[CatoRenasci]

Agreed. I have read her three books in English (The Dhimmi, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam, and Islam and Dhimmitude) and found them essential and provocative. Not particularly easy reading, however.

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.

[WaterDragon]

Barzun's Dawn to Decadence is a feast! There are three writers of history that I especially enjoy -- Steven Ozment, Paul Johnson and Thomas Sowell. One is never bored by them!