[snarkpup]

The Federalist Papers. This explains why our form of government was chosen over other types in common use, why the Constitution was worded the way it was, why they put in every check and balance they could think of, and the tradeoffs that were considered in designing a federal government strong enough to provide for the common defense but not strong enough to wage war on the people. For most people nowadays, this will be earth-shattering reading.

[CholeraJoe]

Anything by Steven Ambrose (R.I.P.)

[Wonder Warthog]

Bump for future reference.

[Exton1]

Angel in the Whirlwind by Benson Bobrick

[MosesKnows]

Looking to buy good history books. Especially American history. Any suggestions?

The best suggestion I can give is to buy only used history books, the older the better and do not buy history books with a theme.

[Chemist_Geek]

Bump.

[Desparado]

We home schooled both our kids. One is an Honors student now at Univ of Tenn., the other is still in high school. Without a doubt the best source of American History is a taped series which you can listen to at home or while traveling on family trips. We got it at a Home School Show with high reccommendations from many people. It is called "America: The first 350 years" by J. Steven Wilkins. The company is Covenant Publications, 224 Auburn Ave., Monroe, La. 71201. This is the most amazing series of lectures beginning with the Calvinists in England through the Netherlands to their migration to America, and the early development of our country up through the early colonies, The constitutional conventions and the Civil war. I highly reccommend this series you will be amazed at the information you and your family will learn by listening to these lectures and they are very easy to follow He is an interesting speaker. Everyone in our family has enjoyed them. There is also a study workbook with outlines and questions for discussion included. Enjoy!!

[SW6906]

Check out Kirby Wilbur's Book List. He is an excellent conservative talk show host in Seattle (yes, we have them here). He's a history buff and teaches history to homeschooled children. Excellent choices on his list.

[okie01]

Miracle at Philadelphia, the story of the Constitutional Convention, May-Sept, 1787.

You will never be prouder of your country and the men who conceived her than when you read how hard they worked to "get it right".

[Plutarch]

Albion's Seed

One of the most influential history books in the last 25 years. You will see America and Americans in a whole new way.

Synopsis
In the first volume of his cultural history of the United States, Fischer examines four seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English-speaking immigrant groups. Puritans from "East Anglia established a religious community in Massachusetts (1629-40); royalist cavaliers . . . from the south and west of England built a highly stratified agrarian way of life in Virginia (1640-70); egalitarian Quakers of modest social standing from the North Midlands resettled in the Delaware Valley and promoted a social pluralism (1675-1715); and . . . poor borderland families of English, Scots, and Irish {settled in the} . . . American backcountry. {Fischer argues that} these four cultures, reflected in regional patterns of language, architecture, literacy, dress, sport, social structure, religious beliefs, and familial ways, persisted in the American settlements." (Libr J)

[Robert A Cook PE]

Don't think any single book (on any one of those subjects)is going to be exactly what you're looking ofr ... there are over 50,000 books on the Civil War alone to choose from .)

Try this: Get a subscription to OLD NEWS for a monthly 12 page "newspaper" of many different history "stories" told in great detail over many differnt eras.

For example, one issue had Powell's explorations of the Grand Canyon, Boston's John Augustus's reforms of the civil court system, the Mayan's human sacrifices at the Sacred Well; how Alender Bell used a version of the telephone to magnetically detect a bullet in President Garfield for doctors, and how a Spaniard escaped the English Armada by crossing Ireland in 1589.

http://www.oldnewspublishing.com

[EternalVigilance]

One book I like alot is William Fedderer's 'America's God and Country'.

A really great book, but Bill is more than an American history scholar...he took on Gephardt for Congress twice in the past ten years.

[suijuris]

Green. Try what I did several years ago. Go to a used book store (preferably one that has been in business many years), and just browse the American History and Govt. Sections.

Got too many titles to detail here but purcahsed 30 t0 35 books for cheap (got them for the kids to counter what they are force fed in school).

I've found that American History and Govt. books published more than 50 years ago have a very honest approach; untainted by PC Bull$hit.

Sui

[stainlessbanner]

Check out this thread: The South and Southern History

Also, Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of Great Powers.

[abner]

A book that I recommend to everyone is 'Life and Death in Shanghai' by Nien Cheng. It isn't American history but a book about the Cultural Revolution in China. It is about China, but is eerily similiar to what is happening here now.

Terrifying...

[Torie]

For a very readable book on the French and Indian War, and how it was the crucible for the American revolutionary mindset (which is one of its primary focuses), this book is the ticket. It also fills in a gap in American history for most of us. It should be included in any corpus of books on American history for the layperson IMO.

[farmfriend]

Fourth Turning

Strauss and Howe base this vision on a provocative theory of American history as a series of recurring 80- to 100-year cycles. Each cycle has four "turnings"-a High, an Awakening, an Unraveling, and a Crisis. The authors locate today's America as midway through an Unraveling, roughly a decade away from the next Crisis (or Fourth Turning). And they recommend ways Americans can prepare for what's ahead, as a nation and as individuals.

This is not a tinfoil hat book but a serious look at the cycles that run through our history based on studies of 500 years of history by 2 historians.

[Pietro]

You can try "http://www.abebooks.com/" and put in Keyword American History, or any particular period and bring up a goodly number of titles. You can also query the seller about the condition or topic of a particular title prior to purchasing.

Disclaimer; I sell books on ABE. I've had good luck w/ sellers and buyers there. No BS.

[PhilipFreneau]

Get "The Roosevelt Myth", by John T. Flynn, if you can find it. Published initially in 1948 by The Devin-Adair Company of New York, it is an insider's look at the corruption and traitorous activities of FDR and Eleanor. My copy is a 1956 revision.

[Skooz]

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
by Eugene B. Sledge

One of the finest books about WW 2 combat ever written. EB Sledge was a private in the Marine Corps and fought on Peleliu and Okinawa. You will love this book.