Recommended books for American history up to 1865
Colonial Period and the American Revolution (1607-1789)
Non Fiction
Jamestown, the Buried Truth, William M. Kelso –This book looks at how the Jamestown colony
began, unearthing the James Fort and its contents to reveal fascinating evidence of the lives and
deaths of the first settlers, of their endeavors and struggles, and of their relationships with the
Virginia Indians
A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, J.I. Packer – This book explores
the depth and breadth of Puritan spiritual life.
The Times and Trials of Anne Hutchinson: Puritans Divided, Michael P. Winship – Michael
Winship provides a startlingly new and fresh account of her oft-told tale.
The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, Carol F. Karlsen – Describes the emergence of the witch
hunt in New England.
The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America, Thomas S.
Kidd – This book provides a definitive view of the revivals, now known as the First Great
Awakening, and their dramatic effects on American culture.
Empire Of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies & Tribes in the Seven Years War in America The
Minutemen and Their World, Francis Jennings – Looks in depth at the French and Indian War
Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution, by Nathaniel Philbrick – The story of the Boston
battle that ignited the American Revolution.
Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War, by Richard M. Ketchum – An
exciting and richly detailed narrative history of the events leading up to the decisive battle that
altered the course of the American war for independence.
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the
Empire, by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy – The author follows the course of the war from the
perspectives of different British sources. (Highly Recommended)
The Loyalists: Taking Britain's Side in the American Revolution, Thomas Fleming – Historical
research that reveals the Loyalists political convictions and their courage during the American
Revolution.
The Founding Fathers Reconsidered, R. B. Bernstein –Gives historical insight into the men who
shaped America
Liberty's Daughters, Mary Beth Norton - This book looks at the effect of the American
Revolution on women.
The Constitutional Convention and Formation of Union, Winton U. Solberg – This book
summarizes the debates and includes the very most relevant discussions of the delegates.
Building of a New Nation (1789-1850)
The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840, Jack Larkin – Jack Larkin has retrieved the
intimate facts of everyday life that defined what people were really like.
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard. Based on Her Diary 1785-1812, Laurel Thatcher The author provides a fascinating window on women and early American society, especially
work, courtship, marriage and family life.
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, Daniel Walker Howe –
Historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end
of the Mexican-American War.
Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character, Roger G. Kennedy -- The book does not
sentimentalize any of its three protagonists, neither does it derogate their extraordinary qualities.
The Age of Jackson, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. - Classic history of the Jacksonian era, defines the
concept of liberal reform and sees Jacksonian Democracy as the first major liberal reform
movement in U.S. history.
The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, Donald R. Hickey – This is the comprehensive and
authoritative history of the War of 1812.
Trail of Tears - Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation, John Ehle – Recounts the many broken
U.S. treaties with the Cherokees, describes how they were forced to leave their lands in
Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina, and looks at the hardships they faced on the trail west.
The Shattering of the Union: America in the 1850s, Eric Walther – The author looks at how the
1850s offered the last remotely feasible chance for the United States to steer clear of Civil War.
Fiction
The Confessions of Nat Turner, William Styron - This book recounts the 1831 slave rebellion led
by Nat Turner.
Sally Hemings, Barbara Chase-Riboud - The life and times of Sally Hemings, Thomas
Jefferson's forbidden love who was also his slave. Looks a black-white relations from the
American Revolution until the 1830s.
Moby Dick, Herman Melville –This classic books gives insight into Puritanism and
Romanticism in America
Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Non Fiction
Reconstruction, America's Unfinished Revolution, Eric Foner - This is the most comprehensive
history of Reconstruction demonstrating "the centrality of the black experience." It's wonderful,
it's difficult and it's long, but if you get through it you will know Reconstruction. (Highly
Recommended)
Celia: A Slave, Melton McCaurin - A compelling account of a slave woman's trial for murdering
her white master after continued sexual abuse.
Twelve Years a Slave, Solomon Northup - One of the few slave narratives which provides
significant insight into plantation life in the Deep South.
Beyond the Battlefield, David Blight – One of my favorite historians –( Highly recommended)
Lincoln: A Biography, Ronald C. White – Premier biography on the giant of a man.
Race and Reunion, David Blight – One of my favorite historians –( Highly recommended)
Antietam, Gary W. Gallagher – The historian explains why across the years, Antietam remains
the worst one-day slaughter in American history
Gettysburg--Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill, Harry W. Pfanz – Pfanz provides the first definitive
account of the fighting between the Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern
Virginia at Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill(Autobiography: My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglas - Douglas describes his life
as a slave, his escape and the prejudice he encountered in the North.
Fiction
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe - Influential book written in the 1850s about the
harsh life of blacks under slavery.