A Starter’s Reading List

Early Histories of Western Civilization:

Most people, generally, ignore these earlier peoples and their histories. Both Commentaries and Thucydides are filled with policies, histories, and biographies that are still relevant, and have been since before they were written. Thucydides in particular is a blueprint of how to both succeed and fail in government & war. The fact that it starts with an explanation of how these wars started, a how to and how not to execute diplomacy, and ends with the destruction of Athens, and why they lost, is more instructive than Sun Tzu’s Art of War will ever be. Commentaries is a further exploration on how to win and lose, and both are extraordinarily relevant in our nuclear age.^[1]      

Cæsar, Julius: The Landmark Julius Cæsar: The Complete Works ISBN 978-0-307-45544-4

            Referred to by some as ‘Cæsar’s Commentaries,’ includes Gallic War^[2] and Civil War. I prefer the Landmark series for all sorts of reasons, primarily that they are annotated and have maps placing all of the locations in place for easy reference. So much explanation by the editors in the margins that other source materials are unnecessary, not even a dictionary or glossary, unless one wants to delve into the history of the time & place.

            Thucydides: The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to The Peloponnesian War ISBN 978-1-4165-9087-3

            Like Commentaries, the Landmark people have made this an easily readable and understandable piece of work. Even better, they got Dr. Victor Davis Hanson to do the introduction. Look for Landmark editions where possible. Herodotus comes in Landmark, too.

            Tacitus: The Annals of Imperial Rome ISBN 0-14-044060-7

                        Tacitus’ last work covers Rome from ~55 AD to ~117 AD, this is the period leading up to the fall. It ends with Nero’s death.

            Herodotus: The Histories ISBN 1-59308-102-2

                        Describes the rise of Greece and the creation of the city-states from an agricultural & subsistence society into the civilization, Western, foundations for contract law and banking systems and to the fount of Western philosophy, including the concepts of democracy, free trade, and social equality. May be the first surviving Western history book. Some think that the pieces he wrote about Egypt were foisted on him by guides as the Egyptian locals may have thought of him as a simplistic tourist rather than a serious historian, they being so much more culturally advanced.

            Everitt, Anthony: Cicero; the life and times of Rome’s greatest politician ISBN 978-0-375-75895-9

            Exactly what it says: a well-researched biography of Cicero, one of the greatest orators, politicians, and jurists of Western Civilization.

            Of interest are the “pre-history” works that suggest several civilizations existed before The Great Flood. Various engineers vacationing in India, Egypt and Western Africa have pointed out anomalies that clearly make it apparent that machine tools were used in the construction of Ancient works in Egypt, China, Siam, and India. See: Christopher Dunn’s, Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt, ISBN 978-159143102-2, and Brien Foerster’s Lost Ancient Technology of Egypt (two volumes) ISBN 978-1-500915568.

Early colonies & the War of 1776, “The Revolutionary War”

            Rothbard, Murray N.: Conceived in Liberty ISBN 978-1-933550-98-5

                        Five volumes in two books, tenth grade level reading skills, available in hardback and paperback at www.mises.org/store . The Mises Institute is the premiere Austrian School of Economics proponent in the U.S. It is located at the University of Alabama, Auburn. Conceived in Liberty covers from the first settlements, the 17^th Century, through the new republic, 1791.

            M^cCullough, David: 1776 ISBN 0-7432-2671-2

                        One volume, tenth grade read.

            Middlekauff, Robert: The Glorious Cause ISBN 0-19-503575-5

                        One volume, another tenth grade read. About the revolution.

Several good intermediate level, 12^th grade reads:

            DiLorenzo, Thomas J.: Hamilton’s Curse ISBN 978-0-307-38285-6

                        “How Jefferson’s Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution – and What It Means for Americans Today,” quote from the dust cover.

            Maier, Pauline: Ratification; The People Debate the Constitution, 1787 – 1788 ISBN 978-0-684-86854-7

                        Prof. Maier went to the original source documents of all of the ratification conventions and states’ legislatures to figure out what happened. Of particular interest to me, Mark Levin & Pete Hegseth notwithstanding, is the number of states that insisted that the right to secede, as evidenced by the secession conventions of 1776, 1814, 1826, and 1860 be acknowledged by all member states.

            Tuchman, Barbara W.: The Shot Heard Around the World (cannot find my copy)

            Mason, Matthew: Slavery & Politics in the Early American Republic ISBN 978-0-8078-3049-9

                        Discusses how slavery impacted early American politics. Definitely not read by the 1619 Project proponents, nor anyone in the NAACP or the Democratic Party.

