Best 5 books about US history

Must-read texts for the youth of the country.

Want to learn the details of American history? You can do that by brushing up your knowledge by reading books. The way we live our lives is a reflection of how things were in the past. The Past, present, and future of civilization are interconnected. 

Best books on American history allow us to travel through time and take us to a story realm without which everything wouldn’t have been possible. Historical texts are the carriers of civilization and without documentation, the past can’t survive.

To understand the sacrifices of our ancestors, our heritage, etc. we need to learn about the past. With the excessive use of technology, most Americans are ignorant about their past as they are more into mobile phones than past and civilization. 

No matter how busy you are, you should read up on historical texts and stay connected with your past. The US past is full of grand ambitions, historical incidents, war, and happenings.

Let’s take a look at the 5 textbooks that relate to crucial moments such as the arrival of explorers from Europe, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and a lot more.

1. American nations: A history of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

This amazing non-fiction American book is written by the award-winning historian and journalist, Colin Woodard. He has worked for The Economist, The Washington Post, and a lot of other famous news agencies.

In this book, Woodard discusses how the state of the US was formed by combining 11 different nations. He discusses the illustrious past of each nation and how they came together as the American nation.

The book also discusses the rifts and changes in the current government in light of historical events. It also sheds light on the different traditions and ideology of the people of the USA. The book basically reveals the regional differences in the US and the evolution of these differences.

2. A people’s history of America

This non-fiction book was written by Howard Zinn. Zinn discusses how history and the past are different from the traditional and nationalist idolization of the civil united American nation. Even though the book is quite lengthy, it is definitely an eye-opener.

Anyone who is looking to gain insight into the truth of past happenings must give this book a read. Published in 1918, the book discusses the past, politics, economics, and foreign policy.

Since Howard Zinn was a political scientist, the book looks at all the issues in the past from a political perspective. You can learn more about freedom in the essay about The Crucible from a different perspective. The play is a dramatized and fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93.

The play is basically an allegory for McCarthyism, this is when the government persecuted people accused of being communists. The book tells you about the past from the eyes of a simple man and isn’t full of jargon and hard to understand terminologies.

1776 by David Mccullough is also a great read that discusses American freedom and how the war affected the freedom of native Americans. Apart from this, the book on the US past by Eric Foner is a great read. Foner discusses the top victories of Americans in the war.

3. U.S. History

This is a very detailed book written by P. Scott Corbett who has divided the US past into thematic and chronological chapters like black past, Mexican US past, women history, etc.

After reading this book, you are capable of having a symmetrical approach towards US history and the ideas that make up the American identity. The book covers many areas of US history. 

It is full of failures and successes, power and hunger, weakness and strength. It is impossible to cover US history completely but this book does a great job and describes every pivotal situation and war from varying perspectives and American stories such as religious, racial, ethnic, cultural, etc.

4. These truths: A history of the States

Want to learn about US history, but from a political point of view? This amazing book tells us about people empowerment and the role the people of a nation play in building their nation and country. The author discusses how we can regulate a nation with the help of elections instead of resorting to violence. 

The book is divided into four time periods and the author discusses the story of political happenings in each period and how those occurrences are affecting the lives of people even today. The writer explains the legacy of slavery and the role it plays in national development and war.

The first part of the book underlines the story of slavery and the last part analyses various incidents in black history.

5. Advanced Placement United States history 

This book is basically part of the college-level course which is recommended by the American college and university board. In this book, John David Newman has illustrated the nation’s war history in a very easy to understand way and the knowledge in this book acquaints the students of today with the occurrences of the past.

The book is not only informative, but it is entertaining as well. You can easily learn about the incidents and the story of the past civil war from a personal narrative, without getting bored at all!

Final Word

All the books that we have reviewed above depict the US old days in an amazing way. These texts are a must-read by the youth of the country. Not only will it help the students learn about the past of our illustrious state, but will teach them how to deal with the happenings of the present as well.