A word about this page: This list is by no means complete and will be ever expanding. Additionally, I’ve tried to compile mostly primary historical materials. In other words, this list for the most part will consist of readings that come directly from the sources of history as opposed to books written by historians who are conveying their own impressions of that history. There is certainly nothing at all wrong with such books and far be it from me to ever discourage the reading of any kind of history. However, my mission here will be to compile a list of the voices themselves as opposed to the opinion of those voices enumerated by others who have heard them.
Some of the books are compilations of original writings that I have found. Further, many of the histories – especially of Rome – that I have included are in fact written by historians with extremely biased opinions; the difference being that they were generally written in antiquity – without the biases you might find today. Also note that many of the histories and compilations are titled based on the book company or publisher I’ve purchased from. For instance, Plutarch never wrote a book called “The Fall of the Roman Republic.” A compilation of some of his work was put into a book and given that title by the publishing company or the editor. And please remember – my education is as ongoing as anyone elses. I claim to be no expert. Rather, I am simply your average American trying to rediscover the classical roots of this Great Republic.
The Federalist – James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay
The Anti-Federalist and Constitutional Debates – Multiple Authors
Democracy in America - Alexis De Tocqueville
1984 – George Orwell
Cato’s Letters - John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon
A Summary View of the Rights of British America - Thomas Jefferson
Pamphlets of the American Revolution - Bernard Bailyn
Cato, A Tragedy - Joseph Addison
Second Treatise of Government - John Locke
A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers - Jonathan Mayhew
A Practical Code of Behavior – Marcus Tullius Cicero
A Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress - Alexander Hamilton
Common Sense - Thomas Paine
The Early History of Rome - Livy (Titus Livius)
The Twelve Caesars - Suetonius
The Fall of the Roman Republic - Plutarch
The Conquest of Gaul - Julius Caesar
Complete Works - Tacitus
The Civil War - Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Thoughts on Government – John Adams
Speech addressing the Constitutional Convention; Monday, September 17, 1787 – Benjamin Franklin
The Gettysburg Address – Abraham Lincoln
Discourses Concerning Government - Algernon Sidney
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William Shirer
Austrian Requiem - Kurt von Schuschnigg
The Road to Serfdom - F.A. Hayek
The History of Freedom in Antiquity - Lord Acton
Capitalism and Freedom – Milton Friedman
Reflections on the Revolution in France - Edmund Burke
If This is a Man - Primo Levi
On Liberty – John Stuart Mill