Books Every conservative should read

This list of books is only a sampling of the best books available to help high school and college students balance their education with conservative ideas. The titles listed represent a wide range of topics and difficulty levels, but all are worth reading.

Many of the books purchased through the Foundation’s website help support our cause. In association with the Conservative Book Service and Amazon.com, please use the links below to find some of the Conservative Movement’s most influential books.

* Author is Foundation Alumni

** Author is available through Young America’s Foundation’s Campus Lecture Program

High School Recommended Reading

1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Constitution of the United States
Excuse Me Professor by Lawrence W Reed and Ron Robinson **
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Great American Conservative Women: A Collection of Speeches compiled by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
Letters to a Young Conservative by Dinesh D’Souza **
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Ronald Reagan by Libby Highes
The Bible
The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
The Declaration of Independence
The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison, Jay
The Law by Frederic Bastiat
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom, Jr. **
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek

General Recommended Reading

Biographies

A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell
Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words by Michael Pack
Miles Gone By by William F. Buckley
Nofziger by Lyn Nofziger
Radical Son by David Horowitz **
The Last Lion by William Manchester
The Prince of Darkness by Robert Novak
Two Lucky People by Milton and Rose Friedman

Communism

Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism by Dr. Paul Kengor **
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Reagan’s War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism by Peter Schweizer **
Witness by Whittaker Chambers

Conservatism

Excuse Me Professor by Lawrence W Reed and Ron Robinson **
Funding Fathers: The Unsung Heroes of the Conservative Movement by Nicole Hoplin and Ron Robinson **
Great American Conservative Women: A Collection of Speeches by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
In Defense of Freedom by Frank S. Meyer
Landmark Speeches of the American Conservative Movement by Wynton Hall **
Letters to a Young Conservative by Dinesh D’Souza **
Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America by Dr. George Nash
The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot by Russell Kirk
The Portable Conservative Reader by Russell Kirk
The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America by George Nash
The City on a Hill by Michael Reagan **
Why We Whisper: Restoring our Right to Say It’s Wrong by Jim DeMint

Culture

Chinese Girl in the Ghetto by Ying Ma * **
Christianity and Culture by T.S. Eliot
Fighting for Life: Becoming a Force for Change in a Wounded World by Lila Rose
Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier
It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good by Rick Santorum **
Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman
What’s So Great About America by Dinesh D’Souza **
What Is a Woman? by Matt Walsh
When Harry Became Sally by Dr. Ryan Anderson

Economics

A History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray Rothbard
America’s Great Depression by Murray Rothbard
Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
Can A Catholic Be A Socialist? by Trent Horn
Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
Crapitalism by Jason Mattera **
Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas DiLorenzo
Human Action by Ludwig von Mises
In Defense of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg
Liberty vs. the Tyranny of Socialism: Controversial Essays by Dr. Walter Williams **
Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard
The Capitalist Comeback by Andy Puzder
The Case Against Socialism by Senator Rand Paul
The End of Prosperity by Steve Moore **
The Power of Economic Thinking by Mark Skousen
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Two Lucky People by Milton and Rose Friedman

Education

Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth by Ben Shapiro
God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley
Illiberal Education: Political Correctness and the College Experience by Dinesh D’Souza
Intellectuals by Paul Johnson
Professors by David Horowitz
The Shadow University by Alan Kors and Harvey Silvergate
The Academy in Crisis edited by John Somme

Environment / Global Warming

Climate Confusion by Roy Spencer
Fossil Future by Alex Epstein
Green Fraud: Why The Green New Deal is Even Worse Than You Think by Marc Morano
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and the Environment by Chris Horner** (We recommend any books from the Politically Incorrect Guide series)
The Really Inconvenient Truths by Iain Murray
The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World by Bjorn Lomborg
Unstoppable Global Warming by Fred Singer and Dennis Avery

Feminism

Feminist Fantasies by Phyllis Schlafly
Great American Conservative Women: A Collection of Speeches by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers **
Who Stole Feminism by Christina Hoff Sommers **

