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.

[tessalu]

My father in law was a dentist in the 1920's, who loved books, but had little time for reading, and during the course of his career, he bought many, many sets of USA history and world history books. I have inherited these books, and there are sets with the pages still uncut, and I read them as I find the time. I would suggest that you look in used book stores and estate sales, and see what you come up with. The books that I have are unique and are not for sale. You just might find something different, old but very good.

[metesky]

Do the redskins still lose?

[section9]

For a good survey of the 20th Century, read Paul Johnson's Modern Times.

Without question, one of the great historical works I have ever read.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[RAT Patrol]

I got a 5 volumne, 1902, set of History of the American People by Woodrow Wilson at a garage sale for a buck. Shhhh...keep my secret quiet, but you can't beat garage sales and estate sales for this sort of thing.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Yeah, what blam said! Bookfinder.com is fantastic...JFK

[BADROTOFINGER]

A book that you really didnt ask for, but a book I think you would find fantastic, is Radical Son by David Horowitz. It is his autobiography, and talks a lot about the history of the communist party here in the US...JFK

[RoseofTexas]

May I suggest you try the thirft shops! I bought a set of 8 books titled Encyclopedia of Health and Physical Culture, from the l930-1950, revised and printed in l950 by the Bernarr NacFadden Foundation, Inc. , these books are a hoot, not an inch of political correctness crap in them!! The pictures in them are from the roaring 1920 and so forth(funny stuff, oh those were the days!). I also picked up a set of 4 books of The American Natural History by Hornaday. These books were printed in 1914, have WONDERFUL hand drawn pictures of animals and maps in them! I was lucky to come across these books! I wonder if they have any value to them? They have BEAUTIFUL hard covers. They don't make books like these anymore! Try the thirft shops and GOOD LUCK!

[SamAdams76]

I've got tons of great history books. Try Winston Churchill. His four-volume HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLES and six-volume WORLD WAR II sets are superb. I know you preferred American history but there is a lot of American history in those book as well.

I can't think of the authors right now but THE LONG FUSE and PAUL REVERE'S RIDE are books I recently read on the American Revolution worth checking out.

[RoseofTexas]

OOOPS meant roaring 1930 instead of the 20's...:)

[dakine]

The Roosevelt Myth by John T. Flynn.

A must read...

[yarddog]

I have picked up around fifteen full sets of Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book, etc. for around 10 dollars per set. These contain thousands of very good even if brief biographies and historical references.

These old Encyclpedias are generall written by some of the foremost authorities on each subject.

I would suggest the older the better as far as history is concerned. They are far less Politically Correct than most newer ones.

BTW I once got a full set of Britannica in almost new condition for free. They were at a thrift shop and was missing one volume. When I asked for the price, the clerk said I could just have them. The next day I picked up that missing volume for a quarter at goodwill where they had a large number of loose volumns.

I make book cases for them and they look pretty nice in the living room, den, and even bedrooms.

Even with the internet, I think encyclopedias are a very under-rated source of info.

[corlorde]

A great History book about the civil war is called "Killer Angels" By Michael Shaara. He's a Pulitzer Prize winner. Drop everything and buy it now! (The Best Civil War Book Ever)

Be cool

~Corey

[Gritty]

Here's a great link to a lot of great historical reading:

The American Colonist's Library--A Treasury of Primary Documents

[Neanderthal]

Francis Parkman's France and England in North America covers the struggle between those two powers starting in the 1500's and ending with the fall of Quebec in 1759. It is a 7 volume work starting with and ending with Montcalm and Wolfe. Volume 2 covers The Jesuits in North America and volume 3 covers LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great West.

Parkman wrote this over 130 years ago and there is not a single word of PC in it. In particular, you will learn what it was like to fight the eastern indians, who made the western indians of the cowboy movies look like a bunch of wusses.

[Aquinasfan]

Paul Johnson's "Modern Times" and "Birth of the Modern." Can't say I've read many other history books though.

[GailA]

I found this site while looking for something, else. I thought it would be a GREAT home schooling resource. (my kids are grown..maybe my son will need it for the grandkid later. TONS of US history material Grade 5

[nicmarlo]

I have The Harper American Literature, Vol. 1, which takes you from the beginnings of America through the late 1800's. Although it is toward a literary bent, there's lots of historical pieces in this volume, written by "important" people such as William Bradford ("Of Plymouth Plantation," "The Mayflower Compact," the First Thanksgiving), John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson ("A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoratin of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," a tale about her abduction by Indians), Samuel Sewall, Cotton Mather, Robert Beverley, Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Phillis Wheatley, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abigail Adams, Thomas Paine, Noah Webster, John Ridge ("Essay on Cherokee Civilization"), Washington Irving ("A Tour of the Prairies"), James Fenimore Cooper (i.e., "Advantages of a Democracy"), William Gilmore Simms ("The Wigwam and the Cabin: Life in America"). Most of the early writings were not fiction, as such. American writers were new writers, and had important matters to disseminiate to the new American Colonists....much of their writings, therefore, focused on their new ways of life, their ambitions for society, their goals (immediate and long-term), etc. One of those kinds of compilations might be a good start, only because it gives you a flavor of the many writers (relative unknowns, in some cases), and their own perspectives.

Of course, there's the French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville, who journeyed through the new Americas. He has been hailed as a fine writer, on many accounts (accuracy and observations).

[fifteendogs]

Go to a used bookstore and buy anything printed prior to 1952. The last 50 years of history aren't worth knowing about, it's just liberal BS.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

For WWII history, as an overview, I like Robert Leckie's "Delivered From Evil" - which will give you a good basic background. It'll take a while to get through, but you'll be familiar with dates and seminal events. I'd also suggest Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". After you get done with those, you can subscribe to the Military Book Club - they offer many titles which are pretty daggone good.

For American History, I can't say as any single tome fits.

[AnAmericanMother]

I would look out for back numbers of American Heritage magazine in hardcover. About the time they went soft cover (mid 70s) is when they went all PC and stupid on us. But prior to that time, ANY area of American history you are interested in, AH will have an informative, well-written article with tons of good illustrations, written by either a prominent historian in the field OR a very competent amateur (and sometimes they do a better job than the professional historians - I should know, I've published a couple of articles in history magazines myself, and I NEVER worked harder on anything I ever wrote, precisely because I was out of my field and trying to do my best.)

Bruce Catton the Civil War historian was editor of American Heritage during its "good" period, and he wrote some excellent books on the Civil War, with an eye to the personal touch and the striking anecdote. His three volume set on the Army of the Potomac is first-class. (He's a Yankee, but we forgive him.) Another good Civil War historian is Douglas Southall Freeman, you can't beat ANY of his books. My favorite is Lee's Lieutenants (in 3 vols.) but that's just my opinion. Any of his books will well repay reading.

Also, the matching volumes "The Life of Johnny Reb" and "The Life of Billy Yank" by Bell Wiley are charmers - the life of the private soldier on both sides.

I cannot say enough good things about Winston Churchill (remember he was half American). Fine writer, good analyst, although his WWI history has a little too much of "why I didn't foul up Gallipoli" - his WWII volumes and History of the English Speaking Peoples are wonderful.

I don't like survey volumes very much because they leave too much out, and the study of history is so fragmented now that no single historian has a grasp of the entire panorama, so to speak. I would stick to a good encyclopedia for an overview - and NOTHING comes up to Britannica. Get a pre-1940 edition if you can, history doesn't change but historians do.