Books on U.S. History

Explore national history with this collection of study guides for fiction and non-fiction texts covering events, key figures, and viewpoints that have shaped the United States over the centuries. A sampling of topics within this collection includes the Puritans, Indigenous peoples, the successes and failures of the country's founders, U.S. presidents, war, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and more.

Never Caught

by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Publication year 2017

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Race & Racism, World History, Biography

In Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Erica Armstrong Dunbar traces the life of enslaved woman Ona Judge from shortly before her birth to just after her death. This tracing is bookended by details about the circumstances into which Judge was born and the effect her life had on her family after her passing. To highlight additional historical aspects of the narrative, Dunbar includes an Author’s Note explaining how she became... Read Never Caught Summary

New England Bound

by Wendy Warren

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Colonialism, Nation, Politics & Government

Tags Race & Racism, Education, Education, US History, American Literature, World History

New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America is a 2017 history book by American historian and Princeton University professor Wendy Warren. In her work, Warren explores how 17th-century colonists in New England participated in the transatlantic slave trade by purchasing enslaved Africans and selling Indigenous peoples into slavery. Warren shows how this process of enslavement was integral to the expansion of English settlements and wealth in New England and explains the different manifestations... Read New England Bound Summary

New York Burning

by Jill Lepore

Publication year 2005

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Mystery & Crime Fiction, World History

In New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan, historian and writer Jill Lepore researches the little-known history of New York’s 1741 slave burnings. The book, published in 2005, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for History. Although slavery is typically associated with the southern United States, Lepore’s history reveals that New York also has a deep and dark history of engaging in the practice... Read New York Burning Summary

Night Flying Woman

by Ignatia Broker

Publication year 1983

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Colonialism, Religion & Spirituality, Community, Coming of Age, Childhood & Youth, The Past, Family, Shame & Pride, Hope

Tags Women`s Studies, Education, Education, US History, Coming of Age, Religion & Spirituality, American Literature, Anthropology, Anthropology, World History, Arts & Culture

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No Apparent Distress

by Rachel Pearson

Publication year 2017

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Health, Poverty, Science & Nature, Biography

No Apparent Distress: A Doctor’s Coming of Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine is author Rachel Pearson’s 2017 account of her intensive medical education and the initial years of her career as a physician. She focuses on stories that illustrate her themes of medical ethics, regret, depression, bias against the poor, and racism. Rather than bogging the reader down in medical jargon, Pearson uses anecdotes to convey her experiences to a layman audience.Pearson... Read No Apparent Distress Summary

Not Without Laughter

by Langston Hughes

Publication year 1930

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Music, Coming of Age

Tags Classic Fiction, Coming of Age, Life-Inspired Fiction, US History, Harlem Renaissance, Race & Racism, American Literature, World History, Historical Fiction

Published in 1930, near the end of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes's Not Without Laughter is a coming-of-age narrative about James "Sandy" Rogers, an African-American boy from the small Kansas town of Stanton. Loosely based on Hughes's own childhood in Kansas, the novel traces the challenges of African-American life in the Midwest during the years leading up to World War I. The novel opens with a cyclone that rips the porch from the house of... Read Not Without Laughter Summary

Numbering all the Bones

by Ann Rinaldi

Publication year 2002

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Death, Siblings, Coming of Age, Daughters & Sons, Race, Equality, Justice, War, Fathers

Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, Life-Inspired Fiction, American Civil War, Race & Racism, US History, Military & War, World History

... Read Numbering all the Bones Summary

Oath and Honor

by Liz Cheney

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Safety & Danger, Truth & Lies, Nation, Politics & Government, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Politics & Government, US History, Trauma & Abuse, World History, Biography

... Read Oath and Honor Summary

Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647

by William Bradford

Publication year 1651

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Religion & Spirituality, Education, Education, American Literature, World History, Classic Fiction, Biography

Of Plymouth Plantation is a firsthand account of both the events leading up to the voyage of the Mayflower and the first twenty-five years of settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was written as a journal by William Bradford, a passenger on the Mayflower who also served multiple terms as Plymouth's governor. He appears in Of Plymouth Plantation both as a narrator and as a character in the story's events, which are told in retrospect. In... Read Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 Summary

Olga Dies Dreaming

by Xóchitl González

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Politics & Government, Family, Mothers, Sexual Identity, Race, Power & Greed, Colonialism, Economics

Tags Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ+, Social Class, Finance, US History, Natural Disaster, Parenting, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance

... Read Olga Dies Dreaming Summary

One Person, No Vote

by Carol Anderson

Publication year 2018

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Race & Racism, Black Lives Matter, US History, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government

One Person, No Vote by writer and professor Carol Anderson is a current affairs book and finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for nonfiction. It was originally published in 2018; in 2019, Anderson added an Afterword to the paperback edition and released a young adult version. One Person, No Vote documents how Republican-led state governments exploit a weakened Voting Rights Act to tilt elections in their favor.Following Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the 2016... Read One Person, No Vote Summary