universe, black holes, quarks, space warps and antimatter, the fuzzy world of the quantum, and that ultimate cosmic mystery—love.

The Speed of Dark
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Lou Arrendale, a high-functioning autistic adult, is a member of the lost generation, born at the wrong time to reap the rewards of medical science. He lives a low-key, independent life. But then he is offered a chance to try a brand-new experimental “cure” for his condition.

The Nitpicker's Guide for Classic Trekkers
Suggested by Timothy Lane • This book by Phil Farrand reveals all the bloopers, continuity errors, plot oversights, equipment malfunctions, and goof-ups that discerning, die-hard fans love to spot, but may have missed.

Ecocide in the USSR
Suggested by Timothy Lane • It should give pause to any who still believe that handing the ecology to government will fix anything. The Soviets had massive government control and all they managed to do was make uninhabitable cities, turned farmland into salt marshes, and irradiated large portions of Europe.

The Forgotten Man
Suggested by Timothy Lane • The common man is often forgotten. He is forced to carry on his back the cost of every ill- conceived social program and the well-intended, but morally offensive, dictates of a bankrupt government. The situation was no different in 1883 when the author penned this brief essay.

The Heretic's Daughter
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • The panic and horror of the Salem witch trials in Kent's novel is conveyed with dead- eyed calm and an occasional tremor of emotion by Mare Winningham, whose tempered, dispassionate voice is not given to great displays of drama.

Inventions of the Middle Ages
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • The middle ages have often been depicted as a period in which life had few comforts. Diet and health were poor, learning was preserved only for the select few. Nonsense, says Chiara Frugoni, in this delightful examination of the many inventions we owe to the Middle Ages.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus
Suggested by Pat Tarzwell • Nabeel Qureshi describes his dramatic journey from Islam to Christianity, complete with friendships, investigations, and supernatural dreams along the way. A powerful story of the clash between Islam and Christianity in one man’s heart.

The Bronx is Burning
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Mahler, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, weaves together the story of the 1977 mayoral race, serial killer Son of Sam, the blackout and subsequent riots, and the fractious Yankees who had just signed Reggie Jackson and would go on to win their first World Series since 1962.

Please Stop Helping Us
Suggested by Thomas Sowell • 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 force.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor’s-world Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by “log, lead, and lookout.”

The Looming Tower
Suggested by Hugh Hewitt • This may be the most riveting, informative, and heart-stopping account yet of the men who shaped 9/11. The focus on individuals gives the book its emotional punch, but it is also a narrative bold in conception and historical sweep.

The Guns of August
Suggested by David Ray • Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash.

A Distant Mirror
Suggested by Timothy Lane • The 14th century reflects two images: a glittering age of crusades/cathedrals, and a world plunged into chaos and agony. Tuchman re-creates the lives of cardinals, university scholars, grocers, clerks, saints, mystics, lawyers, mercenaries, and, dominating all, the knight—in all his valor and “furious follies.”

The Ezekiel Option
Suggested by Timothy Lane • A new evil looms on the horizon. A dictator is rising in Russia. Iran is feverishly building nuclear weapons. A new axis of evil is emerging, led by Moscow and Tehran . . . Is the world rushing to the brink of an apocalypse prophesied more than 2,500 years ago?

Back to the Moon
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Decades after the last footprints were left there, the U.S. was preparing to return to the moon in a new class of rockets when the mission suddenly became more urgent. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, China had sent its own lunar expedition. Their ship had crash-landed and couldn’t take off again.

Lords of the Sea
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The Athenian Navy was one of the finest fighting forces in the history of the world. It engineered a civilization, empowered the world's first democracy, and led a band of ordinary citizens on a voyage of discovery that altered the course of history.

Exploration of The Valley of the Amazon 1851-1852
Suggested by Anniel • Naval Officer Herndon's account of his exploration and mapping of the Valley of the Amazon, from Peru to the mouth of the river. His writing and report were so superior that the Secretary of the Navy had 10,000 copies printed for sale and two weeks later had 20,000 more printed. The report became a world-wide best seller.

The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class
Suggested by Glenn Fairman via the Claremont Review of Books • This short book rewrites the history of modern American liberalism. It shows that what we think of liberalism today – the top and bottom coalition we associate with President Obama - began not with Progressivism or the New Deal but rather in the wake of the post-WWI disillusionment with American society.

Crisis of the House Divided
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Harry Jaffa provides the definitive analysis of the political principles that guided Lincoln from his reentry into politics in 1854 through his Senate campaign against Douglas in 1858.

