“what is a good book to read on the history of the usa?”
Summary of results
A people's history of the united states is a good one. Most history is written by the generals and leaders. This account is colored by the oft ignored people.
People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn
I have a bachelors of science in history. Have you ever read Howard Zinn’s of peoples history of the United States? You should.
That’s basically what you get if you don’t properly teach history. Idk how it is in France, but in the US I’d advise people to read Howard Zinn’s “The People’s history of the United States” to undo government brainwashing even partially, for just US history. I’m not sure what I’d recommend for history of the world, I have not yet seen a text that’d fit the bill.
Howard Zinn wrote A People's History of the United States as a counter to the usual histories of the US that focus on presidents, statesmen, and robber barons of the Gilded Age.
He covers things we mostly don't learn about in school,
including the rise of the Labor movement,
native Americans,
slaves and post-Civil War freedman,
and women.
I took someone's suggestion to read a more orthodox US history 'A History of the American People', Paul Johnson, before diving in to the Zinn book.
I'm learning about US history as a non-American, for no particular reason other than I found some books in a second hand store.
- "1776", by David McCullough - a combination of American Revolution history with telling of leadership in times when defeat seems inevitable.
- "Team of Rivals", by Doris Kearns Goodwin - just started, reading about the pre-Civil War politics.
As an American, I highly recommend "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by James Loewen.
And since you are reading 1776 then you might also like "John Adams" by David McCullough.
The American Spirit by David McCullough. This book treats us to the fascinating stories of doctors, artisans, and performers across the history of the United States and it`s truly inspiring.
P.S. But I also like his "1776" book - https://ivypanda.com/essays/book-report-on-1776-by-david-mcc... (a little review for those who are interested).
1491 is a good book about the history of the America (N & S) before Columbus and Europeans arrived:
If you want to know more about this kind of topic, I am reading nice book about history of americas before europeans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the_A...
1491 and 1493 by Charles Mann are pretty good for pre and post Columbian Exchange history of the americas and the world
For anyone interested in what the Americas looked like before and after Columbus, I highly recommend the two books, 1491[1] and 1493[2], by Charles C. Mann. I finish the first one and I'm half way through the second one and really openend my eyes. Great reads!
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39020.1491?ref=nav_sb_ss...
Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer.
As an American, it was the most enjoyable and interesting history book I ever read, was even laughing out loud at one point. Talks about the four major English cultures that planted the seeds of the United States. It's so cool to learn about these old cultures and how their values and folkways are still reflected in certain locales to this day.
It's not only an interesting history book, but it feels useful. I feel like I have a much stronger understanding and frame with which to look at modern American politics. You stop looking at things as Democrats vs Republicans and start looking at things as Puritans vs Borderers - these are the two prevailing English cultures of the four who founded the country.
Goes without saying that this Team A vs Team B is an oversimplification and there's nuance and it's complex, et cetera et cetera. But as a simplification, there's a lot more to learn and there's more depth in the Puritan vs Borderer frame than in the Democrat vs Republican frame. I've gained more respect and appreciation for these imposing cultures/factions who persist to this day.
Have you read the entire Oxford US History series? I have the entire series up to 1945, minus 1896-1929 as that hasn't been published yet. we homeschool our children and my plan is to read those over the next two years to base my teaching of US History to our children when they enter high school. Yes, I'm aware that only provides a one author perspective; multiple authors as each book has a different one. Though at 10,000 dense pages it seems sufficient.
If you’re genuinely interested in the history, Jimmy Soni's new book, The Founders, is a great starting point.
Master of the Senate is just an incredible book. So well written and with such attention to background. I mean it starts with the founding of the US.
Top 2 so far:
* Washington: A life by Ron Chernow
* The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won by Victor Davis Hanson
The Washington book is a very detailed by clear overview of his life. Easy to follow (even for complex situations) and very week written.
The WW2 book is amazing. Compares the countries fighting in around 20 different areas (technology, leadership, geography, aircraft) and says who is better and why.
Also very good:
* FDR by Jean Edward Smith
* Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro
* The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King
* The years of Lyndon Johnson 2 – Means of Ascent by Robert Caro
* Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan
* Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys by Joe Coulombe
* How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley
* Yeager: An Autobiography by Chuck Yeager
* The years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert Caro
* The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
* Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
* An Economist walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk by Allison Schrager
* The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood by Julie Salamon
* Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton
In addition to that, "Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality"
by Richard Kluger is a really good read.
I highly recommend The Path Between the Seas, about the building of the Panama Canal - https://www.amazon.com/Path-Between-Seas-Creation-1870-1914/...
I didn't realize how important that project was to the strengthening of the federal government, government stimulus, public health, American industry exports, etc. It also showed how sophisticated things like investing and lobbying were 130 years ago - I thought those were newer concepts.
