Top products from r/USHistory
We found 21 product mentions on r/USHistory. We ranked the 51 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
1. A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 1
2. Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War
Sentiment score: -1
Number of reviews: 1
3. Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World Since 1776
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
5. Give Me Liberty!: An American History (Seagull Third Edition) (Vol. 2)
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
6. Give Me Liberty! An American History, Vol. 1
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
7. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
8. Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders
Sentiment score: -1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
9. Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
10. Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930 (Blacks in the New World)
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
11. The American Journey: Brief Edition Combined Volume (6th Edition)
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
12. Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829-1877
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
13. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
14. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)
17. Don't Know Much About American History (Don't Know Much About...(Paperback))
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
18. American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
American History
I've only read 2 of the books on this list, Affairs of Honor and A Brief History of Reconstruction but both are beyond excellent! I know you said you were more interested in American history from 150 years ago but the thing is that many Americans tend to overlook most of that period and obsess over the Founding. I'm capitalizing that because it's that important not only socially but politically and legally.
Due in part to our unique constitutional structure you'll hear lots of references in political conversations to what kind of country the Founders intended the United States to be. A huge portion of the pretensions proclamations of that nature are historically inaccurate. The best complete history of the entire founding of the United States I've found is John Ferling's A Leap in the Dark.
I highly recommend The American Journey by David Goldfield et al.. Even though it is a textbook, I think it's still pretty good. A lot of key themes in American history are covered in a relatively clear and concise manner. Also, it might sound slightly un-scholarly but, I really enjoy the fact that there are a bunch of pictures present throughout the entire text. In my opinion, the pictures can help to break up some otherwise boring topics, plus they can also help you visualize the time period.
Hope that helps!
edit: fixed some of the wording
If you're interested in the general history of early America (through the Civil War), I'm a huge fan of Walter McDougall's work. Freedom Just Around the Corner documents the colonial era and the different cultural and historical trends that shaped the formation of the country. Throes of Democracy is the second volume, which describes the politics of the Civil War Era. They are my personal favorite books of American history.
He also has a book on America's foreign policy called Promised Land, Crusader State which explores some of the cultural and political forces that have driven American foreign policy for the last 200 years.
All three are fascinating depictions of American culture and politics.
At the moment, I'm in the middle of reading one of his earlier books, ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in history.
I love Eric Foner's take on US History. I had a US from 1865 survey course in the winter that used Give Me Liberty! Volume 2 as the class text. He focuses on groups that are often marginalized and under represented. He does tend to insert his own liberal biases. I did enjoy his style though.
**Edited to include link to Volume 1.
I recommend American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms. It talks about several guns that were used by lawmen, specifically the Spencer Repeater, the Colt Single-Action Revolver (aka Peacemaker) and the Winchester 1873. You get technical information, first hand info on what it was like to fire one, best tactical usage, and historical anecdotes.
From the letters that Abigail wrote Jefferson, I do not think she was a Republican.
If you interested, the book The Letters of John and Abigail Adams is a great book.
When I teach LaFollette, I use David Thelan's bio. It's old, but I like it. Used copies are a few bucks.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-M-Follette-Insurgent-Spirit/dp/0299106446
Try this book, it is quite good:
https://www.amazon.com/Lynching-New-South-Virginia-1880-1930/dp/0252063457
I cannot disagree more.....
The witch trials was a very important example of the rift that was starting to grown in America between merchant and agrian classes.
I recommend you read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Entertaining-Satan-Witchcraft-Culture-England/dp/0195174836
Now, I admit that at times people get a little too deep into it, but as an event it is very illuminating about early American culture.
This really depends on what aspects of the Civil War you are looking to learn about. If you're just looking for a general overview of the entire war it's hard to go wrong with James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom. If you're looking for a shorter read I would recommend Bruce Catton's single volume history called The Civil War. These are common recommendations, but for good reason.
If you're interested in specific battles or topics, let me know and I may be able to recommend something.
Here's what got me started umpteen years ago ;)
http://www.amazon.com/Buck-Stops-Here-Alice-Provensen/dp/0147509467
Don't Know Much About History
Read this:
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Know-About-American-History/dp/0064408361
All of Ken Davis' books are tremendous. I particularly like the one about the Civil War, which I've read twice.
I realize that the reddit lemmings would ban and burn both these books if they could. Nevertheless, they both give very interesting pictures of those decades.
> Thomas Jefferson, (...) was, in Denise Spellberg’s words, “the first in the history of American politics to suffer the false charge of being a Muslim, an accusation considered the ultimate Protestant slur in the eighteenth century.”
Previously:
Thomas Jefferson’s Quran: How Islam Shaped the Founders - What role did Islam have in shaping the Founders' views on religion? A new book argues that to understand the debate over church and state, we need to look to their views on Muslims, writes R.B. Bernstein.
Amazon link --- Crossposted from /r/HistoryofIdeas.
I don't think that is quite fair. While an unfortunate number of libertarians (I would be sure to add DiLorenzo to your list) write terribly inaccurate "histories" of the Civil War and Lincoln, there are also a good number of scholarly libertarians who contribute serious analysis and original research to the literature on the war. For instance, Phil Magness is a vocal libertarian and his Colonization After Emancipation was an important contribution to Lincoln studies when it came out in 2011. Similarly, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, quite a radical libertarian, wrote Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men and the forthcoming Deadweight Loss and the American Civil War: The Political Economy of Slavery, Secession, and Emancipation, which both showcase rigorous analysis and an erudite understanding and appreciation of the literature. John Majewski, too, is a libertarian and his Modernizing a Slave Economy was quite well-received.
In short, I think it is politically-motivated publications that should be suspect, not works by libertarians per se.
Is Shelby Foote's Civil War still well-regarded? My dad's a civil war buff and he used to swear by these volumes (20 years ago).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0394749138?pc_redir=1395777254&robot_redir=1