Bat Ye'or has several books on dhimmitude, and every one of them is very painful but absolutely clear, relentless exposition of Islam's war against everyone NOT Muslim or not Muslim enough to suit them.
Along with "The Black Book of Communism", Ye'or's books are ones many readers avoid because they don't want their tranquil, cocooned lives disturbed with nasty facts about what's coming to their world.
I have also read (and recommended to others) The Black Book of Communism, which was outstanding, the more so because it was done by French former leftists.
And for a basic knowledge of our own civilization, one needs to read A History of the Modern World by RR Palmer and others (the only decent European textbook left, the editions from around 1970 are the best) and Jacques Barzun's opera summa, From Dawn to Decadence.
Part of the problem, as you point out, is that people don't want their lives disturbed, and learning about their own heritage would disturb them as really learning about the enemy.