The Gulag Archipelago Volume 1: An Experiment in Literary Investigation by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynPerhaps the most annoying tic of today's political right is conflating modern American progressivism with the tyrannical "socialist" governments of the 20th century. (Almost as annoying is the widespread ignorance among progressives about where those arguments originate.)
The thing about socialism, liberalism, Christianity, Islam, atheism, etc. is that anyone can adopt the mantle. Just as no one seriously believes Ander Breivik represents Christianity, no serious person thinks Stalin represents Marxism. Mao is no more a metonym for atheism, than Hitler is for Catholicism.
If, however, you're not sure why almost every American socialist and communist rejected the Soviet Union as a model of collectivism, then read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago.
Why this is progressive/liberal: While Americans pat themselves on the back for their commitment to the concepts of liberty, the truth is we imprison a higher percentage of our population than any nation on Earth. While our prison system isn't as devastating as Stalin's work camps, reading these books might hit closer to home than you'd like.
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