Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past
This is a very interesting book that is equally interesting for the specific popular falsehoods that it addresses, as well as for the understanding of how history is made and how such falsehoods become not only widely believed, but institutionalized and taught in schools. The books deals mainly wiith myths surrounding the creation of the United States of America and the Revolutionary War.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
This is a highly acclaimed book that I highly recommend and which goes a log way to explain differences in civilizations around the world, and the rise of the dominance of Western Civilization, without appeals to either divinity or racial superiority.

Ten days that Shook the World by Reed and Taylor (1917)
This book is pretty much required reading for any student of the Bolshevik Revolution.

The Russians by Hedrick Smith (1976)
This is one of the best books I've ever read and was widely hailed in it's day as one of the best books of the time. You can pick this book up for almost nothing and it is by far the best few dollars you will ever spend. Even today this is considered one of the best books on what life was really like in the Soviet Union during the height of the Communist regime.

Lusitania by Diane Preston
This is a good narrative style book about the sinking of the Lusitania and the events of that period.

Farewell to the Party of Lincoln by Nancy J. Weiss
Excellent and unique book that addresses a very important political shift in American politics, when Black Americans began to desert the Republican Party and move to the Democratic Party.

The Uses of Haiti by Paul Farmer
This book is written in the style of books by Noam Chomsky and addresses similar issues. It's a very good book for people looking to understand the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and the role that world powers, including the United States, have had in making it that way.

Hearst Over Hollywood by Louis Pizzitola
This book discuses a variety of aspects of the life and influences of William Randolph Hearst, of note to me was his role in anti-Communist propaganda.

IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black
This was a breakthrough book on the subject of the involvement of some of America's largest institutions in the Holocaust, detailing how and why IBM and other companies aided the Nazis.

Banking on Baghdad: Inside Iraq's 7,000-Year History of War, Profit, and Conflict by Edwin Black
I participated in the writing of this book as a research assistant. This book takes on familiar themes in the writings of Edwin Black, and does a good job of covering the huge span of Iraqi history. This is an excellent book if you want to get an overview of Iraqi history from thousands of years ago up to today, and to see how that history is relevant to today.

Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives by Edwin Black
This book follows general themes in Edwin's writings, and much of this initial work came out of the research that was done for Banking on Baghdad.

The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich by Max Wallace
This is one of the leading books on the involvement of Henry Ford, Charles Lindberg, and other Americans in supporting the Nazi regime and helping them to build their war machine.

Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History by Hans Schmidt
One of the few biographies on perhaps one of most under appreciated and fascinating people in American history.

Ho Chi Minh: A Life by William J Duiker
This is probably the leading biography on the fascinating life of Ho Chi Minh, and is pretty balanced overall, coming to the same basic conclusion that I have come to about Ho Chi Minh, which is that Ho Chi Minh was primarily a nationalist and wanted to work with the United States to obtain Vietnamese independence, not against us.

American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll by Orvin Larson
Biography of another of America's other unsung heroes which also sheds light on a fascinating time in American history, the late 19th century, when the Freethought movement and other social movements were in fully swing and people were really exploring new ideas.

The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times by Adrienne Mayor
This is a groundbreaking and detailed expose on the use of fossils in ancient Greece and their role in inspiring Greek mythology and naturalistic understandings of the world. Highly recommended for anyone interested in paleontology or ancient cultures or mythology.

Fossil Legends of the First Americans by Adrienne Mayor
This work follows up the similar book on the Greeks and discusses the large extent to which Native Americans made use of fossils in their culture, and how Native Americans helped get paleontology off the ground in early America (for which they did not receive credit).

The Birth of a Nation (1915) (DVD)
This is a silent film that portrays the KKK as saviors of American culture. This is the largest grossing silent film of all time and was highly popular when it came out. This is a must watch film for any serious student of American race relations. Ironically, it is also a must watch for any student of special effects history, as this was the groundbreaking special effects film of its day.

Triumph of the Will (Special Edition) (1934) (DVD)
Like Birth of a Nation, this was a groundbreaking cinematic film of its time, but it was also a major piece of propaganda. This was the premier propaganda film for the Nazis during Hitler's reign and should be watched by any student of Nazi Germany. Be sure to get this Special Edition version, since it has subtitles and a voice-over that explains the film as well. Be sure to watch it more than once, one time with the voice over and one time without it, but with subtitles instead to see first hand what they are saying.

