What We’re Reading – AFA Community’s Reading Recommendations
We asked, you answered!
Recommended reading
36 members of the AFA community submitted their reading recommendations. The titles have been loosely sorted into categories, and where commentary was added I’ve included it here.
Also, of the 36, seventeen respondents said they’ve been reading MORE during the shutdown, 17 said they’re reading about the same, and 2 said they’ve been reading less.
To submit YOUR recommendations, click here
Happy reading!
History
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington
Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester
Witness – Whitaker Chambers
Killing Crazy Horse – Bill O’Reilly
Operation Solo: The FBI’s Man in the Kremlin by John Barron (published by Regnery) — a relatively unknown bit of history set in the days when the FBI was a leader in the fight against Communism
Vindicating the Founders by Thomas West
While 6 Million Died by Arthur D. Morse – the true story of US government’s stealth antisemitism and FDR’s action, inaction, and subterfuge before, during, after Holocaust
Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran – makes ancient history come alive with vibrancy
The Unmaking of a Mayor by Wm. F. Buckley – a fun read in many ways. Amazing how a conservative 55 years ago had some of the same challenges we have today (esp. w/media)
The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic by Michael Medved
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won by Victor Davis Hanson, and anything else by Dr. Hanson
Analysis
The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell
A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell
Anything by Victor Davis Hanson
Islam
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades by Robert Spencer. This excellent work is necessary for understanding and appreciating this subject.
Stealth Jihad; How Radical Islam Is Subverting America Without Guns or Bombs by Robert Spencer. This excellent work describes in detail how the Muslims are using cultural and political jihad to take over our country.
Modern Day Trojan Horse: Al-Hijra, the Islamic Doctrine of Immigration, Accepting Freedom or Imposing Islam? By Sam Solomon and E Al Maqdisi This work describes how the Muslims are using immigration as their preferred form of invasion.
Refugee Resettlement and the Hijra to America by Ann Corcoran. This work describes how our government and Christian organizations are aiding the Muslims in their invasion of our country.
The Mosque Exposed by Sam Solomon and E. Al Maqdisi. This work shows the sinister side of what mosques are really used for.
United in Hate – Jamie Glazov
Anything by Robert Spencer
Religion
Wholly Different – Nonie Darwish
Atheism Kills by Barak Lurie
The End of Faith; Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris. This work articulates the dangers and absurdities of religion.
god is not Great; How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens
God The Failed Hypothesis; How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist by Victor J. Stenger
Fiction
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Anthem by Ayn Rand
The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn – An incomparable indictment of communism.
1984 by George Orwell– (still fiction?)
Economics
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, by David Landes
Current Affairs
Liberal Privilege by Donald Trump Jr. – Eye-opening facts about Biden’s corruption (the only book recommended twice)
The Plot Against the President by Lee Smith
How to Destroy America in Three Steps by Ben Shapiro
The Death of Liberalism by R. Emmett Tyrell
The Stakes: America at the Point of No Return by Michael Anton is a terrific book on what the nation is facing in the current crisis and with the upcoming election. A must read!
Game of Thorns by Doug Wead is a plainly written account of the behind the scenes and in the public scenes of the 2016 election.
Defender in Chief by John Yoo
Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger who is a respected scientist and AGW activist.
Culture
Anything by Eric Metaxas
The Story of Art by Ernst .H. Gombrich …it is the most popular and most famous book of Art ever published.
Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay
Crisis in the Arts: Why the Left Owns the Culture and How Conservatives Can Begin to Take It Back by Andrew Klavan (David Horowitz Freedom Center)
The Devil’s Pleasure Palace and Fiery Angel by Michael Walsh
Fear God and Take Your Own Part — a collection of writings and speeches by President Theodore Roosevelt. Particularly important is his speech on Americanism.
The Conservative Heart by Arthur Brooks – best book making the case for conservativism based on reason and compassion
The Vanishing Adult by Sen. Ben Sasse — a strong case for traditional, family values by one of our most thoughtful Congressional leaders
Take No Prisoners by David Horowitz — the opposite of Arthur Brooks’ book — a primer on how and why to fight the left from one of the right’s most powerful warriors.
The Maga Doctrine: the Only Ideas that Will Win the Future, by Charlie Kirk — a brilliant look at what we must know, and what we must do to get Trump reelected and save this country.
The Road Less Traveled by M Scott Peck – Looking for deeper meaning in life.
Good Intentions by Bob Zeidman
Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray
Diversity: The Invention of a Concept by Peter Wood
The Diversity Delusion by Heather Mac Donald
Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom by Victor Davis Hanson
National Security
All the documents posted on unconstrainedanalytics.org
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein — a hard look at who deserves to be a citizen, and the role of the military.
Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity by Samuel Huntington – his last book examines the impact of multiculturalism and unrestricted immigration on the United States.
Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order – an extremely well-written historically-substantiated overview of China’s intentions towards Asia
Any book written by Diana West
Biographies/Autobiographies
Radical Son by David Horowitz
James Monroe by Tim McGrath
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Other
The Plant Paradox by Dr. Gundry. The premise is that lectins cause obesity and disease.
Personal reading list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dZQmhZkJwfk0UyYY-u_-i7N1atm0Eb9Fmm2iN_AISGA/edit?usp=sharing
Survey comments
These are some of the comments submitted:
It is crucially important to read Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington because they are progenitors of the modern black conservative movement.
I’m reading “by author,” it seems: first Erik Larson and now Simon Winchester. I always read anything by Brian Fagan. Both Winchester and Fagan have written huge numbers of books; it’s all I can do to stay even with their publishing new ones!
I’m always reading at least 10 books at a time (not all topical to AFA — lots of nutrition, etc.) But that does mean there might be interest among the AFA crowd — whom I suspect are a lot of voracious readers — in lists from subjects that are not inherently just within the scope of AFA conference topics! (e.g. Your Cat by Elizabeth Hodgkins, D.V. M. is a book no cat owner should miss!)
We’re in the middle of a Marxist takedown. Time to prep for war.
People need to abandon the left/right construct, it’s designed to separate and control us.
I started studying Islam on my own in 2006. Initially, I decided that Islam was THE main problem affecting our world. Some time later, I connected the dots and came to the new conclusion that Islam wasn’t THE main problem but was plugged into something else – RELIGION itself. That religions and their nonsense have persisted into the 21st century is as amazing as it is frightening. Childhood religious indoctrination, more or less constantly reinforced 24/7 throughout the lives of ‘believers’, is the ONLY thing that keeps religion alive and, in the case of young children, represents a most severe form of child abuse. I was brought up in the Episcopal faith. I stopped attending church on my 8th birthday after hearing our pastor end his sermon with the words, “……so may we ever increase in our love and FEAR of the Lord…” although it took me another 40 years to come to the inevitable conclusion that there is no God and that all religious dogma is just a bunch of ridiculous nonsense. Since I have become an unbeliever, I have become a much happier person and feel infinitely more complete as an individual. One of my favorite declarations of identity is: “I am a human being. I share common ancestry with all life on this planet. I wan’t born with a blemish of ‘Original Sin’. I’m not guilty of a fabricated crime committed by a fictitious couple in an imaginary garden. I don’t need to have faith in your mythical god or adhere to your narrow-minded religious beliefs. I live my life with dignity and freedom, unshackled by the chains of faith and superstition.” In Reason I Trust, Nelson
Since the other side reads nothing but drivel and lies, we must be informed not only by data and facts, but learn how to convincingly approach those we need to persuade; that’s the hard part. Read everything you can get your hands on!
