Home

Books and Videos

The NHLA believes that liberty is a value that must be shared if it will thrive. To that end, we have compiled a list of liberty-themed books and videos. This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully we have included many favorites as well as a few less-familiar ones. It is our hope that you share these resources with your family, friends, and colleagues to spread the message of liberty and freedom.

If you choose to add to your collection, please consider supporting the NHLA by using the Amazon link below:

Shop at Amazon.com!

While many of these great books and videos are available through Amazon, here are some additional vendors that focus on liberty and freedom issues. We appreciate the business you direct to support these retailers.

Liberty can not be preserved without a general knowledge among the people. – John Adams

Historical documents

Books for younger children, recommended for grades K-2

  • An Island Called Liberty by Joseph Specht
  • The American Wei by Marion Hess Pomeranc
  • Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro
  • The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh
  • House Mouse, Senate Mouse by Peter Barnes and Cheryl Barnes
  • I Am a Good Citizen by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann
  • The Island of the Skrog by Steven Kellogg
  • L is for Liberty by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
  • Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
  • Pete for President! by Daisy Alberto
  • Red, White and Blue: The Story of the American Flag by John Herman
  • Saving the Liberty Bell (On My Own History) by Marty Rhodes Figley
  • So What is Citizenship Anyway? by Chelsea Luthringer
  • The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
  • The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
  • Vote! by Eileen Christelow

Books for older children, recommended for grades 3-6

  • The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey by Ken Schoolland
  • America Is... by Louise Borden
  • Betsy Ross by Alexandra Wallner
  • The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
  • Chickens May Not Cross the Road and Other Crazy (But True) Laws by Kathi Linz
  • How an Economy Grows and Why It Doesn’t by Irwin A. Schiff
  • How the U.S. Government Works by Syl Sobel
  • The Importance of Being an Active Citizen by Anne Beier
  • Kids are Citizens by Ellen Keller
  • Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen
  • A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy Maestro
  • A Picture Book of Paul Revere by David A. Adler
  • The Tripod series by John Christopher
  • The Uncle Eric books by Richard J. Maybury
  • Volunteering for a Political Campaign by Sheila Klee
  • We Live Here Too! Kids Talk About Good Citizenship by Nancy Loewen
  • We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States by David Catrow

Books for teens and adults

Several authors have many works of science fiction with a strong liberty (or dystopian government) focus:

  • Poul Anderson
  • Orson Scott Card, notably Ender's Game
  • Robert Heinlein, notably Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
  • Dean Koontz
  • Ayn Rand, notably Anthem and Atlas Shrugged
  • L. Neil Smith
  • F. Paul Wilson
  • Vernor Vinge

The Libertarian Futurist Society awards Prometheus awards for libertarian science fiction.

Prometheus Hall of Fame Award Winners:

  • Alongside Night by J. Neil Schulman
  • Animal Farm by George Orwell
  • Anthem by Ayn Rand
  • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
  • A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson
  • An Enemy of the State by F. Paul Wilson
  • Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  • The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell
  • The Healer by F. Paul Wilson
  • It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
  • The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
  • Methuselah's Children by Robert Heinlein
  • The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
  • No Truce with Kings by Poul Anderson
  • A Planet for Texans aka Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper and John McGuire
  • The Prisoner by Patrick McGoohan
  • Red Planet by Robert Heinlein
  • Requiem by Robert Heinlein
  • The Star Fox by Poul Anderson
  • The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
  • Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
  • The Survival of Freedom by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr editors
  • The Syndic by Cyril Kornbluth
  • Illuminatus! by Robert Anton Wilson/Robert Shea
  • This Perfect Day by Ira Levin
  • Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
  • Trader to the Stars by Poul Anderson
  • True Names by Vernor Vinge
  • The Ungoverned by Vernor Vinge
  • V for Vendetta by Alan Moore (writing) and David Lloyd (art)
  • We by Yevnegi Zamiatin
  • The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. van Vogt

Prometheus Best Novel Award Winners:

2011
Darkship Thieves by Sarah Hoyt
2010
The Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin
2009
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
2008
The Gladiator by Harry Turtledove; Ha'penny by Jo Walton
2007
Glasshouse by Charles Stross
2006
Learning the World by Ken MacLeod
2005
The System of the World by Neal Stephenson
2004
Sims by F. Paul Wilson
2003
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
2002
Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury
2001
The Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
2000
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
1999
The Golden Globe by John Varley
1998
The Stone Canal by Ken MacLeod
1997
Kings of the High Frontier by Victor Koman
1996
The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod
1995
The Stars are also Fire by Poul Anderson
1994
Pallas by L. Neil Smith
1993
The Multiplex Man by James P. Hogan
1992
Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn
1991
In the Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn
1990
Solomon's Knife by Victor Koman
1989
Moon of Ice by Brad Linaweaver
1988
The Jehovah Contract by Victor Koman
1987
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge
1986
Cybernetic Samurai by Victor Milan
1984
The Rainbow Cadenza by J. Neil Schulman
1983
Voyage from Yesteryear by James P. Hogan
1982
The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith
1979
Wheels Within Wheels by F. Paul Wilson

Prometheus Special Award Winners:

