Classic, essential reading – all in one place

The WND Superstore is making it easier than ever to be a truly informed citizen by gathering in one place essential reading – classic works of history and economics that should be standards in your library.

Here are just some of the works available – with many more being added weekly and even daily to the Classic Books section of WND’s Superstore:

“The Road to Serfdom” by F.A. Hayek: An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, “The Road to Serfdom” has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944 – when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Josef Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock and barrel to the socialist program – “The Road to Serfdom” was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the disaster of the communist Soviet Union. More than 1 million copies of this book have been distributed in the United States, and it has been translated into more than 20 languages. In this time of creeping socialism here in the U.S., it’s time to learn the history of past mistakes and the theory behind them.

“The Fatal Conceit” by F.A. Hayek: Maybe you’ve already read “The Road to Serfdom.” But have you read Hayek’s “The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism”? Now’s your chance. In it, the brilliant economist provides the main arguments for the free market and presents his manifesto. Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and even on logical, grounds and that its repeated failures in the many different practical applications of socialist ideas that this century has witnessed were the direct outcome of these errors. He labels as the “fatal conceit” the idea that “man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes.”

“Capitalism and Freedom” By Milton Friedman: Perhaps you’re looking for something more contemporary on the foundations of free enterprise. How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of his immensely influential economic philosophy – one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. The result is an accessible text that has sold well over half a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages and shows every sign of becoming more and more influential as time goes on.

“Basic Economics” by Thomas Sowell: This completely revised and updated third edition of Thomas Sowell’s instrumental work includes a new chapter on government finance. Basic Economics is a citizen’s guide to economics – for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Sowell reveals the general principles behind any kind of economy – capitalist, socialist, feudal and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.

“Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt: A simple, straightforward analysis of economic fallacies that are so prevalent they have almost become a new orthodoxy.

“Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties” by Paul Johnson: The history of the 20th century is marked by two great narratives: nations locked in savage wars over ideology and territory, and scientists overturning the received wisdom of preceding generations. For Paul Johnson, the modern era begins with one of the second types of revolutions, in 1919, when English astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington translated observations from a solar eclipse into proof of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which turned Newtonian physics on its head. Eddington’s research became an international cause célèbre: “No exercise in scientific verification, before or since, has ever attracted so many headlines or become a topic of universal conversation,” Johnson writes, and it made Einstein into science’s first real folk hero.

“Witness” by Whitaker Chambers: First published in 1952, “Witness” was at once a literary effort, a philosophical treatise, and a bestseller. Whittaker Chambers had just participated in America’s trial of the century in which Chambers claimed that Alger Hiss, a full-standing member of the political establishment, was a spy for the Soviet Union. This poetic autobiography recounts the famous case but also reveals much more. Chambers’ worldview – e.g. “man without mysticism is a monster” – went on to help make political conservatism a national force.

And that’s just a sampling.

From Solzhenitsyn to Josephus to Karl Marx, if you want to study the literature important to the world and to Western Civilization, we’re making a special place for you to browse in the classics category of the WND Superstore.

There are more titles coming all the time. And when they arrive, you can be sure they’ve been pre-selected and reviewed by WND editors as true classics – must-reads for all well-educated and self-educated people.

Visit the new Classic Books section of the WND Superstore now.