Uncommon Dissent
Suggested by Brad Nelson • William A. Dembski brings together essays by leading intellectuals who find one or more aspects of Darwinism unpersuasive. As Dembski explains, Darwinism has gathered around itself an aura of invincibility that is inhospitable to rational discussion.

God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Mike Huckabee takes a look at politics and culture, particularly the difference between "Bubble-ville" (NYC, DC, and LA) and "Bubbaville" (flyover country). He eviscerates liberal idiocies and insincerity and explains how Common Core started out as a good idea.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Suggested by Anniel • 100-year-old Allan Karlsson escapes his birthday party and embarks on a hilarious and unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant.

Sunset: Roses
Suggested by Brad Nelson • With its lush photography showcasing over 350 roses, plus a gallery of choices hand- picked by Sunset experts, this is the resource book for rose fanciers. The illustrations and splendid color photos of rose
varieties make this a good picture book as well as a good "How To" book.

Harrison Bergeron
Suggested by Timothy Lane and Anniel • A Short Story by Kurt Vonnegut. A satire of works on authoritarian dystopias and the common perceptions and fears of egalitarian policies, with its over-the-top dramatic portrayals of its dystopic society.

Pillar to the Sky
Suggested by Timothy Lane • William R. Forstchen looks at what he thinks is a feasible method (given technological developments that are likely) of establishing a space station in synchronous orbit linked by elevator to the surface.

1812: The Navy's War
Suggested by Timothy Lane • George C. Daughan looks at the War of 1812, primarily the naval campaigns. An interesting tidbit is that the unsuccessful search for the British convoy from Jamaica by an American flotilla pulled the British fleet away from the US and allowed hundreds of American ships to make it back to US ports.

Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West
Suggested by Timothy Lane • David Fisher looks at a number of legendary figures out of the American West, and the reality behind the legends. Generations of Americans have grown up on TV shows, movies and books about these western icons. But what really happened in the Wild West?

A New Birth of Freedom
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Whereas Crisis of the House Divided focused on the famous senate campaign debates between Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, this volume expands and deepens Jaffa's analysis of American political thought, and gives special attention to Lincoln's refutation of the arguments of John C. Calhoun.

The Painted Word
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • If you have ever stared uncomprehendingly at an abstract painting that admired critics have said you ought to dig, take heart. Tom Wolfe is on your side. This is a straight telling of the taste-makers and -breakers in the New York art scene of the 1950s to mid-70s.

Mind and Cosmos
Suggested by Stephen Meyer • The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture.

The Science of God
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Distinguished physicist and Biblical scholar, Gerald L. Schroeder, demonstrates the surprising parallels between a variety of Biblical teachings and the findings of biochemists, paleontologists, astrophysicists, and quantum physicists.

The Language of God
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Collins offers an inspiring tour of the human genome to show the miraculous nature of God's instruction book. Sure to be compared with C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, this is a stunning document, whether you are a believer, a seeker, or an atheist.

The Trouble with Physics
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Lee Smolin argues that fundamental physics — the search for the laws of nature — is losing its way. The ideas in string theory offer no possibility of testing them. Gobbling up funding and talent, this situation threatens to impede the progress of science.

Not Even Wrong
Suggested by Brad Nelson • When does physics depart the realm of testable hypothesis and come to resemble theology? Peter Woit argues that string theory isn’t just going in the wrong direction, it’s not even science.

Moonshot: The Inside Story of Mankind's Greatest Adventure
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A behind-the-curtains view of the journey to moon with interesting technical details and anecdotes. How did the passionate Buzz Aldrin, inscrutable Michael Collins and enigmatic Neil Armstrong learn to depend on one another as they endured the most intense period of their lives?

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly written account of the fundamental scientific revolution of quantum theory, focusing on the central conflict between Einstein and Bohr over the nature of reality and the soul of science.

God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design Is It Anyway?
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Lennox guides us through the key points in Hawking's "The Grand Design" — with clear explanations of the latest scientific and philosophical methods and theories. He demonstrates that far from disproving a Creator God, they make his existence seem all the more probable.

The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Although Darwin's theory can explain marginal changes, random mutation and natural selection explain very little of the basic machinery of life. The "edge" of evolution is a line that defines the border between random and nonrandom mutations. Behe argues that most mutations have been nonrandom.

Mysterious Island
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island follows the adventures of a group of castaways who use their survivalist savvy to build a functional community on an uncharted island in the Pacific. It's an intelligent adventure with a lot of ingenuity and natural history thrown in.

The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • With the help of in-depth essays from some of the world's leading philosophers, The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology explores the nature and existence of God through human reason and evidence from the natural world.

