Greatest 20th Century Non-Fiction (chosen by Nat. Review)
Discover the greatest 20th-century non-fiction books as chosen by National Review. Explore this curated list of influential works that shaped modern thought and culture.
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Wwii 6vol Pa Boxed Set
by Winston Churchill
Covers the beginning of the summer of 1943 to the evening of June 5, 1943 with the great armada waiting for the historic landing on June 6.
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The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956
by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Drawing on his own incarceration and exile, as well as on evidence from more than 200 fellow prisoners and Soviet archives, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn reveals the entire apparatus of Soviet repression -- the state within the state that ruled all-powerfully. Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims -- men, women, and children -- we encounter secret police operations, labor camps and prisons; the uprooting or extermination of whole populations, the "welcome" that awaited Russian soldiers who had been German prisoners of war. Yet we also witness the astounding moral courage of the incorruptible, who, defenseless, endured great brutality and degradation. The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956 -- a grisly indictment of a regime, fashioned here into a veritable literary miracle -- has now been updated with a new introduction that includes the fall of the Soviet Union and Solzhenitsyn's move back to Russia.
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The Road to Serfdom
by Friedrich August Hayek
Examines the relationship between individual liberty and government authority, and argues that granting government control of the economy leads to disaster
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The Abolition of Man
by C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the importance and relevance of universal values such as courage and honor in contemporary society.
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Capitalism and Freedom
by Milton Friedman
In the process, he outlines the role that government should play in a society dedicated to freedom and relying primarily on the market to organize economic activity.".
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Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays
by Michael Oakeshott
Rationalism in Politics, first published in 1962, has established the late Michael Oakeshott as the leading conservative political theorist in modern Britain. This expanded collection of essays astutely points out the limits of 'reason' in rationalist politics. Oakeshott criticizes ideological schemes to reform society according to supposedly 'scientific' or rationalistic principles that ignore the wealth and variety of human experience. "Rationalism in politics," says Oakeshott, "involves a misconception with regard to the nature of human knowledge." History has shown that it produces unexpected, often disastrous results. "Having cut himself off from the traditional knowledge of his society, and denied the value of any education more extensive than a training in a technique of analysis," the Rationalist succeeds only in undermining the institutions that hold civilized society together. In this regard, rationalism in politics is "a corruption of the mind."
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Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy
by Joseph A. Schumpeter
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy remains one of the greatest works of social theory written this century. When it first appeared the New English Weekly predicted that for the next five to ten years it will cetainly remain a work with which no one who professes any degree of information on sociology or economics can afford to be unacquainted.' Fifty years on, this prediction seems a little understated. Why has the work endured so well? Schumpeter's contention that the seeds of capitalism's decline were internal, and his equal and opposite hostility to centralist socialism have perplexed, engaged and infuriated readers since the book's publication. By refusing to become an advocate for either position Schumpeter was able both to make his own great and original contribution and to clear the way for a more balanced consideration of the most important social movements of his and our time.
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Economy and Society
by Max Weber
Max Weber's Economy and Society is the greatest sociological treatise written in this century. Published posthumously in Germany in the early 1920s, it has become a constitutive part of the modern sociological imagination.
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The Origins of Totalitarianism
by Hannah Arendt
"How could such a book speak so powerfully to our present moment? The short answer is that we, too, live in dark times, even if they are different and perhaps less dark, and "Origins" raises a set of fundamental questions about how tyranny can arise and the dangerous forms of inhumanity to which it can lead." Jeffrey C. Isaac, The Washington Post Hannah Arendt's definitive work on totalitarianism and an essential component of any study of twentieth-century political history The Origins of Totalitarianism begins with the rise of anti-Semitism in central and western Europe in the 1800s and continues with an examination of European colonial imperialism from 1884 to the outbreak of World War I. Arendt explores the institutions and operations of totalitarian movements, focusing on the two genuine forms of totalitarian government in our time--Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia--which she adroitly recognizes were two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing philosophies of Right and Left. From this vantage point, she discusses the evolution of classes into masses, the role of propaganda in dealing with the nontotalitarian world, the use of terror, and the nature of isolation and loneliness as preconditions for total domination.
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Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
by Rebecca West
Shares the author's impressions of Yugoslavia, and describes the history of the region and the sources of its political problems
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Sociobiology
by Edward O. Wilson
When this work was first published it started a tumultuous round in the age-old nature versus nurture debate. It shows how research in human genetics and neuroscience has strengthened the case for biological understanding of human nature.
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On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum Centesimus Annus
by Jan Paweł II ((papież ;)
No summary available.
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The Pursuit of the Millennium
by Norman Cohn
This fascinating book explores the millenarianism that flourished in Western Europe between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries.
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The Great Terror
by Robert Conquest
The definitive work on Stalin's purges, The Great Terror was universally hailed when it first appeared in 1968. In the last few years, with the advent of glastnost, an avalanche of new material has been made available. Now Conquest has mined this wealth of new information to write a substantially new edition of his classic work.
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Chronicles of Wasted Time
by Malcolm Muggeridge
The internationally-known editor and journalist records his aspirations and experiences from the early 1900s through the end of World War II
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Relativity
by Albert Einstein
An easy to understand collection of the ideas of one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century including the idea he is most known for, the theory of relativity Redesigned inside and out to have a fresh, appealing look, this new edition of a classic Crown Trade Paperback is a collection of Einstein's own popular writings on his work and describes the meaning of his main theories in a way virtually everyone can understand.
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Witness
by Whittaker Chambers
The author recounts the forces that shaped his life, describes his involvement with the Communist Party, and explains the reasons for his identification of Alger Hiss as a Communist agent.
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Mere Christianity
by C. S. Lewis
A forceful and accessible discussion of Christian belief that has become one of the most popular introductions to Christianity and one of the most popular of Lewis's books. Uncovers common ground upon which all Christians can stand together.