This list of books is only a sampling of the best books available to help you expand your knowledge of conservative ideas. The titles listed represent a wide range of topics and difficulty levels, but all are worth reading.
High School Recommended Reading
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Constitution of the United States
- 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
- Seven Principles of Sound Public Policy by Lawrence W. Reed
- 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
- Whatever Happened to Justice by Richard J. Maybury
General Recommended Reading
Biographies
- A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell
- Creating Equal: My Fight Against Racial Preferences by Ward Connerly
- Miles Gone By by William F. Buckley
- Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea by Irving Kristol
- 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
- Suicide of the West by James Burnham
- The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek
- Witness by Whittaker Chambers
Conservatism
- Conservative Victory by Sean Hannity
- Funding Fathers: The Unsung Heroes of the Conservative Movement by Nicole Hoplin and Ron Robinson
- Government Bullies by Rand Paul
- 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
- Natural Right and History by Leo Strauss
- Pinheads and Patriots by Bill O’Reilly
- Rationalism in Politics and other essays by Michael Oakeshott
- Right from the Beginning by Patrick J. Buchanan
- Right Words: Great Speeches that Shaped History by Wynton Hall
- See, I Told You So by Rush Limbaugh
- The American Conservative Movement: The Philosophical Founders by Senator John P. East
- The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
- The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America by George Nash
- The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot by Russell Kirk
- The Portable Conservative Reader by Russell Kirk
- The Tempting of America by Robert H. Bork
- The Way Things Ought To Be by Rush Limbaugh
- The City on a Hill by Michael Reagan
- Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism by Al Regnery
- Why We Whisper: Restoring our Right to Say It’s Wrong by Senator Jim DeMint
Culture
- America’s Real War by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
- Chinese Girl in the Ghetto by Ying Ma
- Christianity and Culture by T.S. Eliot
- Common Sense by Glenn Beck
- Death of the West by Patrick Buchanan
- Hollywood vs America by Michael Medved
- Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver
- It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good by Rick Santorum
- Pimps, Whores and Welfare Brats by Star Parker
- The Virtue of Prosperity: Finding Values in An Age of Techno-Affluence by Dinesh D’Souza
- What’s So Great About America by Dinesh D’Souza
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
- 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
- Losing Ground by Charles Murray
- Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard
- 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
- 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 Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
- The Shadow University by Alan Kors and Harvey Silvergate
- The Diversity Myth by David Sacks and Peter Thiel
- The Academy in Crisis edited by John Somme
Environment/Global Warming
- Climate Confusion by Roy Spencer
- 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
- Male and Female by Margaret Mead
- Men and Marriage by George Gilder
- The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers
- Who Stole Feminism by Christina Hoff Sommers
Gun Rights
- God, Guns, and Rock ‘N’ Roll by Ted Nugent
- Guns Save Lives by Robert Waters
- 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
- Crisis of the House Divided by Harry V. Jaffa
- 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 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen
- 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
- The World We Have Lost by Peter Laslett
Immigration
- Invasion by Michelle Malkin
- Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America’s Borders by Jim Gilchrist and Jerome R. Corsi
- In Mortal Danger by Rep. 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.
- Godless by Ann Coulter**
- Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America by Ann Coulter
- Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation by Jason Mattera
- Hating Whitey by David Horowitz
- Political Pilgrims by Paul Hollander
- Slouching Towards Gomorrah by Robert Bork
- The New Science of Politics by Eric Voegelin
- Treason by Ann Coulter
- Up from Liberalism by William F. Buckley, Jr.
- Why the Left Hates America by Daniel J. Flynn
Media
- Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right by Ann Coulter
- 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
Novels
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Black List by Brad Thor
- Blowback by Brad Thor
- Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
- 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
- Creating Equal: My Fight Against Racial Preferences by Ward Connerly
- Ethnic America: A History by Thomas Sowell
- He Talk Like a White Boy by Joseph Phillips
- Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
- The Content of Our Character by Shelby Steele
- The End of Racism by Dinesh D’Souza
- Uncivil Wars by David Horowitz
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
- What I Saw at the Revolution by Peggy Noonan
- When Character Was King by Peggy Noonan
Young America’s Foundation Speakers
- Death of the West by Patrick Buchanan
- Creating Equal by Ward Connerly
- Fighting Back by Deena Burnett
- Godless by Ann Coulter
- Hating Whitey by David Horowitz
- Hollywood vs America by Michael Medved
- Illiberal Education by Dinesh D’Souza
- Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity by John Stossel
- Never Again by Attorney General John Ashcroft
- Saddam’s Secrets by Iraqi General Georges Sada
- Showdown by Larry Elder
- Slander by Ann Coulter
- Ten Things You Can’t Say in America by Larry Elder
- The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton W. Folsom, Jr.
- Uncivil Wars by David Horowitz
- What’s So Great About America by Dinesh D’Souza
- White Ghetto by Star Parker
* Original Recommended Conservative Reading List provided by the Young America’s Foundation.