Advice to a Young Scientist
Suggested by John C. Lennox • Sir Peter Medawar, Nobel laureate, deflates the myths of invincibility, superiority, and genius; instead, he demonstrates it is common sense and an inquiring mind that are essential to the scientist’s calling. He deflates the myths surrounding scientists—invincibility, superiority, and genius.

On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • This one-stop, how-to-defend-your-faith manual will equip Christians to advance faith conversations deliberately, applying straightforward, cool-headed arguments. They will discover not just what they believe, but why they believe.

God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • This book addresses such topics as the origin of life; the genetic code and its origin; the nature and scope of evolution; and the scope and limits of science. Gripping and thoroughly argued, it is an illuminating look at one of man's greatest debates.

Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists are Missing the Target
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Tackling Hawking, Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, and a newcomer in the field—the French philosopher Michel Onfray—John Lennox points out some of the most glaring fallacies in the New Atheist approach in this insightful book.

A Critical Examination of Socialism
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Mallock offers a complete repudiation of socialism and lays out the various political, economic and moral arguments made for socialism and refutes each in detail. He demonstrates "scientific socialism" is anything but that.

Life in a Medieval City
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A detailed book on the everyday routine in and around the 11th century in the city of Troyes in France. It touches on all aspects of Medieval life: commerce, religion, food, home life, education, weddings, childbirth, military defense, doctors, funerals, etc.

A Meaningful World: How the Arts and Sciences Reveal the Genius of Nature
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A robust argument from evidence in nature, one that rests neither on religious presuppositions nor on a simplistic view of nature as the best of all possible worlds. In their exploration of the cosmos, Wiker and Witt find the mystery and elegance one expects from a work of genius.

Seven Days That Divide the World
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • What did the writer of Genesis mean by “the first day”? Is it a literal week or a series of time periods? If I believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, am I denying scripture? In response to the controversy, John Lennox proposes a method of reading and interpreting the first chapters of Genesis.

Reading Lolita in Tehran
Suggested by Deana Chadwell • Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. The book is an exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.

Women Who Make the World Worse
Suggested by David Ray • Kate O’Beirne takes on America’s leading feminists—including Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Smeal, Maureen Dowd, Kate Michelman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and even Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw. She confronts them with hard evidence of how women like them have done more harm than good over the last four decades.

The Island of Knowledge
Suggested by Jerry Richardson • Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. He reaches a provocative conclusion: science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world.

Blacklisted by History
Suggested by David Ray • This book dismantles the myths surrounding Joe McCarthy and his campaign to unmask Communists, Soviet agents, and flagrant loyalty risks working within the U.S. government. Evans’s revelations completely overturn our understanding of McCarthy and the Cold War.

Galileo's Daughter
Suggested by John Lennox • Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of his daughter Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun, Dava Sobel has crafted a biography that dramatically recolors the personality and accomplishments of a mythic figure.

A Form of Godliness
Suggested by Rosalys • Matthew Bridger, president of the U.S., Bryson Lawe, a Secret Service agent, and Karen Foley, a Christian activist must face the atrocity the American dream has become. Life has lost its value, deception is epidemic, and in a nation of more than three million square miles, there is no room for God.

The Privileged Planet
Suggested by John Lennox • Contrary to popular belief, Earth is not an insignificant blip on the universe’s radar. Our world proves anything but average. But what exactly does Earth bring to the table? How does it prove its worth among numerous planets and constellations in the vastness of the Milky Way?

Cotton and Race in the Making of America: The Human Costs of Economic Power
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Since the earliest days of colonial America, the relationship between cotton and the African- American experience has been central to the history of the republic. America's most serious social tragedy, slavery and its legacy, spread only where cotton could be grown.

Icons of Evolution
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Wells' book describes the many serious misrepresentations of facts commonly found in biology textbooks used to perpetuate belief in evolution. The book describes ten of these icons, devoting one chapter to each, and shows what is wrong with them in the light of published scientific evidence.

In the Beginning Was Information
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Information is the cornerstone of life. In his fascinating new book, Dr. Werner Gitt helps the reader see how the very presence of information reveals a Designer. Gitt explains the necessity of information – and more importantly, the need for an Organizer and Originator of that information.

Not by Chance! Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Each new revelation in genetic research, no matter how bizarre and unforeseen,
is construed as a ringing confirmation of the theory of evolution. With this book, Dr. Lee Spetner risks the wrath of the evolution establishment by challenging the validity of the neo-Darwinian theory, or "dogma" as he calls it.

Illogical Atheism
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Since the inauguration of the 'New Atheist Movement' more than ten years ago, modern atheism has transitioned from the mere rejection of mainstream religion to the proliferation of a (not entirely new) breed of fundamentalism.