May I suggest reading actual history books? The stories in them can be very good. See "Empire of the Summer Moon" by Gwynne.
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful...
Why anyone hasn't made this into a miniseries is baffling. It's quite an epic. Not only that, it really happened. No worries about canon. No worries about sequels and prequels, because there is no beginning or end to historical stories. The stories are fractal, in that there's no end to going into a particular aspect in depth.
There are plenty of others.
from the antebellum era? try anything by eric foner, but a good place to start is forever free: the story of emancipation and reconstruction. it's accessible history that includes a bit of background about the political economy leading up to the civil war. any of his books about reconstruction might be interesting but not exactly what you're looking for. "black reconstruction in america" by dubois is a keystone text that has a bit about the southern economic history. and maybe "old south, new south" by gavin wright for post reconstruction economic history
I'd recommend Morison's Two-Ocean War: https://www.amazon.com/Two-Ocean-War-History-United-States/d...
The Good War by Studs Terkel offers interesting perspectives on WW2, relies on interviews with citizens of America who lived through the times.
I havent opened it yet but the book American Midnight came highly highly recommended, which covers this time period & this event.
A power hungry intolerant federal government mandating War-fervor & jingoism, suppressing all outside voices (largely liberal & progressive), clamping down on how people think & what they say. passing the Sedition Act & charging many under these wartime powers, before it's repeal.
This book supposedly makes quite the case for this being one of thr darkest times in America. Excited scared/sad to start reading it.
The US war with those states features in this book about the founding of the US navy. Interesting read. "Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy" - https://www.amazon.com/Six-Frigates-Epic-History-Founding/dp...
There is a good book that goes into some of the history and context around the river and how we got to this point.
Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
By: John M. Barry
https://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Exile-History-Passing-American...
An excellent book on this subject.
While I agree with the list of recommended podcasts, you may be a reader. It is easier for me to make notes and backup and review when reading. A good history book is a story book as interesting as any novel, with the added benefit of being about real people and events. Fortunately, there are a lot of good popular history authors, but unfortunately there are a lot of bad ones too. I looked at Goodreads and this list is pretty good:
There's a wikipedia page for that if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_d...
Read history books, like a biography of Julius Caesar.
Read critical theory like the Communist Manifesto and read about the work of Foucault.
Read critical history books like Why Nations Fail and A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.
Some philosophy like Aristotle's Politics, Kant's categorical imperative and Rawl's veil of ignorance are also helpful I think.
US the only way for a peaceful world? You should read a bit on the USA history and its military conflicts and you may change your mind. Wikipedia is a good starting point.
Hit up YouTube for some college history lectures~Native American history, colonial history, post-colonial/US revolutionary War, World War history, European history, Africa/asia, it’s a lot. Check out Stephen Kotkin. He’s got an epic Lex Fridman interview.
WWII seems to rhyme most these days. Also the fall of the Roman Empire-specifically how death threats and assassinations deteriorated the Roman senate.
The definitive book on the Great Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Crash,_1929
It's the middle distance of the 1800s that I'm very much into reading now. It's contemporary enough that you can understand it, relates a history that we still teach today, and provides a view into our country that's hard to achieve anywhere else.
Highly recommended recent reads:
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography
Looters of the Public Domain, S.A.D. Puter.
The Boston Tea Party and Memoir of George R.T. Hewes.
A good introduction but there has been much work since this came out. See these more recent books by an historian that looks at things through the lens of two prominent North American nations:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44310208-lakota-america?...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3304956-the-comanche-emp...
Probably better to get a fuller view of history from The Dawn of Everything https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374157357/thedawnofeveryt...
That's pretty recent. If you look at older US history school books, the physical and social genocide of the Native Americans is largely glossed over. It wasn't until after A People's History of the United States came out in the 80s that the school books slowly became more honest.
Hopefully on topic: a good English language book on the CIA origin story is “The Devil’s Chessboard” that was a fascinating read. While most of my reading is technical and science fiction, I also really enjoy reading history. It is difficult to understand the world ‘in real time’ but looking back into history more things make sense.
In a democracy, it is important to really understand history, what we got right and what we got wrong. If we want a better world, we need to learn from history.
Here’s an excellent history of american economics and the role the railroads played in it:
"Monetary History of the United States" by Milton Friedman
https://www.amazon.com/Monetary-History-United-States-1867-1...
Unfortunately, it's a bit of a tough slog, it's not written for the popular press. But it's worth it if you're really interested in understanding what's really going on.
Don't limit yourself to technology and computers. These systems are political in nature; that is, they concern the basic fabric of how society is structured. One of the biggest tricks any new field has is thinking we're way different, won't repeat the mistakes of others. Both of these make it hard for me to recommend anything good here without getting myself into an internet argument I don't want at this point in time, but at least start reading some history of labor, of capitalism, and of corporations. A People's History of the United States is widely recommended as an intro to these things, and I might as well give it a namedrop here.
