This reading list probably isn't a good starting point. But it's a good thing to do right after the starting point. Understanding the major influential figures

This reading list probably isn't a good starting point. But it's a good thing to do right after the starting point. Understanding the major influential figures, what their ideas were, and how those ideas were justified is important context. Each of the people on this list continue to reverberate through political economics in the most significant ways imaginable. So it's up to OP if s/he wants to take the "classical works" route. But I'll just mention that if s/he does, this is a good list. Both in terms of the people selected and the books selected for each person.