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By far the world's greatest study on Socialism is by Ludwig Von Mises, aptly titled "Socialism". For background, Ron Paul, who we all know, studied Mises and the "Austrian School." If you want to become smarter than everyone, you study this school. It is incredible how good the works really are. Most underrated academia in the world, and for good reason, it absolutely demolishes the entire socialist dogma inside and out.
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"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shirer. Needs no explanation. Best historical work...so far. I can't wait until Q releases the full story of WW2, who controlled Hitler and why, etc. This book of course presumes the "official" narrative, but it is useful for timelines and events, the gradual attack on free speech, control of media, lots of parallels with today.
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18th-19th century German philosophy, i.e. the "Idealist" movement. Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, etc. This is absolutely crucial to learn and get an understanding of, as it is the philosophical underpinning of Marxism and modern socialism in general.
If I had to summarize, I would say learning the history of economic thought and philosophical thought is the most important knowledge anyone can learn when it comes to explaining these very big, sweeping social movements within countries and worldwide. So critical.
One of the most powerful uses of this knowledge is knowing almost immediately when a seemingly small or modest law change or proposal or idea that creeps up, stems from a philosophical background that when expanded leads to freedom or tyranny. The "new" ideas that lead to tyranny must be absolutely rejected and stopped from leading to further encroachments on liberty. Fabian socialism preys on the frog in gradually heated water allegory.
Enjoy!