            Lefkowitz, Mary: Not Out of Africa ISBN 0-465-09838-X

                        Noted Egyptologist refutes all of the nonsense about African-American oral histories and their attachment to Egyptian Civilization.

Between the two secessions

Lots and lots of things occurred between 1783 and 1860. Two of the best are Calhoun’s A Disquisition on Government and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Calhoun’s commentary on the mistakes made in the constitution are still relevant, as are de Tocqueville’s. Of particular interest to us today, is how de Tocqueville points out how few poor there are, and how few rich there are in America and how our democratic-republic is ours to lose, this back in the 1820’s. Commentary on losing our freedom was a familiar theme of both Ben Franklin’s and Thomas Jefferson’s.

The War of 1861, “The Civil War” or “The American Civil War” to differentiate it from the other civil wars, such as the English “War of the Roses” and the “Spanish Civil War” which usually only refers to the one in the 1930’s.

            Foote, Shelby: The Civil War: a narrative ISBN 0-394-74623-6

                        Three volumes in paperback, about 1,000 pp each, tenth grade level reading skills, available on Amazon.

Hillsdale college, www.hillsdale.edu has numerous DVDs on both subjects as well as some biblical studies. They are on-line for study at your own pace. They are free upon request, and you may be interested in their speaker series letter Imprimus, also at no charge although they would like donations.

Another DVD source, not as a good in my opinion but still having reliable source material is the Smithsonian Institution’s The Great Courses DVD series which are on just about everything including how to play the guitar, yoga, &c. TGC DVD’s generally run from $29.99 to $499.99 depending upon the material. I have found their ‘books of distinction’ series to have honest reviews and analyses of these works, for the purpose of this introductory reading list, they have an understandable set on The Federalist Papers.

For a better understanding of the constitution and what originalism is all about, you must read both The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers. Keeping in mind that ratification and the Bill of Rights would not exist without both of these sets of pamphlets.

In the Hillsdale series is one of particular note: The Skeptic’s Guide to American History. The Hillsdale people also have hard copy workbooks & guides to go with their DVDs, but you have to pay for them. If you are serious, getting the guides and workbooks is worth the small price requested. Otherwise, just hearing the non-woke histories is worth the time spent watching them.

Intermediate level works are too numerous to list, but include any of the works of William Freehling, Thomas DiLorenzo, Mark E. Neely, Jr., Forrest M^cDonald, Eric Foner, and of special note is:

            Kennedy, James R., Kennedy, Walter D.: The South Was Right ISBN 1-56554-024-7

                        Reviled and repudiated by The Left, especially the rabid racists, includes a summation of the 1860 U.S. census showing the actual ethnic breakdown of slaves in the country; the number of Native-Americans in slavery (~40%), Chinese (~3%), and Whites (~1%, mostly of Irish descent in the Union slave states of MD, DE, and MO).

Both of these time periods have many good works where the author went to the original source materials. Look especially for historians from Southern universities as they are more interested in truth than fostering the Northern perspective. A recent work on the duplicity of the Northern aggression is:

Addicott, Jeffrey F. (Lt. Col. U.S. Army; BA, JD, LLM [2], SJD): Union Terror ISBN 978-1-94766-0-823

            Pretty much details how the Union Army raped, pillaged, and burnt its way through the South for the sole purpose of looting the country-side. Sherman bragged at a post-war re-union of his army how they took North over $100,000,000.00^[3] in loot and how they destroyed even more of The South. Keep in mind that the Federal budget of the early 19^th Century shows that The South contributed over 75% of Federal revenue while The North received over 75% of it in the form of economic development, mostly of railroads and canals.

Economics

I know of no basic/simple economics books, but readable starters are more about history than PPM (purchasing power of money) or MMT (Modern Monetary Theory – which by-the-by is simply a repackaging of 19^th century Marxist Chartelism theory, so loved by AOC, Mamdani, & Bernie, keep in mind that The Warmth of Collectivism has murdered over 100,000,000[4] in just the last 200 years, i.e., from The Age of Metternich to the present), so,

            Mises, Ludwig von: Omnipotent Government; The Anti-Capitalist Mentality; Theory and History; Liberalism, the classic tradition, his magnum opus is Human Action, but do not go there before reading the shorter works.

