All the holiday book lists fit to print (updated)

'Tis the time of the year for book recommendations, and Blaze Books has you covered in the recommendation round-up department.

We will be combing the internet for the best lists and scouring the lists for our favorite titles.

The Acton Institute: 7 Great Books for Christmas

"Washington’s Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer: "Starting out on Christmas Day, Gen. George Washington took his tattered and battle bruised Continental Army on a night time surprise crossing of the Delaware River in 1776. Washington then gathered his army and attacked the Hessian forces at Trenton New Jersey, who were largely asleep and hung over with Christmas spirit. The surprise beat down was so epic it helped to change the trajectory of the Revolutionary War. The author, David Hackett Fischer, won a Pulitzer Prize for his masterpiece in 2005." - Ray Nothstine

The American Spectator: Xmas Recommendations Vol. 1

"The Peloponnesian War"by Donald Kagan: "Recommendations take time, and the books I read are mostly written by dead people! Not inspirational by any stretch. If I recommend one book it is The Peloponnesian War. Of no consequence whatsoever to people who love books by Jonathans." - Andre Aciman

"War in the Desert" by John Bagot Glubb: "Wasn’t it Churchill who admonished us to read an old book before we pick up a new one? Old and relatively obscure is War in the Desert by Lt. Gen. Sir John Bagot Glubb (Hoddon and Stoughton Press, 1960). It’s compulsory reading for those who want to learn why the Middle East is what it is. Before it was Saudi Arabia, it was called “the Nejed.” And second to T.E. Lawrence, Glubb was probably the most dedicated “Arabist” the British ever sent to the Middle East. As a junior RAF officer in 1920, Glubb was assigned to help protect nomadic Iraqi tribes from the “Ikhwan”—a precursor of the Muslim Brotherhood—that attacked them from the Nejed. If you want to understand the Saudis, you must read Glubb’s history of that 10-year war." - Jed Babbin

"Disinformation" by Lt. Gen. Ion Pacepa: "Lt. Gen. Ion Pacepa was the head of the Romanian intelligence service and became the highest ranking defector from the Soviet bloc. His book Disinformation, written with Prof. Ronald Rychlak, is indispensable to those who wish to understand how the Soviets tried—and often succeeded—to remake history by relentlessly writing, speaking, and broadcasting lies. By recounting several disinformation campaigns, Pacepa and Rychlak teach an invaluable lesson about one of the most insidious tools of politics and war." - Jed Babbin

"American Betrayal" by Diana West: "American Betrayal by Diana West documents Soviet penetration of the U.S. government during World War II and the parallels today to how the “free world” is reacting to Islam. Do not be dissuaded by the controversy that has erupted around this book which, if you insist on complete accuracy, would be characterized as a disinformation campaign." - Jed Babbin

"America's Way Back" by Don Devine: "...an alternate proposal for the nature of fusionism in the post-Tea Party era..." - Ben Domenech

"Obamanomics" by Tim Carney: "Tim Carney’s Obamanomics, which outlines an America where the biggest collection of welfare queens isn’t located in impoverished inner cities, but headquartered on Wall Street and K Street, getting billion-dollar welfare checks from the government while the rest of us get stuck with the bill." - Ben Domenech

Forbes: The Best Books of 2013

"I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford" by Richard Snow: "Long before his obsessions and ego got the better of him, Henry Ford was a brilliant mechanic with bold ideas about how things should be made and how people should be paid. His early career is one of America’s great can-do tales, and Snow, a former editor of American Heritage (at the time owned by Forbes) tells it splendidly."

Mercatus Center Holiday Book Guide: The 2013 Mercatus Holiday Book Guide

"The Clash of Economic Ideas" by Laurence H. White: "For every movement, there is an equal and opposite counter-movement—or just about. As White shows inThe Clash of Economic Ideas, behind movements and counter-movements in economic policy lies an ongoing and dramatic clash of economic ideas. He interweaves the economic history of the last hundred years with the history of economic doctrines to understand how contrasting ideas have originated and developed over time to become the ideas we encounter today." - Mercatus

"Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the World" by Deirdre McCloskey: "Deirdre McCloskey explains how our modern world was not the product of new markets and innovations, but rather the result of shifting opinions about them. During this time, talk of private property, commerce, and even the bourgeoisie itself radically altered, becoming far more approving and flying in the face of prejudices several millennia old. Bourgeois Dignity is a feast of intellectual riches from one of our most spirited and ambitious historians—a work that will forever change our understanding of how the power of persuasion shapes our economic lives." - Mercatus

Regnery: Regnery's 2013 Gift Guide

"Letters to a Young Progressive" by Mike S. Adams: "Presented as a series of letters between author Mike S. Adams and his former student, Zach, "Letters to a Young Progressive" demonstrates how the world of progressive education encourages the next generation in the pursuit of unhappiness. Witty and enlightening,  this true story of liberal indoctrination and intellectual redemption is the perfect book to help parents prevent—or undo–the ubiquitous, liberal brainwashing of their children before it is too late." - Regnery

"The Little Green Book of Eco-Fascism" by James Delingpole: "James Delingpole hilariously demolishes the green movement’s most precious claims in "The Little Green Book of Eco-Fascism." Written in A to Z format and printed on guaranteed un-recycled paper made from the pulp of a thousand rare hardwood trees using nothing but the purest cruel-harvested baby squid ink, "The Little Green Book of Eco-Fascism" is your pocket guide to everything that’s wrong, funny, and downright crazy about the green movement. That’s a wide and fertile field of material, including entries on “threatened” polar bears, Climategate, fracking, Al Gore, and more. This guide to the sensationalist and misleading green movement brings a game-changing dose of reality to the environmental debate, and it does so with searing wit."

WSJ: The WSJ Best Nonfiction of 2013

"Margaret Thatcher" by Charles Moore: "She took a country that was bankrupt, dishonored and demoralized and made it prosperous, confident and free. In this utterly absorbing biography (the first volume of two), Charles Moore shows us whence her self-belief came and how this shopkeeper's daughter knocked aside trade-union leaders, Tory grandees, Eurocrats and Argentine strongmen." - WSJ

"The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue" by Daniel Vaughn: "If barbecue is a religion in Texas, Daniel Vaughn is its St. Paul. As he rides down back roads and into rural towns to eat 'cue—great, good and gag-inducing—he paints a rich portrait of Texas as a whole." - WSJ