Vietnam War Book List - Academic, First Hand Accounts, and Novels
The Salem Witch Trials
Roach, Marilynne K.. Taylor Trade Publishing, Lanham , MD, 2004. BF1575.R63
Based on twenty-seven years of original archival research, including the discovery of previously unknown documents, this day-by-day narrative of the hysteria that swept through Salem Village in 1692 and 1693 reveals new connections behind the events, and shows how rapidly a community can descend into bloodthirsty madness. -- Publisher
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft
Boyer, Paul, and Nissenbaum, Stephen. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1974. BF1576 .B6
Salem Possessed is a provocative book. Drawing upon an impressive range of unpublished local sources, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum provide a challenging new interpretation of the outbreak of witchcraft in Salem Village... A major contribution to the social history of colonial New England... Sophisticated and imaginative. American Historical Review
Death In Salem
Foulds, Diane. Globe Pequot, Essex, CT, 2013. BF1576 .F68 2010
Explores the personal side of Salem's witchcraft frenzy
Arc of Empire: America's Wars in Asia from the Philippines to Vietnam
Hunt, Michael H.. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2012. DS35 .H96 2012
Devoting equal attention to Asian and American perspectives, the authors follow the long arc of conflict across seventy-five years from the Philippines through Japan and Korea to Vietnam, tracing along the way American ambition, ascendance, and ultimate defeat. -- Publisher
A Historical Guide To The United States
James B. Gardner & Timothy C. Jacobson. W.W. Norton Company, New York, 1986. E159.H718 1986
Collected essays previously published in the American Association for State and Local History's States and the nation series.
Before the Revolution: America's Ancient Pasts
Richter, Daniel K.. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 2011. E169.12 .R497
In Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America, Richter (American history, Univ. of Pennsylvania) offers a nuanced study of the United States from the arrival of Europeans to the Jacksonian era through the prism of its Native American inhabitants.... - John Burch, Library Journal
Albion's Seed
Fischer, David Hackett. Oxford University Press, New York, 1989. E169.1.F539
One of the most thought-provoking of American History to appear in recent years.... – Eric Foner
A True History of the United States:....
Sjursen, Daniel. Steerforth Press, New York, 2021. E178.*
A True History of the United States was inspired by a course that Sjursen taught to cadets at West Point, his alma mater.... A True History is accurate with respect to the facts and intellectually honest in its presentation and analysis. - Barnes & Noble
The China Mirage, The Hidden History of American Disaster In Asia
James D. Bradley. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015. E183.8.C5 B667
The China Mirage' explores the delusions behind US foreign policy in East Asia -- CS Monitor
Struggle for a Continent: The Wars of Early America
Ferling, John. Wiley-Blackwell, New York, 1992. E188 .F4 1993
America's origins are inextricably linked to warfare. In Struggle for a Continent, John Ferling tells the complex story of conquest and survival not only in the encounters between European settlers and the native peoples of North America, but also the North American wars among the great powers of Europe to win hegemony in America. -- Publisher
American Colonies: The Settling of North America
Taylor, Alan. Penguin books, New York, 2002. E188 .T35
Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America, from the native inhabitants from milennia past, through the decades of Western colonization and conquest, and across the entire continent, all the way to the Pacific coast. -- New York Times Book Review
The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675
Bailyn, Bernard. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2012. E191 .B35
Worth reading, but not as good as Taylor's American Colonies
The Colonial Wars, 1689-1762
Peckham, Howard Henry. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965. E195 .P4
A chronicle of the wars in North America from settlement to the American Revolution
King William's War: The First Contest for North America, 1689 - 1697
Laramie, Michael G.. Westholme Publishing, Yardley, PA, 2017. E196 .L37 2017
King William's War is an important read for anyone with an interest in early American history. - A.A. Nofi, Strategypage
Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754 - 1766
Anderson, Fred. Vintage Books, New York, 2001. E199 .A59
In order to understand the American Revolution one must first study the Seven Years War (French and Indian War)
Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It
Ferling, John. Bloomsbury Press, New York, 2015. E208 .F43 2015
Balancing social and political concerns of the period and perspectives of the average American revolutionary with a careful examination of the war itself, Ferling has crafted the ideal book for armchair military history buffs, a book about the causes of the American Revolution, the war that won it, and the meaning of the Revolution overall. - Publisher
American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
Taylor, Alan. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2016. E208 .T36
Not the usual simplistic accounting of the Revolution. Taylor puts meat on the bones of American history.
Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution
DuVal, Kathleen. Random House, New York, 2015. E209 .D88 2015
A completely new take on the American Revolution, rife with pathos, double-dealing, and intrigue. -- Elizabeth A. Fenn
The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics, and the Triumph of Anglo-America
Phillips, Kevin. Basic Books, New York, 1999. E209 .P48
How did Anglo-America evolve over a mere three hundred years from a small Tudor kingdom into a global community with such a hegemonic grip on the world today, while no other European power – Spain, France, Germany, or Russia – did? The answer to this, according to Phillips, lies in a close examination of three internecine English-speaking civil wars – the English Civil War, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. -- Basic Books
The Spirit of 74: How the American Revolution Began
Raphael, Ray. The New Press, New York, 2015. E210 .R37 2015
A study of the colonial revolt that started in the communities of New England in 1774 before it went hot with the battles at Lexington and Concord
Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire
Gould, Eliga H.. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012. E249 .G68
Eliga H. Gould’s Among the Powers of the Earth:.... is less about the revolution itself than it is about the external forces that influenced the early United States and its foreign and domestic policy. -- Nicholas Garcia
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire
O'Shaughnessy, Andrew. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2013. E267 .O75 2013
Should be required reading for anyone seriously interested in the American Revolution, and of value even to the more casual student of the war. -- A. A. Nofi, Strategypage
Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past
Raphael, Ray. The New Press, New York, 2006. E296 .R35 2004
A persuasive argument in favor of evidence-based history, even if it means surrendering some of our cherished fabrications. - Kirkus Reviews
Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders
Rasmussen, Dennis C.. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2021. E302.1
A vividly written account of a chapter of American history that has received too little attention, Fears of a Setting Sun will change the way that you look at the American founding, the Constitution, and indeed the United States itself. - Publisher
Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation
Chris DeRose. MJF Books, New York, 2011. E302.1 .D47 2011
The crucial race in the election of 1789 that shaped the fate of the Constitution
Poor Richard's Women
Stuart, Nancy Rubin. Beacon Press, Boston, 202022. E302.6.F8 S93 2022
A journalist and social historian explores how Benjamin Franklin "was fascinated by the fair sex but considered the currents between them as dangerous as electricity.".... A revealing document about early American history. -- Kirkus Review
West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776
Saunt, Claudio. W. W. Norton Company, New York, 2015. E303 .S28 2014
Many readers will walk away from "West of the Revolution" with a new and entirely necessary set of characters to fold into their narratives of 1776. Barnes & Noble.
The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
Freeman, Joanne B.. Farrar, Straus and Giroux , New York, 2018. E338 .F735 2018
Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, Freeman shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests. When debate broke down, congressmen drew pistols and waved Bowie knives. One representative even killed another in a duel. -- WoldCat
The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies
Taylor, Alan. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2010. E354 .T39
Taylor gives a fascinating account of the war and shows its importance to the fragile new republic in a book filled with stories about the people who instigated, commanded and fought in the conflict. -- The Associated Press
Imperfect Union
Inskeep, Steve, Penquin Press, New York, E415.9.F79 I57 2020
Imperfect Union is a fascinating, complex love story, a riveting adventure, and an important, carefully researched history, told with incredible power and skill by one of the country's best nonfiction writers. What else could you want in a book? – Candice Millard
Star Spangled Scandal: Sex, Murder, and the Trial that Changed America
DeRose, Chris. Regnery Publishing, New York, 2019. E415.9 .S53 D47 2019
This is the riveting true story of the murder and trial that sparked a national debate on madness, male honor, female virtue, fidelity, and the rule of law. - Publisher
The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America
Horne, Gerald. NYU Press, New York, 2014. E446 .H83
The successful 1776 revolt against British rule in North America has been hailed almost universally as a great step forward for humanity. But the Africans then living in the colonies overwhelmingly sided with the British. In this trailblazing book, Gerald Horne shows that in the prelude to 1776, the abolition of slavery seemed all but inevitable in London, delighting Africans as much as it outraged slaveholders, and sparking the colonial revolt. -- NYU
New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America
Calloway, Colin G.. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1998. E45 .C34 1997
The interactions between Indians and Europeans changed America—and both cultures. -- Barnes & Noble
The Presidents' War
DeRose, Chris. Lyon's Press, Guilford, Connecticut, 2014. E458 .D45
An important book for not only understanding the issues in the Civil War and the politics in the United States that resulted in that war, but for examining the current state of American politics in comparison.
The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America
Calloway, Colin G.. Oxford University Press, USA, New York, 2006. E46 .C35 2006
Colin Calloway reveals how the Treaty of Paris of 1763 had a profound effect on American history, setting in motion a cascade of unexpected consequences, as Indians and Europeans, settlers and frontiersmen, all struggled to adapt to new boundaries, new alignments, and new relationships. -- Barnes &: Noble.
