Please recommend some US History books (edition, cover, textbooks, best)

[icecreamsandwich]

hi all

i'm looking to continue learning about the history of the US, from the settling and founding of the 13 colonies, up until present.

i've read A Patriot's History of the United States, but it came off as pretty biased and i don't really trust the views of the authors, so i'm looking to perhaps swing the other way, or at the very least reinforce my burgeoning knowledge.

i'm hoping to collect the volumes of the Oxford History of the United States, but some of the books are still being written - does anyone have any other books that they could recommend?

thanks in advance

[Newdaawn]

You may want to try "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen E. Ambrose which follows the Lewis and Clark expedition and much more. There are many US History books by Ambrose.

[Angorlee]

Go with Classics of the Old West. They are a series of books that are written by people who lived in the old west. I just finished reading Life Among the Apaches by Cremony and it was first published in 1868. They are great reads and you get a feel for what things were like back then.

[Newdaawn]

I also love to read well researched historical fiction. I especially enjoyed Eugenia Price's "Savannah Quartet" and other of her books that she wrote about the Civil War era. She researched a family that lived during that time. I was even enticed to "visit Georgia"and the Golden Isles. I visited her grave site at St. Simons Island. Interesting what reading will lead too. I had never been to Georgia before and it was a great trip. Also spent some time in Savannah and would love to go back. We went out to Tybee Island while there and climbed up the light house too. happy reading!

[Felix C]

Regarding the Old West..Amazon.com: "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West (9780806125671): Richard White: Books

Regarding Early Colonial America...Amazon.com: Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: a Cultural History) (9780195069051): David Hackett Fischer: Books


Early 1800s would be Amazon.com: The Course of Empire (0046442924986): Bernard DeVoto: Books


For the Depression era- I finished this and found it very interesting to current..Amazon.com: The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (9780060936426): Amity Shlaes: Books


Larger topics generally require mulitple volumes as in dealing with the American experience in the Civil War or the Second World War. To simplify the list here one needs to select from straight narrative of events, analytical or the human voice experience. Gerard Lindeman did some fine work regarding social history in different titles dealing with Civil War, Spanish-American and WW2. There may be others of his but those I have read. I understand McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom is the best single volume history in many years. Multi-volume sets would be those by Bruce Catton or Shelby Foote.

I read a great deal on WW2 with emphasis on the U.S. and can recommend Gerald Astor's America at War(the 1086pp one vol version) regarding the first person experience of the servicemen.

A really interesting and quick read to complement the Lewis and Clark book above is .Amazon.com: Or Perish in the Attempt: Wilderness Medicine in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (9781560372257): David J. Peck: Books

[Rob Allen]

You need some Howard Zinn.

Amazon.com: Howard Zinn: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

[banjomike]

I noticed a lot of folks are recommending histories that are more limited to a specific time and place than the general histories of the country, and I think this is the best way to really gain a deep understanding of American history.

Go where your interests lie- as soon as you learn something from an era you are interested in, history has a way of flowering outward, and you will soon discover ties to areas you might not know about or have much interest in right now. One thing always leads to another- there is never a time period that does not connect to the past or lead to the events of the present or future.

One of the first books that turned me on to reading history was Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. It is a deep account of the events that led to World War I, the most lethal war in history and the most unnecessary.

[Felix C]

The OP mentioned the Oxford History of the United States which is an overall view of the country through the years. One volume histories outside of textbooks? Subject is too large and nuanced for a one volume treatment. For exampe anyone reading Zinn's one volume needs to have some balance as his work cherry picked considerable information to form an argument. It would stand less secure if it had been more detailed in the periods described and offered other criteria for the events.


You give an example of Guns of August but that book only covers the immediate WWI period and part of 1914. It contradicts your argument as it is indeed limited to a specific time and less so than the majority of the titles mentioned above. I agree that Guns of August is a good primer for those years. Good choice there.

[Tracysherm]

Keep in mind that Zinn is also very biased in the other direction from Patriot's History. Best to read both, and make your own decisions.

LOVED John Adams by David McCullough. The HBO miniseries was based on it.

[BigSwede]

You can also check the recommendations in my thread, but it is mostly about cultural history in the 18th century:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/books...h-century.html