What are the best books in political science and history that you have come across? I'll start. I've found several great suggestions (like "War is a Racket") at A Nerd's Guide to Reading, but I'm almost finished reading through their list. Any other suggestions?

I'll probably get some flack for these suggestions - but I would recommend some Foucault, possibly starting with "Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison", "Madness and civilization: a history of insanity in the age of reason", and possibly even some of the anthologies of lectures at the College de France. Marx is indispensable, both Capital and the Communist Manifesto are easily available (perhaps along with some Hobsbawm) . For a completely different view of what history entails perhaps try Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History - or in fact try a few small sections of it; it's 10 volumes and would take ages to actually study.

 

You have to have a dip into de Toqueville, Hobbes, Bentham, JS Mill, and frankly countless others - and that just from a euro/american perspective...

 

There was a nice In Our Time a few years ago on the History of History that you might enjoy listening to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gryrx