The Incredible Machine
Suggested by Brad Nelson • More than four hundred full-color photographs journey inside the human body to explore the mysteries of human anatomy and physiology, from the development of a fetus to white cells devouring invading bacteria.

The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Franklin was America’s first Renaissance man. From penniless runaway to highly successful printer, from ardent British loyalist to architect of an alliance with France that ensured America’s independence, Franklin became one of the world’s most admired figures.

Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A tale of three buildings — the Chrysler Building, the Manhattan Company Building, and the Empire State Building — and the mad rivalry between the architects and builders that even the stock market crash of 1929 couldn't cool. The sky was literally the limit in this high-roller vision of America.

Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A story of a soul searching for God at a very young age. Theresa and her four sisters were all devout. The story is enlightening to people who may believe that financial comfort is all we need. She realizes at an early age that this world is not her home and that she is living in exile on earth and looking forward to an eternity in heaven.

Tulipmania
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In the 1630s, visitors to the prosperous trading cities of the Netherlands couldn't help but notice that thousands of normally sober, hardworking Dutch citizens from every walk of life were caught up in an extraordinary frenzy of buying and selling. The object of this unprecedented speculation was the tulip, a delicate and exotic Eastern import.

War Before Civilization
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The myth of the peace-loving "noble savage" is persistent and pernicious. Lawrence Keeley's groundbreaking book offers a devastating rebuttal to such comfortable myths and debunks the notion that warfare was introduced to primitive societies through contact with civilization.

American Sniper
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The raw and unforgettable narrative of the making of our country’s record-holding sniper, Chris Kyle’s memoir is a powerful book, both in terms of combat action and human drama. Chief Kyle is a true American warrior down to the bone.

The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • This classic text on the history and tactics of naval warfare had a profound effect on the training of officers and the deployment of naval resources around the globe. Many of the world's great military strategists since 1890 have avidly read this book.

The Naked Communist
Suggested by Brad Nelson • This study is designed to bring the far-flung facts about Communism into a single volume. It contains a distillation of more than 100 books and treatises—many of them written by Communist authors. It attempts to present the Communist in his true native elements, stripped of propaganda and pretense.

The Evolution Revolution
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Dr. Spetner offers compelling evidence that current data does not support the theory of common descent which is central to neo-Darwinism. Instead, the data supports an entirely different theory. Dr. Spetner shows how the data supports an alternative theory — the Nonrandom Evolutionary Hypothesis (NREH).

The Sky is Not Falling
Suggested by Pokey Possum • Everywhere we look there is evidence of our culture’s steep decline. Chuck Colson equips readers with the truth about the most difficult cultural and moral issues of our day and brings clarity and sanity to a world that seems to have gone mad.

Sam Adams: A Life
Suggested by Timothy Lane • This is a must-buy for anyone who loved McCullough's John Adams or Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin. Ira Stoll puts Sam Adams back where he belongs, front and center with the great founding fathers. But "Samuel Adams, A Life" is not merely a work of history, it is a powerful argument about the ideas that made America and still, to this day, shape the nation.

School Days
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A rich grandmother whose grandson was involved in a school shooting in a ritzy white suburb of Boston refuses to believe he's guilty. She hires private detective Spenser to prove his innocence. The untangling of this mess unravels other sordid goings on in the area.

A Brave Vessel: The True Tale of the Castaways Who Rescued Jamestown
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In 1609, aspiring writer William Strachey set sail for the New World aboard the Sea Venture, only to wreck on the shores of Bermuda. His meticulous account of their time in Bermuda, and eventual arrival in a devastated Jamestown, remains among the most vivid writings of the early colonial period.

A History of Civilizations
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Written from a consciously anti-enthnocentric approach, this fascinating work is a survey of the civilizations of the modern world in terms of the broad sweep and continuities of history, rather than the "event-based" technique of most other texts.

Strangling the Confederacy
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Kevin Dougherty covers Union coastal operations (intended to support the blockade) from Hatteras Inlet to Fort Fisher (covering both successes and failures), and studies the military lessons of these campaigns.

Iron Curtain
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Anne Applebaum covers the sovietization of Eastern Europe that began with the Soviet conquests in 1944-5, and going through the revolts of 1953 (East Germany) and 1956 (Poland and Hungary).

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Henry Marsh, a senior consultant neurosurgeon in London, UK, writes candidly about the challenges, heartbreak, and occasional triumph that neurosurgeons face every day. His bitterness against the institutionalization of medicine is counterbalanced by his very British dry wit and irony.

Inventing the Individual
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • Larry Siedentop firmly rejects Western liberalism’s usual account of itself: its emergence in opposition to religion in the early modern era. He argues instead that liberal thought is, in its underlying assumptions, the offspring of the Church.