2007
V For Vendetta (movie) by James McTeigue (director) and The Wachowski Brothers (screenplay)
2006
Serenity (movie) by Joss Whedon (writer/director)
2005
The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel by L. Neil Smith (writer) and Scott Bieser (illustrator)
2005
Give Me Liberty and Visions of Liberty, anthologies for Baen Books by Editors Mark Tier and Martin H. Greenberg
2001
Special Prometheus Award for Lifetime Achievement by Poul Anderson
1998
Free Space (Anthology) by Editors Brad Linaweaver and Edward E Kramer

Other titles:

  • Abraham by Bruce Feiler
  • Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
  • Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
  • The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard
  • The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
  • Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Children of the Atom by Wilmar Shiras
  • Cities in Flight by James Blish
  • Citizen/Slave Understanding the American Sovereign Spirit by Robert Hart
  • The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  • Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison
  • Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison
  • The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
  • Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
  • Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
  • Economics in a Box: A Complete 16-Week Curriculum available at www.economicthinking.org
  • Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
  • End the Fed by Ron Paul
  • The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf
  • The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
  • A Foreign Policy of Freedom by Ron Paul
  • The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  • The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
  • Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton Friedman
  • Gateway by Frederik Pohl
  • Give Me Liberty by Rose Wilder Lane
  • The Giver by Lois Lowry
  • Good to be King by Michael Badnarik
  • Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
  • Healing Our World by Mary J. Ruwart
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  • How Capitalism Saved America by DiLorenzo
  • I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
  • I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
  • The LaNague Chronicles by F. Paul Wilson
  • The Law by Frederic Bastiat
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • An excerpt from The Life of Colonel David Crockett about welfare (appears at LewRockwell.com)
  • Little, Big by John Crowley
  • Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence by B.J. Lossing
  • Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
  • The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
  • Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
  • The Mitzvah and Hope by Aaron Zelman and L Neil Smith
  • More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
  • Neuromancer by William Gibson
  • On the Beach by Nevil Shute
  • Out of the Gray Zone by Claire Wolfe and Aaron Zelman
  • The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods
  • The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy
  • The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
  • The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul
  • Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
  • Ringworld by Larry Niven
  • The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
  • Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
  • Shadows of Power by James Perloff
  • The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut
  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
  • Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
  • The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
  • Timescape by Gregory Benford
  • To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
  • The Undergound History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto

Videos and Films

Miss Liberty's Guide to Film and Video: Movies for the Libertarian Millennium by Jon Osborne, published in 2001, has a fairly comprehensive review of liberty movies up to that point.

1776 (1972)

1776 was adapted from the hit Broadway musical. The story is set during the first Continental Congress, when the Declaration of Independence was drafted. It dramatizes how the founding fathers as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson used persuasion, delay, and other tactics to persuade the young colony to support the resolution for independence.

Economics for High School Students by Ludwig von Misses Institute

http://mises.org/Feeds/media.ashx?CategoryId=203 This web page contains several short audio and video presentations, all recorded at the Mises Intitute in November 2009, covering the libertarian perspective on economics. These highly recommended teachings are based on sound principles and are readily understandable.

Enemy of the State (1998)

Will Smith finds out the hard way how much surveillance the government has on the American people. Rated R.

Firefly, the Complete Series (2002)

This Fox show was cancelled only 11 episodes into its first season. Joss Whedon’s quirky sci-fiction Western is set 500 years in the future. Serenity, a Firefly class spaceship, is captained by a former soldier for the Independence side. The crew takes on small, occasionally illegal jobs to avoid the long reach of the Alliance. The movie Serenity (2005) is based on the series.

George Washington's First War: The Battles for Fort Duquesne (2003)

This 82-minute Pennsylvania based documentary features the further adventures of George Washington set amidst the struggle for the Ohio country between three empires--Britain, France, and the Native Americans. Key plot elements include the terror campaign against English colonials, the story of Mary Jemison, the ascension of William Pitt to power, the Kittanning Raid, the Battle of Grant's Hill, Washington's friendly fire incident, and the final days of Fort Duquesne.

http://www.paladincom.com/

Iron Giant (1999)

This Warner Brothers film is set in the 1950s during the Cold War. The movie addresses non-aggression concepts and the futility of war in a manner appropriate and understandable for young audiences. Rated PG.

Liberty! The American Revolution (1997)

This was a PBS documentary from the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) through the ratification of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (1789). In addition to narration and interviews with historians, the series uses re-enactments of military engagements and excerpts from letters, diaries and other documents of the period.

Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve by Ludwig von Mises Institute

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553

The Money Masters by Bill Still

This historical documentary traces the origins of the political power structure. The modern political power structure has its roots in the hidden manipulation and accumulation of gold and other forms of money.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515319560256183936

Schoolhouse Rock series on America (1975)

These brief and catchy sing-alongs appeared as Saturday morning cartoon commercial breaks. They contain great learning lessons on the government, American history, and the people and documents that formed our nation. Suitable for very young audiences.

V for Vendetta (2005)

The futuristic tale unfolds in a Great Britain that's a fascist state. A freedom fighter known as V uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressive society. He rescues a young woman from the secret police and she becomes his unlikely ally. Adapted from David Lloyd's graphic novel of the same name. Rated R.

Who Controls Our Children by Peg Luksik (video of a town hall meeting)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7398714418354815608