The Elusive West and the Contest for Empire, 1713-1763
Mapp, Paul W.. Omohundro Institute and University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2011. E46 .M37 2011
A truly continental history in both its geographic and political scope. -- Barnes &: Noble.
Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War
Varon, Elizabeth R.. Oxford University Press, New York, 2019. E468 .V37
Fifty Shades of Blue and Grey? Elizabeth Varon's new book Armies of Deliverance sheds light on the various reasons why Americans fought and died in the Civil War. -- MHN
Nothing But Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861-1865
Woodworth, Steven E.. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2005. E470.5 .W66
While much focus is given to the gong show that was the Civil War in the East, the war was won in the West under generals Grant and Sherman
The Civil War in the Western Territories: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
Colton, Ray Charles. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1984. E470.9 .C7
Mr. Colton sets out to show that the Civil War was by no means fought entirely east of the Missouri. He does so successfully and with such enthusiasm, indeed, that you almost forget there were stirring doings elsewhere. -- New York Times
The Civil War in the American West
Jr., Alvin M. Josephy. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1993. E470.9 .J66 1993
A sweeping and often surprising account of the untold stories of the war between the states. -- Los Angeles Times
Forts Henry and Donelson: The Key to the Confederate Heartland
III, Benjamin Franklin Cooling. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 2003. E472.96 .C66
In 1862 Grant hands the Confederacy it first major defeat and opens up the Missippi Valley to the Union
Meade at Gettysburg: A Study in Command
Brown, Kent Masterson. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2021. E475.53 .M49
Meade at Gettysburg is an important contribution to Civil War literature...Brown's mastery of manuscript and published primary materials is immediately evident..His narrative recounts in astonishing granularity Meade's command decisions and those of his principal subordinates across the course of the campaign. -- Civil War Book Review
Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas
Wright, Ronald. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2003. E59.F53 W75
Clear and concise history detailing the experiences of Native Americans on both continents from 1492 to 1990 -- Kirkus Reviews
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Mann, Charles C.. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2006. E61 .M266
Unless you’re an anthropologist, it’s likely that everything you know about American prehistory is wrong. Science journalist Mann’s survey of the current knowledge is a bracing corrective. -- Kirkus Reviews
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Millard, Candice. Doubleday, New York, 2011. E687.9 .M55 2011
A spirited tale that entwines murder, politics, and medical mystery. -- Wall Street Journal
The War Lovers : Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the rush to empire, 1898
Thomas, Evan. Little, Brown and Co, New York, 2010. E721.T47
A lively, well-rounded look at politics and personalities in late-19th-century America. Kirkus Review
Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip's War
Lisa Brooks. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2018. E83.67 .B795 2018
Provides a wealth of information for both scholars and lay readers interested in Native American history. -- Publishers Weekly
Memory Lands: King Philip's War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast
Christine M. DeLucia. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2018. E83.67 .D45 2018
Sure to fascinate readers interested in the long reach of colonial memory and how the past is remembered. -- Publishers Weekly
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
Woodard, Colin. Penguin books, New York, 2022. E98.F39W66
According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. – publisher
Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
Aviva Chomsky. Beacon Press, Boston, 2021. F1436.C48 2021
An important book for putting the current American migration crisis in context
The Reader's Encyclopedia of the American West
Howard Lamar. Crowell, New York, 1977. F591 .R38
An invaluable resource for study of the western United States
The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail
Stegner, Wallace. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1992. F593 .S85 1992
Written by a non-Mormon, this documented history of the Trail is the story of individual pioneers taken from their letters, journals and reminiscences. Concerned with how the West—not how the Faith—was won, the author manages to reconstruct another historical chapter of the American Frontier story -- Kirkus Review
Mayflower
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Penguin books, New York, 2006. F68.P44
A splendid account of a nearly forgotten era in America's colonial past – Baltimore Sun
Abandoning America
Moore, Susan Hardman. Boydell Press, Rochester, NY, 2013. F7 .H356 2013
Abandoning America brings together the biographies of hundreds of people who crossed over to New England in the 1630s but later braved the Atlantic again to return home.