Frank Capra's WWII: Why We Fight - American Propaganda Films of WWII (1940s) (DVD)
A very interesting series of American propaganda films from the World War II era. Most fascinating for me were the ones on Russia and China. There is a lot of pro-Stalin propaganda in the one about Russia because we were allies at the time.

The Atomic Cafe (1982) (DVD)
A great history lesson for younger generations who have no idea what the Cold War was like or about. Of course this is concentrated viewing, it's not like people were bombarded with these messages every day, but this shows many of the government films about nuclear war that were shown on TV and in schools during the height of the Cold War.

The Fog of War - Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2004) (DVD)
This is an excellent film about Vietnam that is basically just an interview with Robert McNamara and his discussion of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned.

Going Upriver - The Long War of John Kerry (2004) (DVD)
This film is worth seeing even if you are not a John Kerry fan just for the Vietnam War era footage, both in Vietnam and of the protests in America.

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776)
This is required reading for any serious student of economics. As old as this book is it holds up well, and though not all of its ideas are still accepted today, I think that many of the ideas are wrongly missing from much of the neo-classical economics that is taught today. This is one of the best intellectual books of all time.

Marxism: For and Against by Robert L. Heilbroner
This is a good even-handed introduction to Marxism. If you don't know much about Marxism but you would like to learn something about it aside from just propaganda, this is the book to start with. It's probably better to start with this than to actually read the works of Karl Marx on your own, since they can be hard to read.

American Economic History by Hughes and Cain
This is by far the best book on the history of the American economy that I have read. It's a text book basically, but well worth it for any student of American economics. It's easy to read, yet full of data as well, and is very even-handed and non-ideological. If you are interested in the economics of American slavery this is also an excellent book to get. I have read the 6th edition, but there is a 7th edition out now. I am not aware of the differences between the two.

The Corporation (2004) (DVD)
This is a popular and acclaimed "documentary" on the role of corporations in the American economy and the world in general. A must have for anti-corporatist.

The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus: Fragments
Great book for serious students of ancient Greek naturalistic philosophy. This is one of the the most complete collections of texts that relate to these two founders of Greek atomic theory. This book contains both English translations and the original Greek for many passages, as well as commentary.

Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle (Readings in the History of Philosophy)
This book is a collection of primary sources, not a commentary or historical summary, but if you want access to the original texts this has a good broad collection from the most important ancient Greek philosophers.

Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics: Analysis and Fragments by Nikolaos Bakalis
This is a large book that is not for recreational reading, but it is one of the best discussions and summaries of ancient Greek philosophy. A great book for serious students.

Karl Marx: Selected Writings
If you want a "best of" hard copy of the original writings of Karl Marx, this is your best best. This book covers mostly his earlier and philosophical works.

The Age Of Reason by Thomas Paine (1794)
This is a must read book for any student of religious criticism or freethought. Despite being over 300 years old it's still one of the best critiques of the Bible there is, and a scathing case against Christianity by one of American's founding fathers. This should be required reading at the high school level.

Best of Robert Ingersoll: Selections from His Writings and Speeches (1800s)
If you want a "best of" collection of the original works of Robert Ingersoll this is a good book to get, it covers his most well known and important works.

The Christ Myth by Arthur Drews (1909)
This book was the first truly academic and well publicized work to argue that Jesus Christ never existed, but that instead his story developed from a "mythical" basis.

The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? by Earl Doherty
This new book takes up the same type of case that was put forward in The Christ Myth and presents many new arguments and pieces of supporting evidence. This is one of the leading "Jesus Myth" works.

Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition? by Robert M. Price
While Robert M. Price does not come to any conclusion about the historical existence of Jesus, his works are highly respected and his analysis of the Gospels and early Christian works is very illuminating. I learned something new on just about every page of this book.

The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-four Formative Texts by Robert M. Price
One of a few highly valuable critical assessments of early Christian writings. This one addresses works that are not a part of the present New Testament.

