• "Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued.... Woods has opened up an area of historical analysis that should invite further study."
    -Journal of American History

  • "During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods."
    -Barry Goldwater Jr.
    Former Member of Congress

  • "I strongly recommend Woods's work."
    -The Honorable Ron Paul,
    U.S. House of Representatives

  • "Written with great clarity and fluency, making the complex philosophical and theological concepts approachable."
    -Journal of American Studies

  • "A must-read."
    -Barron's

  • "An excellent reading source for anyone interested in financial markets, and much more so for anyone interested in learning about capitalism without all the misinterpretations being thrown about in the financial media."
    -Asia Times

  • "Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read."
    -Catholic Historical Review

  • "An engaging and important contribution to scholarship on the history of American Catholicism."
    -Journal of the Historical Society

  • "Woods and [co-author Kevin] Gutzman appeal to both left and right in this constitutionalist jeremiad…. The authors' exegeses of the Constitution and court decisions, heavy on original intent arguments, are lucid and telling."
    -Publishers Weekly

  • "A marvelous read. Every chapter taught me something new and unexpected."
    -Tom Bethell, senior editor,
    The American Spectator

  • "The hottest book today is Meltdown, by my friend Tom Woods."
    -Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst,
    FOX News Channel

  • "Should be required reading."
    -Economic Affairs (London)

  • "Woods, one of the best classical liberal [libertarian] scholars of his generation, has once more placed us in his debt with this lucid and tightly argued book."
    -David Gordon, The Mises Review

  • "Tom Woods is one of my dearest allies in the struggle against wrong-headed and dangerous economic policy."
    -Peter Schiff

Study the Great Books, Painlessly

My friend Jason Jewell, who heads the department of humanities at Faulkner University and who prepared 84 lectures in Western civilization for my Liberty Classroom, made a new year’s resolution in 2011 to read the 60-volume Great Books of the Western World series over the course of seven years, including the additional Gateway to the Great Books (another ten volumes). Here’s his post laying out the plan, along with links to the table of contents for each series. He’s blogging about his weekly reading on his Western Tradition blog.

Follow along with him — it’s just a little reading every week, and surely worth the effort.

Unlearn the Propaganda!

  • http://www.facebook.com/austin.holthaus Austin Holthaus

    Did I miss it, or is there no Bastiat? The Law is quite possibly the best document I have ever read.

  • http://profiles.google.com/phattonez7 Anthony Fernandez

    It’s a great program. About 100 pages of reading a week of masterpieces. I’m trying to catch up, but it is truly breathtaking reading.

  • Jason Jewell

    Austin, Bastiat is not in either of the two book series (although he is in the supplemental lists found in Volumes 1-2 of Great Books of the Western World). If you read “The Great Conversation,” to which I link from the post Tom linked, you’ll find a discussion of the reasoning behind the selection process Mortimer Adler and the other series editors used. Bastiat was not well known in the English-speaking world at the time these series were compiled.

  • http://www.facebook.com/austin.holthaus Austin Holthaus

    Fair enough. I’m thankful he is more well known today (although not well known enough IMHO). Thanks Jason!