Note:

All the books listed here are available through sources like Amazon. They are published in a variety of formats and over the years there are new editions.

This small selection of books, out of the hundreds of 'authorized' texts about the Baha'i Faith, and the thousands that have been written about it, are especially selected to give an overview of the Faith and to strongly introduce its Principle Figures and Their Writings.

General Books

    Apocalypse Secrets:

    Baha'i Interpetation of the Book of Revelation
    John Able Books Ltd., 2011
    Revised 2012/09/21
    John Able, MD.
    ISBN 9781456443627
    This is an extremely scholarly, but still easy to read, study about the Book of Revelation.

    Baha'u'llah and the New Era

    Esslemont, John Ebenezer 1874-1925
    Wilmette: Baha'a Publishing Trust
    Published 2006
    (Continuously updated for facts and statistics)
    ISBN-13: 978-1-931847-27-8(alk. paper)
    ISBN-10: 1-931847-27-4(alk. paper)
    ISBN 978-1-931847-94-0(ebook)
    This is considered a "text book" explanation about the Baha'i Faith including its history, laws, and principles. Very informative and easy to read.

    The Divine Art of Living:

    Selections from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, The Bab, and Abdu'l-Baha
    by Mabel Hyde Paine
    various printings since 1900
    An extremely popular and inspirational spiritual guide.

The Bab

    Selections from the Writings of the Bab

    Baha'i Pub Trust; since 1976

Baha'u'llah

    Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah

    Translated by Shoghi Effendi
    National Spiritual Assembly of the
    Baha'is of the United States
    Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois 60091
    1983 Edition ISBN 0-87743-187-5
    Baha'u'llah wrote a great number of Tablets and Books. This is a sampling of hundreds of quotations from them.

    Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

    (Baha'u'llah)
    Translated by Shoghi Effendi
    Wilmette, Ill.:
    National Spiritual Assembly of the
    Baha'is of the United States
    Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1941
    1988 Edition ISBN 0-87743-182-5
    This book is an especially valuable first book to read of a Book by Baha'u'llah because it is Baha'u'llah's own summary of what He has Written.

    Kitab-i-Aqdas

    (Baha'u'llah)
    The Kitab-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book
    Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1993.
    Baha'i World Centre 1992
    Universal House of Justice
    ISBN 0-85398-999-0
    This is considered the foremost and most important Book of the Baha'i Revelation.

Abdu'l-Baha

    Some Answered Questions

    ('Abdu'l-Baha)
    Compiled and translated by Laura Clifford Barney
    Wilmette, Ill.: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1930
    the National Spiritual Assembly of the
    Baha'is of the United States
    1987 Edition ISBN 0-87743-190-6
    This is a compilation of "table talks" where after dinner Abdu'l-Baha answers questions and discusses a great number of subjects ranging from spiritual theological questions to social issues. An extremely helpful table of contents

Shoghi Effendi

    Guidance for Today and Tomorrow

    Shoghi Effendi
    Wilmette:
    Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1980.
    ISBN-10: 0900125144
    ISBN-13: 978-0900125140
    Insights into the Baha'i view of what the future will be like.

    Citadel of Faith

    Shoghi Effendi
    Wilmette:
    Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1980.
    Commentary applicable to the current social conditions in the United States and the world.