Reply #18: blowback by chalmers johnson [View All]

As head of the japaese-american cultural society, and professor emeritus from UC... he's well qualified to cut in to american policy.

I like some of the books people have listed, but i wish that people would write about the book a little bit, so i can understand "why" they thought that book such a great "original source."

By that standard, alex de toquiville's book on ameirca is still highly relevant.

That aside, good primary source work might include the writings of Adam Smith, John Steward Mill, Rousseau, Emerson and Thoreau. If one is to spend the reading time, best to focus on understanding the framers of the constitution and its greats... as all that enlightenment in american"ism" is 2 centuries ago, best to read there when looking for "primary" sources.