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.

Necessary Trouble

by Drew Gilpin Faust

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Coming of Age, Femininity, Gender Identity, Race, Social Class, Education, Nation

Tags US History, Politics & Government, Gender & Feminism, Post-War Era, Southern Literature, Women`s Studies, World History, Biography

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Neither Wolf Nor Dog

by Kent Nerburn

Publication year 1994

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Indigenous Identity, Language, Animals, Place, Colonialism, Nation, Equality, Justice, Power & Greed

Tags Race & Racism, US History, Travel Literature, Creative Nonfiction, Philosophy, Philosophy, World History, Biography

Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder is a memoir by American author Kent Nerburn. The book describes a road trip Nerburn took with two Lakota men, weaving Nerburn’s personal experiences with lengthy speeches from the men on indigenous history and culture. Major themes in the book include The Role of Language in Oppression, The Lasting Trauma of America’s Violence Against Indigenous Communities at the hands of white colonizers, and The... Read Neither Wolf Nor Dog Summary

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

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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

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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 Xochitl Gonzalez

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

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