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Suggested by Ray • An utterly absorbing book that will both captivate and appall you, and not just because of his recounting of the breathtaking horrors that took place on September 11, 2001. Equally appalling is Wright's depiction of the entrenched bureaucrats at the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency.

Killing Patton
Suggested by Ray • Killing Patton takes readers inside the final year of the war and recounts the events surrounding Patton's tragic demise, naming names of the many powerful individuals who wanted him silenced.

The Boys in the Boat
Suggested by Mrs. George • Out of the depths of the Depression comes a story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit was.

Pacific Crucible
Suggested by Brad Nelson • On the first Sunday in December 1941, Japanese warplanes appeared over Pearl Harbor and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of Midway, four Japanese carriers were sunk. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first months of the Pacific war.

Peter the Great: His Life and World
Suggested by Lots of People • Massie chronicles the events that shaped a boy into a legend—including his travels in Europe, his curiosity about Western ways, his obsession with the sea and establishment of the Russian navy, his creation of a strong army, his transformation of Russia, and his relationship with Catherine.

Dark Tide
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A 50-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapses on Boston's waterfront, creating a 15-foot wave of molasses that demolishes everything in its path. It would be years before a court battle determined who was responsible for the disaster.

Frank: The Voice
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Sinatra made listening to pop music a more personal experience than it had ever been. Kaplan reveals how he did it, bringing deep insight into the complex psyche and tur​bulent life behind that incomparable vocal instrument.

Damaged
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Although Jodie is only eight years old, she is violent, aggressive, and has already been through numerous foster families. Her last hope is Cathy Glass. Jodie's behaviour has seen off five carers in four months but Cathy decides to take her on to protect her from being placed in an institution.

Tales of the South Pacific
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Men and women are caught up in the drama of World War II: the young Marine who falls for a beautiful Tonkinese girl; the Navy nurse whose prejudices are challenged by a French aristocrat; and all the soldiers and sailors preparing for war against the backdrop of a tropical paradise.

The Secret School
Suggested by Anniel • Ida attends s one-room schoolhouse in 1925 Colorado. One day her teacher is called away to take care of her sick mother. The school board agrees to close the school and finish next year. But Ida doesn't want to wait. She dreams of being a teacher and, with the help of fellow students, conspires to do just that.

Sophie's War
Suggested by Anniel • An outstanding historical fiction, bringing to life the extraordinary human story behind the events. The climax is a seamless incorporation of fact with thrilling espionage as Avi juxtaposes scenes of André and Arnold’s attempt to meet against Sophia’s efforts to stop them.

The Americans: The Colonial Experience
Suggested by Brad Nelson • An essential interpretation of how the habits of the Colonialists shaped the lives of modern Americans. An undiscovered continent shattered long-standing traditions and utopian fantasies with the hard demands of everyday life far from the sophisticated centers of European civilization.

The Key-Lock Man
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A hanging party rules the badlands and a lone rider races for his life. Falsely accused of back-shooting a man as he stood sipping whiskey in a saloon, Matt Keelock takes on a posse of angry men with no more backup than his smoking Colt and a sure-footed horse.

The Empire of Necessity
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Greg Grandin (author of Fordlandia) authors an interestng and informative study of slavery in the Age of Liberty, the career of New England sea captain Amasa Delano, and the slave mutiny he encountered that was the source of Herman Melville's Benito Cereno.

The Structures of Everyday Life
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 1 • The economic history of the world from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution emphasizing life at the grass roots: food, drink, clothing, housing, town markets, money, credit, technology, the growth of towns and cities, and more.

Wish I'd Been There
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Edited by Byron Hollingstead, this book presents various historians' and novelists' take on historical events that they would like to have witnessed. There are a number of very find items, though it weakens when it gets closer to the 1960s civil rights era.

King's Mountain
Suggested by Timothy Lane • A historical novel by Sharyn McCrumb of the great victory by backcountry militia against the Tories commanded by Patrick Ferguson. King's Mountain and Cowpens were the turning point of what had been incipient British victory in the South.

Shards of Honor
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Lois McMaster Bujold pens a romance set in the midst of an interstellar war. Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony (their rough equivalent of the U.S.) and Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar (which is at war with Beta) develop an interesting relationship despite his unfairly bad reputation.

The Warrior's Apprentice
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Miles Vorkosigan is rejected by the Barrayaran military academy because of physical deformities resulting from a teratogenic poison. He decides to do some smuggling through an interstellar blockade only to get caught, forcing him into a series of desperate but brilliant improvisations.

SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police
Suggested by David Norris • Social Justice Warriors have plagued mankind for more than 150 years, but only in the last 30 years has their ideology become dominant in the West. Having invaded one institution of the cultural high ground after another, there is nowhere that remains entirely free of their intolerant thought and speech policing.

The Hollywood History of the World
Suggested by Timothy Lane • George MacDonald Fraser (most famous for the Flashman series of humorous historical novels) looks at Hollywood's record on history, especially from the era of historical spectaculars. They often fictionalized events or relied on dubious legends, but also often did a fine job of evoking the milieu.

Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock the Mysteries of Parkinson's Disease
Suggested by Anniel • An overview of the discovery and research on Parkinson's Disease, written for people who have been diagnosed or know someone who has. Palfreman writes about different approaches to curing or alleviating Parkinson, including L-dopa, neural grafting, deep brain stimulation, growth factors, and viral destruction of misfolded proteins.

Shogun
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • A bold English adventurer. An invincible Japanese warlord. A beautiful woman torn between two ways of life, two ways of love. All brought together in an extraordinary saga of a time and a place aflame with conflict, passion, ambition, and lust.

Tai-Pan
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • It is an exiting time in the early 19th century, and the Chinese mainland is an exotic place luring European traders and adventurers. A giant of an Englishman, Dirk Straun, sets out to turn the desolate island of Hong Kong into an impregnable fortress of British power, and to make himself supreme ruler.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • During a business visit to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, a young English solicitor finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying incidents. Jonathan Harker observes the Count's transformation from human to bat form, and discovers puncture wounds on his own neck.

Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral
Suggested by Timothy Lane • This isn't a sequel to Doc, a novel about Doc Holliday. It's an historical novel about the most famous gunfight in US history (though the fight itself is only a few pages). Priceless are such comments as this about Ike Clanton: "From what I hear, Ike can't count to twenty-one unless he's buck naked."

The Design of Life
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Written by two leading intelligent design theorists (William Dembski and Jonathan Wells), this book offers the clearest, most comprehensive treatment of intelligent design on the market, with answers to Darwinists’ objections drawn unrelentingly from the recent science literature.

God in the Dock
Suggested by Glenn Fairman • God in the Dock is one of the best known of C.S. Lewis's collections of essays and includes Myth Become Fact, The Grand Miracle, Priestesses in the Church and, of course, God in the Dock.

A Certain Dr. Thorndyke
Suggested by Brad Nelson • This is really two books in one. Half the book is dedicated to the adventures of a Mr. Osmond who has come to Africa to hideout for a time. The other half of the book is Thorndyke's investigation of a robbery of valuable jewels.

The Greatest War
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • This volume includes gripping accounts from American sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines who share their experiences from the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the fall of Bataan, up through the earliest battles on European soil.

Shared Values
Suggested by Patricia Dickson • African Americans and Republicans speak in favor of the wholesome conservative values of self-reliance, marriage, school choice, and economic growth to create jobs and prosperity. They speak against crime and drugs.

Mr Pottermack's Oversight
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Mr Pottermack is a law abiding, settled, homebody who has nothing to hide until the appearance of the shadowy Lewison, a gambler and blackmailer with an incredible story.

The Borough Treasurer
Suggested by Brad Nelson • After serving time for fraud thirty years earlier, Mallelieu is now mayor of Haymarket; Cotherstone is the borough treasurer. Both have served the town well. Then a blackmailer arrives in town to capitalize on his knowledge of their background.

In the Valley of the Kings
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun's Tomb • The world celebrated the find that gave Carter such renown. But by the time of his death, the discovery had nearly destroyed him. This is an evocative account of this remarkable man and his times.

The Devil's Gentleman
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Schechter expertly weaves a rich historical tapestry–exploring everything from the birth of ‘yellow’ journalism to the history of poison as a murder weapon–without sacrificing a novelistic sense of character, pacing and suspense.

The Endurance
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice, and only a day's sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of 27 men.

Trial by Ice
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In the dark years following the Civil War, America’s foremost Arctic explorer, Charles Francis Hall, became a figure of national pride when he embarked on a harrowing, landmark expedition to be the first to reach the North Pole. Neither the ship nor its captain would ever return.

In the Heart of the Sea
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In 1820, the whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale, leaving the desperate crew to drift for more than ninety days in three tiny boats. This is the story of the true events that inspired Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

Sea of Glory
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842 set out to map the entire Pacific Ocean. It arguably discovered the continent of Antarctica and collected material for what would become the basis of the Smithsonian Institution.

Masters of the Galaxy
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Jake Masters is the spiritual descendant of Philip Marlowe. He knows he'll be lied to by his clients and betrayed by his friends. But he'll stick to the case because he needs to pay the rent and he shares an old-fashioned sense of justice.

Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Acclaimed historian Richard Overy opens a new window into the Third Reich, providing an intimate glimpse of the savage dictatorship in its death throes. More than thirty transcripts of the interrogations are reproduced here for the first time.

Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London to plot the destruction of Hitler's war machine through spectacular acts of sabotage. The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it.

The Infidel Stain
Suggested by Brad Nelson • The police are unwilling to investigate a bizarre set of murders in a poor neighborhood in London. Adventurers Blake and Avery, freshly returned from years in India, agree to head an investigation at the request of a local aristocratic philanthropist.

Jade Dragon Mountain
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Li Du is an exiled imperial librarian. Arriving in Dayan, he finds the city preparing for a visit by the Emperor who will command a solar eclipse. But a sudden murder may embarrass his magistrate uncle. The uncle reluctantly assents to setting Li Du loose on the investigation hoping to clear it up before the Emporer's arrival.

The Haj
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Haj Ibrahim tries to lead and protect his village in the time leading up to and following the rebirth of Israel. From the moment Ibrahim is declared the Muktar of Tabah, he is forced to grapple with the growing tensions between the Arabs and the Jews in the Middle East.

The White Mirror
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Li Du, an imperial librarian and former exile in 18th century China, is with a trade caravan when a detour brings them to a valley hidden between mountain passes. On the icy planks of a wooden bridge, a monk sits in contemplation. Closer inspection reveals that the monk is dead.

Shinju
Suggested by Brad Nelson • When beautiful, wealthy Yukiko and low-born artist Noriyoshi are found drowned together in a shinju, or ritual double suicide, everyone believes the culprit was forbidden love. Everyone but newly appointed yoriki Sano Ichiro.

Good-Bye to All That
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Robert Graves traces the monumental and universal loss of innocence that occurred as a result of the First World War. Good-Bye to All That bids farewell not only to England and his English family and friends, but also to a way of life.

The Long Goodbye
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Philip Marlowe befriends a down-on-his luck war veteran, Terry Lennox, whose very wealthy nymphomaniac wife ends up dead. Now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.

Castro's Bomb
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Robert Conroy looks at how the aftermath of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis could have gone very wrong if Castro had been angry enough at the removal of the missiles to take a deadly revenge — and provide Kennedy with an even sterner test.

McNally's Secret
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • The first in the series. Sex, lies, blackmail, and murder are on the menu. Archy McNally is investigating missing Inverted Jennies from the home of Lady Horowitz, one of his father's wealthiest clients.

McNally's Luck
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Archy McNally takes on a deceptively simple case of catnapping. Soon, the case of the missing Peaches—a foul-tempered, overweight Persian—morphs into the murder of a prominent Palm Beach woman.

Where The Dead Lie
Suggested by Brad Nelson • One of London’s many homeless children, Benji Thatcher, was abducted and tortured before his murder—and his younger sister is still missing. Few in authority care about a street urchin’s fate, but Sebastian refuses to let this killer go unpunished.

McNally's Risk
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Embroiled in a murder conspiracy, man-about-Palm-Beach and sometime-sleuth Archy McNally walks into a viper’s nest of lust and larceny while checking out the background of a wealthy client’s prospective daughter-in- law.

The Moon's a Balloon
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • A fun, easy, and entertaining read, this book is well-written and gives you a good sense of the old Show Biz world with its chaos. Niven had a long career in Hollywood and was prolific. He was a notorious womanizer which completely broke his second wife.

Flashman
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Fraser revives Flashman, a caddish bully from Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes, and relates Flashman’s adventures after he is expelled in drunken disgrace from Rugby school in the late 1830s.

Desert Gold
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Set in the borderlands between the U.S. and Mexico, Desert Gold is a classic tale of the Old West by Zane Grey. Drifter Dick Gale, upon arriving in the border town of Casita, finds a place of corruption, revolution, and violence.

The Girl, the Gold Watch, & Everything
Suggested by Timothy Lane • A young man seems to be going nowhere, symbolized by inheriting only a gold pocket watch when his rich uncle dies. Things change when he learns what the watch can do, and finds that it was the biggest part of his uncle's inheritance

The Blackthorn Key
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A mysterious cult begins to prey on London’s apothecaries. The trail of murders grows closer and closer to Blackthorn’s shop. With time running out, Christopher must use every skill he’s learned to discover the key to a terrible secret with the power to tear the world apart.

Where Are the Children?
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Nancy was found guilty of murdering her two children, but was released from prison on a technicality. Seven years later, having moved to Cape Cod, Nancy is remarried and has two small children but her past catches up to her.