The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts by Finkelstein and Silberman
This is a highly quality work by some of the best authorities in the field of Hebrew studies that presents the latest scholarship on ancient Hebrew history, showing that much of the Old Testament is not factual and is contradicted by the historical and archeological record. Moses and most of the other patriarchs are mythical figures, or at least there is no historical evidence for them, nor even any evidence that leads to the likelihood of their having existed.

Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
This is a wide ranging and well written work that brings forward many otherwise obscure figures in American history and discusses the prevalence of religious criticism, secularism, and freethought throughout American history.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
This is Richard Dawkins' latest book, which really takes religious belief and religious believers to task. If you are already familiar with religious criticism then you have probably already heard most of this before. If you are looking for answers and are uncertain about religion and would like to see the atheist perspective, this is a good book for you.

A Rebel to His Last Breath: Joseph McCabe and Rationalism by Bill Cooke
This is basically the only biography there is of Joseph McCabe, who is well worth reading about. Perhaps McCabe was ahead of his, I'm not sure, but for whatever reason, despite his immense volume of high quality work, his scholarship, and his easily readable style, McCabe didn't have a lasting social impact. Nevertheless he led a fascinating life and produced a huge volume of very good work on philosophy, history,  and religious criticism.

War is a Racket by Smedley D. Bultler (1935)
This is another book that should be required reading by the high school level. This is a must have book for any one passionate about the anti-war movement, and should also be read by people in the military. Smedley was one of the most highly decorated Marines prior to World War II, and served all over the world, the lessons of which compelled him to write this scathing anti-war booklet.

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill by Ron Suskind
This is a well written book that was very interesting and important when it came out. I'm not sure it's worth reading now unless you are studying the presidency of George W. Bush. Most people now are aware of how messed-up his presidency is, which is the main topic of this work.

What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank
While I don't fully agree with the conclusions drawn in this book, and I would have said a few things differently, this is still a great book. This is a work that points out so many ways that conservative end up causing their own political and economic problems.

State of Denial: Bush at War by Bob Woodward
Like The Price of Loyalty, this is a well written and fascinating book, if you are actually still interested in hearing about how bad the Bush presidency is. It's a good book to have if you are researching the Bush presidency.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) (DVD)
This is a documentary similar to The Corporation, I found it fascinating, and due to the fact that it's about something more concrete I think that in some ways its more interesting than The Corporation.

Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004) (DVD)
An interesting behind the scenes look at FOX News during the height of it's support of the Bush administration, as well as some background on how and why the channel, and American media in general, have become so supportive of the establishment in America.

Life on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough
This is an older book, written in the 1980s, but it's still one of the best books on evolution that there is. I highly recommend this for anyone from teenagers on up. This book has lots of pictures and is written in a highly narrative fashion that is warm and easy to read. It's not the latest scholarship anymore, but that doesn't detract much.

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker
This is pretty much required reading for anyone interested in behavioral evolution or a fundamental material understanding of the mind and thought. Even though this book isn't that old, written in 1997, it is no longer the very latest in scholarship, but will likely remain the best book on this subject for a long time. In addition to How the Mind Works, I also recommend getting a subscription to Scientific American MIND, the only magazine of its kind and, as far as I'm concerned, the very best reading material out there right now.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Though this book is now over 30 years old, this is a seminal work of Richard Dawkins and was the book that introduced the concept of memes. I think that of Dawkins' books on evolution, this is the best one to get.

Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl
While this may seem like an odd subject, this is a fascinating and much needed book on animal sexuality. This really shouldn't be considered a book on homosexuality, it's a book on animal sexuality in general. Sexuality is, of course, a key part of life and this book addresses many issues that go well beyond simple issues of homosexuality, for example trying to fit homosexuality into the evolutionary model, which has implications for many aspects of life that don't seem to have any adaptive advantage. This book looks at over 100 specific examples of homosexuality and other forms of so-called "deviant" sexuality in wild animals and shows that homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender, group sex, and more, are all pervasive in nature.

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil
This book has to be taken with a grain of salt, but it is still very much worth reading in order to get an idea of what is possible to happen in the future, and to get familiarized with many important concepts relating to transhumanism and the future social impacts of technology.