Good book on American history?

[BklynThirtyThree]

Can somebody recommend one?

I read Zinn's a while back and would like to pick up another for an upcoming vacation.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. If you are really interested in American history, and have read Zinn,

try looking at it from a different perspective and read A History of the American People by Paul Johnson. Johnson is a staunch conservative and his take on things is not the same as Zinn. But it does have information you will not have gotten in other books. I found that he was too critical of some Democratic presidents, and not at all critical of some Republican presidents, but it was interesting to read nonetheless.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. Heartily recommend

virtually anything from historian Stewart Holbrook's catalogue, but especially

Wild Men, Wobblies and Whistle Punks: Stewart Holbrook's Lowbrow Northwest

and

Lost Men of American History

The former is a fabulous recollection of the time when the Northwest was raw and waiting for bigger-than-life characters to build a civilization in our country's last continental frontier. The latter is a fascinating study of the men and women who really built America, and how they have been lost to history.

Really, ANY title by Stewart Holbrook is worth reading; a journalist from the 30s and 40s, he had a tremendous knack for finding the truly great (and occasionally infamous) Americans whose stories had been left out of the history books. In that respect, his work is as edifying as any textbook history one may find.

[FSogol]

4. Thanks. Sound good. n/t

[BklynThirtyThree]

5. Excellent

thanks for the recommendations, everyone.

[FSogol]

3. Stephen Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage."

Or anything by Ambrose. n/t

[Historic NY]

6. "A proper sense of honor" Service & Sacrifice in Washintgons Army...

by Catherine Cox.

[pscot]

7. The American Political Tradition

by Richard Hofstadter. The chapter on Linoln by itself is worth the price of the book. Hofstadter follows the course of the American political idea from Jefferson to FDR, through the careers of 8 men. Not only is it part of the canon of American history, it's an excellent read.