Killing Floor
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • (Jack Reacher, Book 1) • Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He’s just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour he’s arrested for murder. All Reacher knows is that he didn’t kill anybody. At least not here.

Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • For fans of the TV series, this is a must read. It is something of a personal memoir and a narration of Rumpole's most famous case; one that he mentions in almost every episode. I can see Leo McKern potificating about it over a glass of Plonk at Pommeroy's.

Sharpe's Tiger
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Sharpe, born to a whore, is a violent, crude, illiterate young man. He is also brave, clever, strong, and lucky. Sharpe, along with young Arthur Wellesley, are in India to fight the Tippoo of Mysore, a powerful Muslim ruler in South India.

Killing the Rising Sun
Suggested by Brad Nelson • An enthralling, gripping account of the bloody battles, huge decisions, and historic personalities that culminated in the decision to drop the atomic bomb and brought the war in the Pacific to its climactic end.

The Dam Busters
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A story of real men who understood evil, of brilliant minds who saved a world from a thousand years of darkness. Should be required reading of all graduating high school seniors. We should never forget the story of 617.

The Most Dangerous Enemy
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Stephen Bungay’s account of the Battle of Britain is an engrossing read for the military scholar and the general reader alike. This is a classic of military history that looks beyond the mythology to explore the crucial battle to save Western Civilization from a 1000 years of darkness.

The Struggle for Mastery in Europe
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • This book deals with the diplomatic history of Europe from 1848 — when Europe and European powers held primacy in world affairs — through 1918, by which time Europe had receded into secondary or tertiary importance in world politics.

The Scarlet Woman of Wall Street
Suggested by Timothy Lane • A study of the early years of Wall Street with a focus on the infamous Erie Wars between Cornelius Vanderbilt and his nemesis, Daniel Drew, who was assisted by Jim Fisk and Jay Gould. The title comes from the Wall Street nickname for the Erie.

The Pointing Man: A Burmese Mystery
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • The young assistant of a Burman curio shop owner goes missing. A banker, a vicar, and the wife of a high-ranking bureaucrat all seem to be hiding something. An old friend who works for the Indian Government, Coryndon, happens along and sets about to solve the mystery.

Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • Takes the reader from Stalin's birth up to his fiftieth year. Kotkin interweaves Stalin's story with that of Tsarist Russia of the same period. An excellent read.

A Vision of Light
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A 14th century Englishwoman enlists the help of a skeptical but hungry monk to help her put down her life's story. We learn that during a stint as a midwife she is given a special gift. But the 14th century is a rough time, particularly for women, gift or no gift.

Into Thin Air
Suggested by Brad Nelson • A tale of the train-wreck of people, places, and circumstances that led to the death of eight climbers caught in a blizzard near the top of Mount Everest. This is written by a journalist, Jon Krakauer, who made the trip to the top and lived to write the story.

The Lost City of Z
Suggested by Brad Nelson • In 1925, British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years, dozens perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called The Lost City of Z.

The River of Doubt
Suggested by Brad Nelson • After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt (accompanied by his son and Brazil's most famous explorer, Rondon) set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon.

Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • A modern comprehensive biography on Hitler up to the age of 50. Although his youth is covered, it concentrates on the period after the end of WWI and Hitler's amazing and unlikely rise to power.

Adventures of an Elephant Boy
Suggested by Timothy Lane • Political satire by the author of The Mouse That Roared. A simple elephant boy is selected to be a personal guest of a large nation. Hari learns that in order to have liberty and happiness in the rest of the world, you need lots of laws.

Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • A history of the Jews from their obscure beginnings, before they were Jews, to the last quarter of the 20th century. It should be required reading for anyone who wishes to have a better understanding of this people.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Two cases confront Harry Bosch. As a part-time detective in the SFPD, he's after a serial rapists. As a private investigator, he's been hired by a billionaire to track down an old flame. Nineteenth in the series of 21, the series shows no signs of getting old.

The Hunt for Red October
Suggested by Brad Nelson • Somewhere under the freezing Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision. The Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. The chase for the highly advanced nuclear submarine is on.

Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs
Suggested by Brad Nelson • When Monty Don's golden retriever, Nigel, became the surprise star of BBC's Gardeners' World — inspiring huge interest, fan mail, and his own social media accounts — Monty Don wanted to explore what makes us connect with animals quite so deeply.

The West and the Rest
Suggested by Kung Fu Zu • An analysis of Western and Islamic mindsets, motivations, and goals — from political "liberal New York" to creed-based Tehran. A major thesis is how modern Western democracies differ from other types of societies, in general, and the Islamic world, in particular.