The Invasion of America, Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest
Jennings, Francis. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2010. F7J46
The Invasion of America launched the first major salvo against the provincialism of early American historiography, and the book's urgency, insights, and trenchant critiques endure. Jennings shook the foundations of American historical inquiry to its core, exposing the centrality of settler colonialism in the making of New England. Generations remain indebted to his bold and relentless claims. – Ned Blackhawk, Yale University
Trees In Paradise
Farmer, Jared, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, F861.F37
An interesting look at the history of post Gold Rush California through the lens of four different types of tree
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
Immerwahr, Daniel. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2019. F965 .I46 2019
A pathbreaking history of the United States' overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire. -- Publisher
Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900
Crosby, Alfred W.. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2004. GF50 .C76
The biological bases of radically changing historical ecosystems must never be forgotten, and Crosby has made them intelligible as well as memorable -- Natural History
Water and Power: The Conflict over Los Angeles Water Supply in the Owens Valley
Kahrl, William L.. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1982. HD4464.L7 .K33
Water and Power' is not only the most detailed book on the subject but the first one to attempt to be balanced and fair, and, more important, to succeed. . . . -- American Historical Review
In The Struggle: Scholars and the fight against industial agribusiness in California
O'Connel, Daniel J.. New Village Press, New York, 2021. HD9000.9.U6 C56 2021
In the Struggle is a definitive study of the forces that have shaped the politics, environment, and economics of the San Joaquin Valley, one of earth’s precious areas that produces the fruits and vegetables that feed the world - Dolores Huerta
The story of American railroads
Holbrook, Stewart Hall . American Legacy Press, New York, 1981. HE2751 .H44
This richly comprehensive history by a self-proclaimed "low-brow" historian features more than 100 photographs and contemporary prints of America's railway system. Stewart H. Holbrook presents a dramatic, highly readable chronicle of the development of the backbone of the country's commerce and industry. -- Publisher
Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America
White, Richard. W.W. Norton Company, New York, 2011. HE2751 .W55 2011
A powerful book, crowded with telling details and shrewd observations. -- Michael Kazin, New York Times Book Review
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
MacLean, Nancy. Viking, New York, 2017. HN49.R33 M23 2017
Rarely have I encountered a work that speaks to such significant issues, with evidence rooted in conclusive new sources. -- Alice Kessler-Harris
White Trash
Isenberg, Nancy. Penguin books, New York, 2016. HN90.S6 I84
Like Howard Zinn in “A People’s History of the United States” (1980), Ms. Isenberg presents an alternative interpretation of American history. Unlike Mr. Zinn, she is not interested in crusaders and labor organizers and politicians of a socialist bent. .... The story she tells is more intimate. It’s an analysis of the intractable caste system that lingers below the national myths of rugged individualism and cities on hills. – New York Times
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Wilkerson, Isabel, Random House, New York, HT725.U6
Amemorable, provocative book - Kirkus Review
Who Killed Jane Stanford
White, Richard. W.W. Norton Company, New York, 2022. HV6533.H3 W55
A premier historian penetrates the fog of corruption and cover-up still surrounding the murder of a Stanford University founder to establish who did it, how, and why. – Publisher
The Federalist
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Barnes & Noble, New York, 2006. KF4515.
The Federalist Papers were written and published to urge New Yorkers to ratify the proposed United States Constitution, which was drafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. In lobbying for adoption of the Constitution over the existing Articles of Confederation, the essays explain particular provisions of the Constitution in detail. -- Library of Congress
'The Witches,' Suspicion, Betrayal, and hysteria in 1692 Salem
Stacy Schiff. Little Brown and Co, New York, 2015. KFM2478.8.W5 S35 2015
As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story — the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians. -- Publisher
A Storm of Witchcraft
Baker, Emerson W.. Oxford University Press, New York, 2015. KFM2478.8.W5 B35 2015
Of many books about the Salem witch-trials, only a few really matter. This is one of them. Malcolm Gaskill
Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West
Stegner, Wallace. Penguin Books, New York, 1992. Q143.P8 S8
This is not a personal record but the story of an extraordinary career. An important facet of American growth is here given due consideration. -- Kirkus Review
The West Without Water
B. Lynn Ingram. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2013. QC903.I54
A masterful portrait of how water shaped the American West... Part detective story, part call to action, this book offers vital advice on how to fix the West's looming water crisis. -- Lee Billings Scientific American
Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas
Raff, Jennifer. Twelve, Hachette Book Group,, New York, 2022. QH455.R33
From clebrated genetic anthropologist Jennifer Raff comes the untold story - and fascinating mystery - of how humans migrated to the Americas. - Publisher
The Water Seekers - Fourth Edition
Nadeau, Remi. Crest Publishers, Santa Barbara, 1997. TC424.C2 N3 1997
The dramatic story of Southern California's search for water to fuel her cities' growth. -- Publisher
The age of the mad dragons: Steam locomotives in North America
Waitley, Douglas . Beaufort Books, New York, 1981. TF23 W34
Covers the history of railroads from the 1830's to the close of the 1930's.
Gangsters of Capitalism
Katz, Jonathan M.. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2022. VE25.B88 K38
The book is far more extraordinary than even the life of Smedley Butler... a compelling and insightful meditation on the trauma people still feel as a result of Butler's career and the American ambitions it represented. -- The Washington Post
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