i second Chomsky. even if you don't agree with his views, his works are worth reading. he has been very influential in modern politics and international relations.

Too lazy to see if any of these authors have been recomended:

Andrew Gamble
Anthony Payne
Barry Buzan
Robert Jervis
Kenneth Waltz
Karl Deutsch
Immanuel Kant
Robert Keohane
Robert Jervis
Francis Fukuyama
John Mueller
Hans Morgenthau
Joseph Nye
Robert Gilpin
Robert Cox
Thucydides
Ali Alatas

MITCH ALBOM!

Ok my author is not related to news or politics, but everyone should read some of Jonathan Kozol's stuff, his books are hard to read b/c they're so depressing, but they will change you for the better if you read them I swear.

I'm suprised no one's mentioned Animal Farm by Orwell (or i might have missed it...) and despite it's saterical nature, America by John Stewart.

Irshad Manji - The Trouble with Islam Today

Thoreau - Walden

Azadeh Moaveni - Lipstick Jihad

Floyd Abrams - Speaking Freely

Thomas Friedman - The Lexus and the Olive Tree

*Bill Watterson (feat. Gary Trudeau)- Calvin and Hobbes

I'd read the book with more than a healthy helping of critical thinking... as she is as biased in presenting her viewpoints/agenda as say Ann Coulter (whether in written or verbal form).

Ummm do you actually have anything that you can point out that she said is false?

-Rudey

Well she is a bit of a "media whore" up here (and long before the book in question), and her writings and TV programs always seem to strive to be intentional provacative or "sensational".

As for a scholarly perspective on her book - I have a few issues with her research and perspective... one she doesn't understand Arabic, which means her critque of the Qu'ran is somewhat flawed (kinda like critqueing the Bible but not knowing Latin, Greek, or Hebrew); two her selection of edicts and other holy issues is a little selective and spotty... basically only presenting ones that support her arguement, and ignoring ones that counter it; finally her grounding in Middle Eastern, Arabic, and Islamic histories are also a little spotty... and essentially flawed by her inability to understand context within history (more than one class or lecture I have been in has been disrupted by her... all due to her inability to understand historical context).

I started reading this last night & compiling a dictionary of his language to help me interpret it...it's an interesting read & after 10 pages or so it starts to really flow & it's not as hard to read...but at times it still gets a little off

finished Clockwork Orange last night - had to put in a few solid hours to make sure I was ready to go tomorrow for Harry Potter

CO is truly a brilliant book in the heighth of nadsat fashion & every starry malchick & devotchka ought viddy every last slovo skorry-like thought the veshch is a rabbit to get through

One of my favorite books is "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" by Thomas L. Friedman. A little bit of the socioeconomic reading for you, I guess.

Anything by David McCullough esp. 1776

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Voltaire
Michel de Montaigne
René Descartes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
John Locke
Scot David Hume
Charles de Montesquieu
Pierre Bayle

and

Jean d'Alembert