Hitchens, Peter. Rage Against God, Zonedervan, 2011. Brother of the late atheist Christopher Hitchens, the author recounts his life an his stay as a news correspondent in Soviet Russia. Seeing the full manifestation of atheism in a society, he realizes the bankruptcy of his own belief system and turns to the roots of Anglican faith.

Crocker, H.W., Triumph, The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church. Three Rivers Press, 2003. This is an incredible book about the two thousand year history of the Catholic Church. Readers will come away with an understanding of the Church and its importance in the West as well as astonishment as to how the Church managed to survive and prevail against the powers of hell.

Kraybill, et.al, Amish Grace, How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy. Jossey-Bass, 2010. This book analyzes the Amish ability to overcome the Nickel Mines tragedy far better than English society copes with similar tragedies. It’s interesting to note that in much of their theology the Amish are like Catholics.

Ackroyd, Peter, The Life of Thomas More. A secular biography of St/Sir Thomas More. Even with a lack of hagiography, the life of Thomas More was incredibly consistent. If only there were people like him in existence today.

Mander, Jerry, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television.  A strange encounter with a strange book, I found this in the study of a AirBNB rental called White Lotus in central Virginia. Written in the 1970’s by an advertising executive it shows how technology is not always neutral and, in this case, inherently detrimental. Quasi-liberal but I agreed with many of the assertions and would dare to apply the same logic to the Elimination of the Internet.

Shirer, William, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Written by a correspondent who lived in Germany during this dark era, the book accounts the history and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his political party. The authors personal notes are often quite astounding and we are all served by watching how history repeats itself.

Belloc, Hillaire, Characters of the Reformation. You will absolutely get seething angry at the motivations behind the reformations and how England screwed everything and everyone. Who was the motivating factor for the Reformation? Was it Luther? No, but a scoundrel named Thomas Cromwell who enriched himself on confiscated Church property.

Abigail Shrier, Irreversible Damage. In every era of teenage coming of age, there is something emblematic of rebellion: goth, tattoos, cigarettes, marijuana t-shirts, concerts. But since 2010, the emblem of transitioning doesn’t remove easily in the mid to late twenties when all that non-sense is realized in maturity. Shrier, Wall Street Journal editor takes you through the latest insanity of our toxic culture.