            The Mises Institute has all sorts of pamphlets that they will send for no or little charge. They include works on money (Rothbard: What Has Government Done to Our Money; Hulsmann: How Inflation Destroys Civilization; Salerno: The Progressive Road to Socialism), government, and moral philosophy (Hoppe: Social Democracy). The Cato Institute also publishes relevant works on both economics and politics. One recent publication is A Fiscal Cliff, new perspectives on the U.S. federal debt crisis. The Cato Institute is where I get the pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

            Boettke, Peter J., Coyne, Christopher J.: The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics ISBN 978-0-19-981176-2

                        Essays and articles on the school of Austrian Economics. Not for beginners, but an essential read for those interested in economics beyond the supply/demand curve and simple banking. Especially good for those who want to learn more about marginal utility and human action.

Exceptional historical piece on war, economics, and humanity: Ralph Raico, The World at War, ISBN 978-1-61016-778-9, as far as I know, only available at mises.org/store but may be also on Amazon. Mises.org has numerous pubs taken from Raico lectures, so far, all are good reading, excepting only Raico’s PhD dissertation, which requires familiarity with several European languages as some is in Italian, German, French and Spanish. Also, Leonard Read’s essays have been compiled into Freedom in One Lesson, and Hunter Lewis’ Economics in Three Lessons. In my opinion, these are intermediate reads only because none of the basics are taught in K-12, much less at the university level. Also, from memory, think that Hayek has Economics in One Lesson, but I cannot find my copy to verify this. Mises also has Hayek in the 21st century.

Business histories are a good place to go as they combine some economics with what has actually happened. William D. Cohan, John Steele Gordon, and Charlie Gasperino are just a few of the many business historians. I suggest starting with Gordon’s An Empire of Wealth, ISBN 978-0-06-06-009362-5.

For the issue of slavery, first read Foote, then go to:

            Thomas, Hugh: The Slave Trade, ISBN 978-0-684-81063-8

Adams, Charles: Slavery, Secession, & Civil War ISBN 978-0-8108-5863-3

Loads more when you are ready, especially works by The Founding Fathers. Things like how they were so opposed to troops being quartered in the homes of private citizens, a common practice from before the Roman Republic, how during The Ratification conventions, three states refused in conclave to ratify the 1787 Constitution (the one that we still have) unless everyone understood that they could leave the union at any time that they wanted to leave, (Mark Levin & Pete Hegseth notwithstanding, adequate research shows that slavery was not the over-riding issue, but that a combination of wealth redistribution and the items that Jefferson put into the Declaration of Independence on self-governance were), and how there was a secession movement by the New England states in 1814, and by South Carolina in 1826, and the Deep South in the 1850’s, this latter one causing Representative Abraham Lincoln to make a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives acknowledging the right to secede, but please don’t. Said speech is in the Congressional Record.[5]

Outstanding collectibles are available for S&H included at about $38.00, through The Library of America, loa.org . Look to the ‘slipcover’ copies which come with carboard slip covers of the hardback books.

Of further interest on the causes of the American Civil War, is the 1850’s Supreme Court decision Scott vs Davis a.k.a. The Dred Scott Decision. SCOTUS declared that slaves were property, and as such, fell under the private property restrictions of the constitution and as such, slaves were not protected by the constitution. Considering that at the time, ~58% of slaves were of African descent, importation of slaves forbidden around or before 1800, 38% Indians (“Native Americans”), 3% Chinese (working on the Pacific sections of the railroad) CA being a ‘free’ state the Chinese overseers/owners not bothering to tell their slaves that they were free, and 1% White (Irish mostly, domestics “up North”), slavery wasn’t really about Race, but the economic stealing of the productivity of the individual, which still goes on today everywhere, including the stolen labor of the women and children, illegals, being trafficked here in the U.S.A., and as an approved of method of converting one to Islam.

On Investing

Lots of books on personal financing and investing. Suze Orman and Dave Ramsay have some of the best starter books on controlling your personal finances, especially on the importance of saving. FOX Business News has some adequate programming on current events impacting the marketplace, Varney & Co. being one, however, one needs to know more than what they talk about, and the same with Bloomberg. Graham & Dodd’s Security Analysis ISBN 978-0-07-159253-6, is the premier work and the one that Warren Buffett credits for his success. Here are three easily readable and understandable works, and more are available through The Great Courses and from Hillsdale College.

            Payne, Charles: Unstoppable Prosperity, ISBN 978-1-7329113-3-8

            Babcock United Investment: Successful Investing, ISBN 0-671-64762-8

            Fridson, Martin S.: The Little Book of Picking Top Stocks, ISBN 978-1-394-17661-8

            Fullenkamp, Connel: (DVD from www.thegreatcourses.com ) Understanding Investments, ISBN 978-1-598-038323-X.

