American History

A study of the history of America.

The date of the start of the history of the United States is a subject of debate among historians. Older textbooks start with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and emphasize the European background, or they start around 1600 and emphasize the American frontier. In recent decades American schools and universities typically have shifted back in time to include more on the colonial period and much more on the prehistory of the Native peoples.

It Girl
The Sisters of Book Row
Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age
Magnitude
You Can't Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson's Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her
Indigenous Citizens: Native Americans' Fight for Sovereignty, 1776-2025
Hollywood vs. Nazis: How the Movie Studios Took On Nazis Infiltrating Los Angeles
The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier
End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America
American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology
We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America
Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the Bloody Conquest of the American West
The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution
Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery
To Catch a Fascist: The Fight to Expose the Radical Right
Wayward Girls
It Girl
The First Ladies
Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery
We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America
The Second Life of Mirielle West
The Jackal's Mistress
Give Her Credit: The Untold Account of a Women's Bank That Empowered a Generation
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Code Name: Pale Horse: How I Went Undercover to Expose America's Nazis
Firestorm - The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster
The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement
The Boxcar Librarian
The Children's Blizzard
Crow Mary
The Killer Angels by Michael ShaaraGone with the Wind by Margaret MitchellBattle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPhersonThe Civil War by Shelby FooteCold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Best American Civil War Books
1,018 books — 1,008 voters
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. AmbroseBlack Hawk Down by Mark BowdenUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandWe Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. MooreLone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
Best Non-fiction War Books
2,197 books — 2,516 voters

The Color Purple by Alice WalkerI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouBeloved by Toni MorrisonInvisible Man by Ralph EllisonThe Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
Black History Month
555 books — 495 voters

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott FitzgeraldThe Catcher in the Rye by J.D. SalingerA Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty  SmithBreakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories by Truman CapoteExtremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Tales of New York City
1,711 books — 1,279 voters
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertPersepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Memoirs by Women
3,207 books — 3,214 voters

1776
John Adams
Alexander Hamilton
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Washington: A Life
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier

Related News

The Great Migration was the movement of six million African Americans out of the South to urban areas in the Northeast, Midwest, and West between...
John Stuart Mill
Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867

What the American people didn’t know was how aggressive the government was in protecting our defenses and creating weapons. FDR had already secretly approved the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb. And the government saw the waterfront as vital to our defenses. They feared that spies or other saboteurs would infiltrate the docks and interrupt the shipments of supplies or somehow obtain vital information about America’s secrets. They made a deal with the Mafia, specifically gangster Charle ...more
A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

More quotes...
This club devotes to US history for understanding the historical contexts behind current issues.
1 member, last active 3 years ago
This is a place for teachers participating in AMPU Year 2 can discuss the required reading for t…more
1 member, last active 7 years ago
Unstructured Book Exchange Community members book sharing resource. Respectful discourse on books and trust in member integ…more
1 member, last active one year ago
Books about American Presidents, American Leaders and American Events This is the Goodreads companion page for the “Books about American Presidents, American Leaders …more
19 members, last active 5 years ago

Tags

Tags contributing to this page include: american-history, hist-usa, history-american, history-us, united-states-history, and us-history