We read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" in our high school economics class as an aside. Then again, I went to a high school where the government civics class started with reading the Mayflower Compact, The Social Contract, Wealth of Nations, and several excerpts from other sources which inspired the American Founding Fathers before spending the second half of the semester reading and discussing the Constitution line by line.
Historian Timothy Snider has some lectures online and wrote some great books. I’m reading his book Bloodlands now. Then there is Anne Applebaum.
But this is a wide topic, I suppose various biographies would help. Older books could help, e.g. “Prince” is old but a classic.
You could also lookup reading lists in best known universities under political science and international relations.
I haven't read any books about them. The Men Who Built America is a good show to watch. On youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DydmaedDIhE
There's an entire book from the author on this topic [1]
[1] https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cul...
Second American Nations. I take issue with, in parts of it he has an elitist, typical Yankee patronizing tone against the South, but overall it’s well done work. As far as I know, it is the most comprehensive work in highlighting the diversity in culture and history of the US, and why we appear to be so divisive.
If you read news and opinion articles from the early 1900’s you’ll find that many authors are saying the same thing as people say today. In context of American Nations, the answer is “we’ve always been like that.”
You mean US history books * ? It's not my place to decide. It's a free society.
* from my PoV, US history books taught in classrooms deny or downplay the genocide of native American people, so of which were my ancestors. But I don't want society to try and use mega corps to push my PoV.
Years ago, this book provided me with a useful introduction to the history of immigration to the United States and various crackdowns (vigilante and official) against it.
It's not a difficult read, but its authors are leftists and the language may sometimes be difficult for readers with sensitivities related to the goodness of Democrats or Republicans or whatever.
(I think maybe I'll re-read it today as well; it's been a long time.)
Great book on its history: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256170/the-san-francisco...
I would suggest reading some history books to round out stories like that.
Is there a good book about all of that?
Can you suggest a good overview book on this subject?
Is there a good book on the history of Catholics in the US? It's always been so odd to me that despite Catholics being such a large group globally and historically, they've never seemed to me to be very significant in US history. In fact, one of the most memorable mentions of them I remember from growing up was in some movie or textbook, in which the KKK was described as being opposed to Jewish and Catholic people in addition to black people.
what are the best books/resources to read about the system?
i am really interested in history and i have spent a lot of time looking for a good book on a certain topic or time period and sometimes not finding anything. it turns out that its really hard to find books that are completely objective, well researched and also written well. there is a scarcity of these kinds of books especially for modern history. and so the idea struck me that maybe i ought to write a short history book. but then i thought that that sounds like a pipe dream. anyway, for anyone who likes that kind of thing i would recommend the binladen book that was published recently. havent read it yet but i cant wait to. it turns out the invasion wasnt so misguided after all.
> People need to read some history.
But they'll get distracted before getting around to it. Gore Vidal wasn't kidding when he used the words "United States of Amnesia" in his essays.
(Also, "our owners". Good stuff, tangy with aristocratic vinegar - acerbic, I believe the tasters call it.)
Do you read a lot about the history of science? Which books would you recommend?
I've been reading a lot of history books. For me, reading history is like reading fiction but better. It still transports me to a different place. But the characters are more realistic. My suspension of disbelief never breaks. And I learn about things which really happened.
If you just want to dip your toe in reading history, the Cartoon Guide to the History of the Universe series is a reasonable place to start. I think it prioritizes entertainment over accuracy some, but it's pretty entertaining! https://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-History-Universe-Volumes-1-7/...
Someone I know factchecked a different book, A Brief History of the Human Race, and said it did really well: https://acesounderglass.com/2017/04/18/epistemic-spot-check-...
I read A Brief History of the Human Race based on their recommendation and I can def recommend it also. So here's the link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Human-Race/dp/039332645...
After learning about the macro contours of history, I started reading more about specific things which seemed potentially interesting. I liked all of these, roughly in this order:
* Venice: https://www.amazon.com/Venice-History-Thomas-F-Madden/dp/014...
* Lincoln and contemporaries: https://www.amazon.com/Team-Rivals-Political-Abraham-Lincoln...
* The United Nations: https://www.amazon.com/United-Nations-History-Stanley-Meisle...
Reading history is a great way of getting a broader perspective.
Learning about history is underwhelming when you do it as a kid because when you're young, everything is new to you. You don't gain an appreciation for how interesting the past really was.
But as an adult, you have a well-developed model of how the world is supposed to be, so history becomes really interesting because you realize that lots of historical events actually violate your model. (Did you know that when Venice first heard about the USA, they didn't bother establishing diplomatic relations because they thought the experiment would not last? Turns out it was the Venetian state that soon disappeared! Sometimes it feels like I'm highlighting an interesting fact like that on practically every page. There's a lot that gets left out of popular narratives.)
| There isn't such a vast history to pull from there, how can you justify an analogous nationalistic identity/moral character for it without such a big story?
