12 American History Books That’ll Blow Your Mind

If you can’t get enough of George Stephanopoulos on your small screen as a political commentator, you can get a little more of him by way of his new book about how former U.S. presidents have handled crises. Step inside the most high-pressure room in the White House — the Situation Room — to understand what went on when former elected officials made some of the toughest decisions of their careers. The book includes minute-by-minute transcripts from the Sit Room after both Presidents Kennedy and Reagan were shot, the shocking moment when Henry Kissinger raised the military alert level to DEFCON III while President Nixon was drunk in the White House residence, a vivid retelling of the 9/11 attacks, a first-ever account of January 6th from the staff inside the Sit Room, and more. 

You know that women, along with many other groups, didn’t always have the right to vote in America. But do you know the history of how that changed? And why it was such a fight for them to gain that right? It’s not something often explored in elementary school history classes, so if you’re interested, you might have to look into it yourself. This book by one of the suffragists is a good place to start. Doris Stevens, who worked with Alice Paul, published a firsthand account of the National Woman’s Party, which organized and fought a fierce battle for passage of the 19th Amendment. The book details the hunger strikes, forced feedings, and jail terms suffragists endured to secure their right to vote, and has inspired a new Broadway musical, Suffs.

The NYT Book Review writes, “This is not an account of relentless progress. It’s much subtler and darker than that.” In These Truths, Jill Lepore analyzes whether America has delivered on its original promises of political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people.

We interviewed James W. Loewen in 2020 about his groundbreaking work, which debunks common U.S. history myths. This book is an essential fact-check of your own understanding of America’s past. 

Author Ijeoma Oluo takes readers on a journey through 150 years of American history, from the post-reconstruction South to present-day controversy over NFL protests, all while pointing out the influence and costs of white male supremacy.

It’s important to recognize the United States’s influence outside just the 50 states. That’s the focus of Immerwahr’s book, which takes readers to the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and more to bring forgotten episodes in history back to our consciousness. 

Although the U.S. is known for being a melting pot, it also has a history of xenophobia directed toward immigrants. From Germans to Irish Catholics to Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican immigrants (and countless others), Erika Lee takes a look at American history through the lens of the groups who have been on the receiving end of this discrimination.

In this sweeping book, Howard Zinn tells the story of the U.S. through the eyes of the working class, painting a vivid picture of movements for equality that have often met fierce resistance.  

This read offers a fascinating lesson about Black women’s contributions to our history, a multilayered look at the feminist movement, and an investigation into the frequent disregard for working women and women of color through the decades.

Read this book for a deeply-researched look at how racist ideas have impacted American history, using the life stories of five big intellectuals: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.

Unlike many of the other books on this list, 1776 focuses on a single period of history by telling the story of those who marched with George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

This book is so important: It tells the stories of the true natives of the land we call America. They lived here before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, unleashing a bloody genocide. And using science, history, and archeology, Charles Mann explains they had much more advanced societies than what many think.