This is a fundamental work in the liberal tradition that discusses the separation of powers and the checks/balances between them.

American political philosophy at its finest and its grandest. Any list would be bare without it.

Mills many works included here are On Liberty, On Representative Government, and the Subjugation of Women.

A grave and prophetic warning against the path of socialism, laughed at in its time and revered after the terrifying truth.

A great economic work of one of the great Catholic neoconservative scholars following in the wake of John Paul II's ascendency.

As an introduction to the historical context of international relations, there is no other that so wonderfully convers the last two centuries. A good companion volume is The Shield of Achilles.

By the World War II historian who brought us D-Day, Band of Brothers, and the definitive biography of Eisenhower comes the history of the last fifty years of US foreign policy.

An extremely well written history of the twentieth century. His Birth of the Modern, A History of Christianity, the Jews, and the American People (three seperate books) are all excellent must reads.

A timely overview of US foreign policy traditions stemming back to the early days of the American Republic, and what those strategies mean for us today.

This moumentally influential book, written only a few short years after the end of the Cold War, sets the tone for all international situations today. His Who Are We? should be mostly ignored.

This is a very timely work that explains in detail the history between America and Iran leading up to the present day, with a unique recommendation for stability that contrasts with his previous book.

By the same author, this wonderful work on globalization works as a more thorough update to his The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and should be read with Three Billion New Capitalists for good measure.