Looking to buy good history books. Especially American history. Any suggestions? (Vanity, I suppose)

11-27-02 | None

[Green Knight]

Alright, I've been meaning to buy a history book with detailed American history, but I'm leary of spending money on a Politically Correct piece of crud. So can you folks help me out, here?

I'd like A) A book which focuses specifically not only on the USA, but on the history that led up the founding of the United States, and B) A detailed look at world history (Being only one book, I can't imagine it'd be all that detailed). I'd also like C) A book detailing World War II.

Appreciate any and all help folks. Thanks.

[Pahuanui]

Paul Johnson's "History of the American People" is a great place to start. Never dry, smoothly transitioning narrative, and an avuncular writing style that at the same time remains quite scholarly.

[Lizavetta]

Look up Clarence Carson.

[Samizdat]

John Adams. New book. Gives a pretty good sequence of events.

[metesky]

If you're looking for one book that will explain the political causes of the American Revolution, you can't go wrong by going to a good used book dealer and digging up a copy of Origins of the American Revolution by John C. Miller.

Published in 1943 by Little, Brown and Company, it is pre-PC and an excellent read.

[Billthedrill]

You beat me to it - Johnson is great when it comes to that, and his Birth of the Modern is a good read. I'd also include Shelby Foote's Civil War. Tuchman's The First Salute is pretty good too.

[blam]

When you find the book you want, check for it on www.bookfinder.com, new and used. I've had good luck with them.

[lelio]

The way I find new books to read is to put my past readings into Amazon.com and have it recommend a new book to me. Its amazing how on the mark it can be at times.
While not meeting your criteria, the Robert Caro books on LBJ and his previous one on Robert Moses of NYC are fascinating. You do learn a lot about the times (Texas Hill Country in the Depression, for example) and about the political scene. LBJ's a scumbag but look beyond that.

[hsmomx3]

We really enjoy books from ABeka, which is a publisher of homeschooling books. They not only cover US history but also world history and beyond.

http://www.abeka.com/default.html

[griffin]

"History of the World" By Ridpath. My 4 volume set was published in 1896-1897. I would suggest getting something as old as possible to avoid any revisionist history and PC crapola. I think amazon sells used books....

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS by J. P. Dunn Jr
A definite iconclastic view of the Indian wars---If you can find a copy.
Written around 1888, you will learn things never taught in modern histories.
Chapters on Sand Creek and The Washita battles deserve special mention.

[jimt]

The autobiography of Herbert Hoover (2 volumes). The autobiography of James Nance Garner. The autobiography of Jim Farley. "The Roosevelt I Knew" by Frances Perkins.

You'll se a different side of FDR.

[sistergoldenhair]

ping

[Media Insurgent]

Ditto on Paul Johnson's "History of the American People." I can't think of a better single volume on U.S. history.

There are a lot of good WWII books out there, and countless areas of emphasis among them. If I had to pick just one as a good place to start, I'd go with John Keegan's "History of the Second World War."

Good luck!

[Vidalia]

You might take into consideration that the revisionists began to really get into geat circa the 1970s, so take a bag of salt to the store with ya...

[MattinNJ]

Robert Leckie has a series of excellent books. 1)"George Washington's War" is an excellent read and really gives you an appreciation of what the Founding Fathers and the soldiers from the revolutionary war went through. It even goes over the usually ignored battles in the south. 2) "From Sea to Shining Sea" covers the post-revolutionary pre-civil war period. I am halfway through it and am enjoying it very much. He did a very nice job on the Barbary pirates and showed the muslims to be bloodthirsty savages even back then. 3) "None died in Vain" covers the Civil War. I've heard nothing but good reviews from reliable sources. There are a few more, but I am not sure of the titles.

The bottom line is that I had the overwhelming feeling when reading these books that it should be required reading for all students. There is no PC BS and it is a fun read despite being filled to the brim with facts, dates, etc...

Trust me. They are a must read for anyone interested in US history.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

The SAVAGE YEARS an anthology edited by Shepard Rifkin.
This deals with the westward expansion and is edited from actual reports by explorers at the time. If you can find a copy. Not for the faint hearts!

[I'm ALL Right!]

Speaking of American History, I read a book in college re: American Civil War. It was written like a story, following the paths of two Generals (Lee and Grant?) and it was really fascinating, IMHO. Typical collegiate, I sold every single book back in an effort to make some money. Now I don't remember the name of the book, but I'd love to find it. Anyone out there with a clue?

[RLK]

What I do is attend auctions where old books are auctioned off and buy books from the 1800s. For example, I recently picked up the authoritative work, Cooly On Torts from 1878 which documents the intended state of law much closer to the time of the writing of The Constitution. I have history texts going back to 1835 in a substrantial library. You will find old school readers and texts will provide invaluable historical information which were in print before the current revisionism. I recently shipped Mortimer Snavely an eighth grade mathematics text from the 1800s covering areas most Ph.D.s couldn't handle today. It tells the intellectual state of people living during that period. Go to old book stores.

[omega4412]

Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

And as someone said in a greatest-Briton thread, Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Multivolume but read it anyway