Well, exactly - that explains a lot of the current political/cultural fragmentation of the U.S. population. Although you can definitely argue that though it is a "short" story in comparison, the founding of the U.S. as a revolution to gain independence from the British Crown to found a state by the people, for the people, with its own constitution and Bill of Rights is a "big" story nonetheless.
As to your other questions - good questions - one could write a whole book (or several) addressing them.
It is an interesting list. However, a better title would be "46 Books that changed America".
There are 34 instances of the word America/American in the article for 46 books and most of the authors on the list would be English speaking or American. As a result, this list provides a very American centric view of literature, history and experiences.
I'd love to read a great book about that chicken or egg problem and what role the US leadership and populace has played in forming or altering it.
History books can also very confidently say something wrong within the first paragraph.
When I graduated from high school they were throwing out history books. I picked up 3 consecutive editions of a US History Book from my favorite teacher. One said the US won the Spanish-American War, another said Spain won it, and the third said Cuba won it.
> look no further than US state-approved high-school history textbooks.
Care to practice what you preach? Which textbooks, specifically? How are they ahistorical?
1.) The Tao Jones Averages by Bennett W. Goodspeed 1984 (this is the primer before reading Jack Bogle's books).
2.) The Democratic Party: A History by Frank R. Kent 1928 (an important read of where both modern USA political parties came from).
3.) Native American Anarchism by Eunice Minette Schuster..1970 (bias is a funny thing).
It is surprisingly difficult to study history chronologically when one gets beyond the scope of a given text/item due to overlap.
When I was still reading to my children in the evening, after running through all the standard texts (Narnia, _The Hobbit_, _The Lord of the Rings_, Susan Cooper's _The Dark is Rising_, H. Beam Piper's _Little Fuzzy_, &c.), I decided I wanted to read biographies to them, in chronological order, starting in as far back in history as was possible --- that was a surprisingly difficult list to put together (arguably because I missed texts such as: _Isaac Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology: The Lives and Achievements of 1195 Great Scientists from Ancient Times to the Present Chronologically Arranged_), so we did a dry run of just American Presidents --- this worked quite well, and I found it expedient to read an "adult" biography to pair with a children's one so as to anticipate and answer questions which came up during the reading. Unfortunately, my wife's job schedule changed and we stopped this at Truman, but it was very helpful in improving my understanding of the ebb-and-flow of American history.
is there a book that chronicles that history accurately? interested
(I know there's been a lot written about redlining specifically, but I'm talking more broadly of the development and history of zoning.)
First of all, native-land.ca lets you see whose land you are on, as well as view tribal websites, when available (it includes groups that have vanished, eg the Hopewells). The one thing I should note about it is that in places like Oklahoma, where land was often promised, it offers no easy way of distinguishing between tribes who historically inhabited the land and those who were promised land there.
I'd also recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. It's a great book on how textbooks distort history and also busts a ton of myths. Also An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
If your local library doesn't have them/you want to buy them, here are some buying options:
Better World Books (donates books too!):
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/an-indigenou...
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/lies-my-teac...
Bookshop.org (independent bookstores)
https://bookshop.org/p/books/an-indigenous-peoples-history-o...
https://bookshop.org/p/books/lies-my-teacher-told-me-everyth...
Direct from publishers:
https://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-...
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner
On the Genealogy of Morality by Nietzsche
Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
I'd encourage you to read the People's History of the United States.
Who's "we"? I don't think a single Black American would agree with your statement.
Some friends and I read "A People's History of the United States" a while back and were surprised at how true this is. US classroom history textbooks hold civil disobedience up as the One True Way to bring change, but it's alarming how often the backdrop of famous acts of civil disobedience was in fact incredible violence.
Our conclusion in our impromptu book club was that made sense: why would the state schools give students lots of examples of how violence against the state was an effective negotiating tool? It was extremely jarring to reconcile with the image of US history we'd been imbued with up to that point, which of course was also a reflection of our socioeconomic status at the time.
As a counterpoint, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" is also taught in schools, so it's possible I'm just selectively remembering things.
An interesting antidote for that is to read biographies --- even those of leaders often have a section where the subject is an ordinary person, subjected to the forces of those in power --- reading a series of them in chronological order (I read those of U.S. Presidents to my children as a dry-run for an unfortunately abandoned project to do this for the entirety of world history) yields interesting insights into history and its ebb-and-flow.
It's such a good book! Like any dad reading history, I have been annoying my family for years with fun facts I learned in that book. David McCullough's other books like The Great Bridge (about building the Brooklyn Bridge) are also great.