Best overview book of American history

History didn't start until 2009.

First read this:



Then read this:


Then read this:




Then read this:

I don't know of one book, but the Oxford History of the United States is a collection of some of the best US period history books that are chronological. LINK

I've only read What Hath God Wraught and it does a great job of detailing the building tensions prior to the Civil War.

I’m an audio book fan and I’ve enjoyed the biographies of founding fathers and world leaders. I feel you learn abt history and the men. My path so far has been Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington Nepoleon, Grant, Churchhill, and currently on Teddy.

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This one is the best hands down.

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Da Comrade, is gloriously historical history of racistly exploitationism in United American States of America

"This one is the best hands down."

... you are going to get a lot of grief for posting this, but I agree that it is a very interesting read. Don't agree with everything Zinn had to say, but if it true that "history is written by winners", why not get a different perspective? The most interesting idea is the fact that the heads of the original colonies were terrified of the power that indians, slaves, indentured servants and poor whites would have if they partnered with each other in a revolt.

Currently reading this, haven't finished, but so far seems relatively apolitical.

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you are going to get a lot of grief for posting this, but I agree that it is a very interesting read. Don't agree with everything Zinn had to say, but if it true that "history is written by winners", why not get a different perspective? The most interesting idea is the fact that the heads of the original colonies were terrified of the power that indians, slaves, indentured servants and poor whites would have if they partnered with each other in a revolt.

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Of course that's your contention. You're a first year grad student. You just got finished readin' some Marxian historian -- Pete Garrison probably. You're gonna be convinced of that 'til next month when you get to James Lemon, and then you're gonna be talkin' about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year -- you're gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin' about, you know, the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.

I really was excited about A People's History. But nobody told me it was just going to be a litany of human rights violations that cast our country in a very unfavorable light. I think it has its place, but it is hardly comprehensive or balanced.

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This one is the best hands down.

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Read Zinn and Thomas Kidd's American History back to back or better yet simultaneously and you get a good balance.

The first thing one has to understand about history is it isn't math there is no right or wrong answer. Sure one can recite the fact the Gadsden purchase was in 1854 and was the final piece of the Manifest Destiny puzzle along with the amount of land we bought from Mexico and the price we paid but if you ask 100 historians about the bigger issue of Manifest Destiny or how the Gadsden purchase stoked the flames of war between the states you will get 101 answers. This is why I suggest if you are interested in history that you read accounts from different historians.