Foundation Speakers

The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent by Ben Shapiro
Death of the West by Patrick Buchanan **
Creating Equal by Ward Connerly **
Grace Canceled by Dana Loesch
Hating Whitey by David Horowitz **
Hollywood vs America by Michael Medved **
How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps by Ben Shapiro
Illiberal Education by Dinesh D’Souza **
Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel **
Never Again by Attorney General John Ashcroft **
Showdown by Larry Elder
Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds by Michael Knowles
Ten Things You Can’t Say in America by Larry Elder
The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom, Jr. **
The Right Side of History by Ben Shapiro
Uncivil Wars by David Horowitz **
What’s So Great About America by Dinesh D’Souza **

Gun Rights

First Freedom by David Harsanyi
Guns Save Lives by Robert Waters
Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America by Dana Loesch
More Guns, Less Crime by John R. Lott Jr.
That Every Man Be Armed by Stephen Halbrook
The Best Defense by Robert Waters
The Bias Against Guns by John R. Lott Jr.

History (U.S.)

48 Liberal Lies (That You Probably Learned in School) by Dr. Larry Schweikart **
A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
A Patriot’s History of the United States by Dr. Larry Schweikart **
Constitution of the United States
Congress and the American Tradition by James Burnham
Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs
Declaration of Independence
Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville
New Deal or Raw Deal by Dr. Burt Folsom, Jr. **
Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
The Right Side of History by Ben Shapiro
The Roosevelt Myth by John T. Flynn
The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom, Jr. **
The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison, Jay

History (World)

Greatness: Reagan, Churchill and the Making of Extraordinary Leaders by Steven Hayward *
Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism by Joshua Muravchik
Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg **
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
The Last Lion by William Manchester
The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
The Triumph of Liberty by Jim Powell
The President, The Pope, and The Prime Minister by John O’Sullivan

Immigration

Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America’s Borders by Jim Gilchrist and Jerome R. Corsi
In Mortal Danger by Tom Tancredo*
Whatever it Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security and the War on Terror by J.D. Hayworth

Liberalism

Do As I Say, Not As I Do by Peter Schweizer **
Getting it Right by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Hating Whitey by David Horowitz **
Slouching Towards Gomorrah by Robert Bork
Up from Liberalism by William F. Buckley, Jr.
Why the Left Hates America by Daniel J. Flynn **

Media

Bias by Bernard Goldberg
A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media by Bernard Goldberg
South Park Conservatives by Brian Anderson

Militant Islam

Hatred’s Kingdom by Dore Gold
Militant Islam Reaches America by Daniel Pipes
The Cube and the Cathedral by George Weigel
Islam Unveiled by Robert Spencer **
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam by Robert Spencer **
Al Qaeda’s Armies by Jonathan Schanzer **

National Security and Military

Breakdown by Bill Gertz
Making the Corps by Thomas Ricks
Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose
Cloak and Gown by Robin Winks
On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace by Donald Kagan
AWOL by Frank Schaeffer and Kathy Roth-Douquet
Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster
American Military History: Volumes 1 & 2 by Richard Stewart
America’s Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror by Larry Schweikart **
Red Handed by Peter Schweizer **

Novels

1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Black List by Brad Thor
Blowback by Brad Thor
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Foreign Influence by Brad Thor
Full Black by Brad Thor
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Path of the Assassin by Brad Thor
Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard
State of the Union by Brad Thor
Takedown by Brad Thor
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Lion’s Game by Nelson DeMille
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor
The First Commandment by Brad Thor
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor
The Apostle by Brad Thor
The Athena Project by Brad Thor

Race

The End of Racism by Dinesh D’Souza **
Creating Equal: My Fight Against Racial Preferences by Ward Connerly *
Uncivil Wars by David Horowitz **
Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
He Talk Like a White Boy by Joseph Phillips **
Race Marxism by Dr. James Lindsay
Debunking the 1619 Project by Mary Grabar

Ronald Reagan

A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan by Michael K. Deaver
God and Ronald Reagan by Dr. Paul Kengor **
How Ronald Reagan Changed my Life by Peter Robinson **
I Love You, Ronnie by Nancy D. Reagan
Ronald Reagan: How An Ordinary Man Became An Extraordinary Leader by Dinesh D’Souza **
Ronald Reagan and His Ranch, The Western White House by Peter Hannaford
Reagan’s War: The Epic Story of His Forty Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism by Peter Schweizer **
Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign that Saved America
The Age of Reagan by Steven F. Hayward *
The Greatest Communicator by Dick Wirthlin and Wynton Hall **
With Reagan: The Inside Story by Edwin Meese III **
When Character Was King by Peggy Noonan