Publication year 1971
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Politics & Government, War, Race, Globalization, Economics, Order & Chaos, Nation
Tags Politics & Government, Business & Economics, US History, American Literature, World History
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.
Rise to Globalism
Rise To Rebellion
Rising Out of Hatred
Robert E. Lee and Me
Roman Fever
Romney
Run: Book One
Salem Possessed
Saltwater Slavery
Salvation on Sand Mountain
Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper
Scenes of Subjection
Seabiscuit
Separate Pasts
September Suite
Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
Shades of Gray
Sing Down the Moon
Slavery by Another Name
Sleeping with the Dictionary
Publication year 1971
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Politics & Government, War, Race, Globalization, Economics, Order & Chaos, Nation
Tags Politics & Government, Business & Economics, US History, American Literature, World History
Publication year 2001
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Hate & Anger, Hope, Revenge, Mental Health, Death, The Past, Place, Family, Fathers, Marriage, Teamwork, Social Class, Colonialism, Community, Economics, Globalization, Politics & Government, War, Equality, Power & Greed
Tags World History, American Revolution, Historical Fiction, Military & War, US History
Publication year 2018
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Nation, Race
Tags Race & Racism, US History, Sociology, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography
Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist (2018) is a biography of disavowed white nationalist Derek Black, authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow.Derek is a former white nationalist wunderkind. Derek is the son of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and Stormfront online hate group creator, Don Black, and the godson of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, white supremacist politician, and notorious public figure, David Duke. Derek’s parents remove... Read Rising Out of Hatred Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Tags American Civil War, US History, Politics & Government, Race & Racism, Military & War, World History, Biography
Publication year 1934
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, The Past, Friendship
Tags Relationships, Classic Fiction, American Literature, Education, Education, US History, Italian Literature, World History
Edith Wharton wrote “Roman Fever” near the end of a career that spanned more than five decades. Like many of her works, this 1934 short story investigates the social norms of affluent people from the US, considering the forms of violence these norms tolerate and even encourage. Spare in setting and restricted in action, the story shifts between the present and the past as it depicts a love triangle’s long reverberations. As the Roman backdrop... Read Roman Fever Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Self Discovery, Fathers, Politics & Government, Truth & Lies
Tags Politics & Government, US History, World History, Biography, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 2021
Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction
Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Race, Nation, Politics & Government, War, Equality
Tags Historical Fiction, US History, Politics & Government, Social Justice, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South
Publication year 1974
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Tags Sociology, Science Fiction, US History, Anthropology, Anthropology, World History, Religion & Spirituality
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft is an academic work focusing on the Salem witch trials. First published by Harvard University Press in 1974, the book offers an alternative explanation for the phenomenon of witch hysteria and its special relevance to the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The book was well-received by critics for its unique approach to this familiar material. It falls into the nonfiction categories of popular culture, social sciences, and U.S. history... Read Salem Possessed Summary
Publication year 2007
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Tags Race & Racism, Education, Education, US History, World History
Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora by author and history professor Stephanie E. Smallwood is a work of historical nonfiction that recreates the trade of enslaved people through the eyes of enslaved African people. Published in 2007, it won the 2008 Frederick Douglas Book Prize, awarded to the best book written in English regarding slavery or abolition. The book seeks to expand the current understanding of the Atlantic trade of enslaved... Read Saltwater Slavery Summary
Publication year 1995
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Religion & Spirituality
Tags Religion & Spirituality, US History, Southern Literature, Journalism, Southern Gothic, World History, Biography
Dennis Covington’s Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia is a work of non-fiction, originally published in 1995. The narrative begins when Covington starts reporting on Glenn Summerford’s trial for the attempted murder of his wife, Darlene, by rattlesnake bite. Brother Glenn is a preacher in a snake-handling church in Scottsboro, Alabama, which is close to Covington’s home in Birmingham. Glenn is pleading that his wife tried to commit suicide and had... Read Salvation on Sand Mountain Summary
Publication year 2003
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Politics & Government, Social Class
Tags US History, Education, Education, American Literature, World History, Biography
Publication year 1997
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Race, Nation, Politics & Government
Tags US History
Publication year 1999
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Animals, Sports, US History, World History, Biography
Seabiscuit is a 1999 nonfiction book written by Laura Hillenbrand about the rise to fame and racing glory of an American racehorse named Seabiscuit. In the depths of the Great Depression, Seabiscuit rose from obscurity to international fame, and became a symbol of hope for many Americans. Born in 1933, he was owned by the Wheatley Stable, which had the famous James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons as its trainer. Fitzsimmons found Seabiscuit to have speed, but... Read Seabiscuit Summary
Publication year 1987
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Race
Tags US History, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, World History, Education, Education
Separate Pasts: Growing Up White in the Segregated South (1998) is a memoir by the American author and historian Melton A. McLaurin, who describes coming of age as a white person in the segregated South. McLaurin was born in 1941 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and grows up in the nearby town of Wade. The memoir takes place in the small town of Wade during the 1950s and focuses on the racism he witnessed at both individual... Read Separate Pasts Summary
Publication year 2001
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Safety & Danger, Justice, Equality, Memory
Tags 9/11, Grief & Death, US History
Publication year 2003
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Colonialism, Politics & Government, Truth & Lies, Power & Greed, Indigenous Identity, The Past
Tags European History, History of the Americas, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, US History, Latin American Literature, American Literature, World History
Publication year 1989
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Self Discovery, Family, Shame & Pride, Hate & Anger, War, Coming of Age
Tags Historical Fiction, American Civil War, Coming of Age, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, US History, Military & War, World History
Publication year 1970
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Community, Gender Identity, Colonialism
Tags Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure, US History, Children`s Literature, World History, Classic Fiction
Scott O’Dell’s children’s novel Sing Down the Moon (1970) is a work of historical fiction focusing on a mid-19th-century Navajo teen girl who calls herself Bright Morning. She and her people live as shepherds and farmers in Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. Bright Morning faces a series of trials in the novel: First, she is taken captive and sold into slavery; after she escapes home, white soldiers force her people to leave their village and... Read Sing Down the Moon Summary
Publication year 2008
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Tags US History, Race & Racism, Sociology, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government
Written by American journalist Douglas Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (2008) is a thorough account of the forms of slavery perpetuated by economic disempowerment in the South after the Civil War up to World War II. The book addresses themes like The Intentional Revival of Slavery, The Toxic Mix of White Mythology and Naïve Racism, and Challenges of Confronting the Past. Slavery... Read Slavery by Another Name Summary
Publication year 2002
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Language, Race
Tags African American Literature, Education, Education, US History, American Literature