When you look at events, trends, and movements in their historical context, it is my opinion that it is all based on wealth.^[6] Consider how from the economics viewpoint, the American Civil War was so unnecessary, wasteful, and destructive. With Robert Fulton’s steam engine doing so much work for so much less effort and cost, slavery as an economically feasible use of resources was rapidly dying. There were steam threshers, steam tractors, steam locomotives, and even steam carriages by 1860.

Thomas Jefferson commented on how the steam engine would change things fifty years before The War of 1861.

 Slavery in the border states was mostly limited to personal/household slaves. Only in the Deep South were slaves still used, mostly for agriculture, which, if you look around today, picking crops is still mostly a human endeavor. Look at Hugo Chavez’ work in unionizing farm workers and what happened to him. Look at the recent results of the ICE raids on CA on the marijuana farms where illegal alien children were found to be harvesting pot plants.

On the blog, www.justplainbill.wordpress.com there is a ten-year-old bibliography for further reading, if you’re interested. That list has not been updated to include some of the works listed above. Neither list has much of what I would recommend for intermediate or advanced reading, as I simply have not gotten around to it, and I am still woefully behind on my own reading and writing.

The blog has recent posts, 12/2025 on wealth production and an open letter to Trump on suggested solutions.

An adequate source giving the European perspective on many things is: BBC History Magazine, www.historyextra.com . It is surprising to many Americans that the Europeans not only believe that they actually contributed to such events as WW II, NATO,^[7] democracy, &c., but in fact contributed a lot more than the U.S.A. did in destroyed wealth and people. Objective history/reporting, what a concept.[8]

Government

There are loads of books, including my own,[9] on government, however, the best introduction and commentary to government, are the two BBC series, Yes, Minister, and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister.

Sources for purchase: Amazon.com for most of them; if you do not mind used books in various conditions, thriftbooks.com; Raico, Read, and the economics & economic history books, are available on mises.org/store.

Bill

©justplainbill 2026

Cite as A Starter’s Reading List, www.justplainbill.wordpress.com© 2026.

[1] It is interesting to note that prior to the 1946 G.I. Bill, and still in the U.K., a ‘liberal education’ meant that you learned Greek and Latin. In order to properly learn these ancient languages, students had to read all of these, and other works, in the original tongue, so, prior to the Korean War, a liberal education meant that you actually got an excellent education in business, government, and philosophy. Something no longer available in our CRT – DEI world.

[2] You have heard the opening: Gaul is divided into four parts.

[3] Keeping in mind that Lincoln’s 1863 State of the Union address included how on a federal budget of $13,000,000.00 (Thirteen Million dollars) he had a surplus even though the economy was in shambles and he was financing an extensive war.

[4] Think that I am kidding? This includes the blood shed of the French Revolution, The Napoleonic Wars, The (unconstitutional) War of 1861, the Czarist Cheka pogroms, the slaughter of Germans, Jews, Gypsy’s, & dissidents by The Third Reich, Stalin’s starving of over 20M “White Russians” & Ukrainians & the Gulags, Mao’s starving of over 30M, CCP official numbers, during the Cultural Revolution and the recent One Child policy of the CCP resulting in an estimated 33M forced abortions, and of minor note, Pol Pot’s killing 6M of his own people.

[5] Important to note that speeches made on the house/senate floors are NOT what is in the CR. Before publication, boards are sent to the members for correction +/or change before printing allowing them to change anything that they want to what they want to actually be on record.

[6] Money is not wealth, money, i.e., cash/currency/moolah/pounds/dollars/&c., is a medium of exchange falsely representing wealth created by productivity. Money, especially fiat currency, is subject to arbitrary re-valuations and pricing by governments, monopolists, and various bureaucracies, as well as criminal activity such as counterfeiting. All economic wealth is created by productivity of physical labor, strokes of genius, +/or intellectual innovation & invention. And then, there’s wealth of spirit, health, and well-being. Remember, an ounce of gold in 1700 is still one ounce of gold in 2024. One pound in 1700 was almost six months wages whereas one pound today will not buy you a loaf of bread. Ten years ago, one ounce of gold was ~$700, today it is over $4,700/troz and silver just passed $92/troz. See Rothbard’s, What has Government done to our Money?

[7] Well, at least until the fall of the U.S.S.R. Recent historical emphasis on the WW I Eastern Front, Poland, Russia, Türkiye &c, has been ignored in the West. Good reporting in BBC History.

[8] Notwithstanding the recent honesty & truth scandals at the BBC itself, these articles are pretty good if you look out for the green hoax and DEI/CRT crap, which crap is self-evident.

[9] The Heartland Plan, © 2008 Eloquent Press ISBN 978-1-934925-59-1