I wanted to get a friend a good US history book. I need some recommendations from freepers. Basically, I would want a book that covers US history up to (or relatively close to) the present time (i.e. not just a specific time/event in history). However, I would like the book have a fair amount of detail (e.g. the civil war would be covered by more than just 5 pages), so I think I would be looking at a 500+ page book (although I wouldn't mind hearing of other books that may be less than 500 pages too). Lastly, I want...