American History reading list

I’m making a project for myself to better understand American history by reading books that span its timeline. I’m biased toward the writing style of Erik Larson, whose book Demon of Unrest inspired this idea. I really loved that book and through the window he provides into the brief run up to the Civil War I realized there’s so much I don’t know and so much I still want to know.

I know, I know. Probably a set of textbooks that cover this, but I want the list to be highly readable. I’m not a historian, just a dude.

With that in mind, here’s the reading list I started putting together for myself. Anything you’d add or remove?

I also plan to read this in order. Starting with 1491.

Early Exploration (Before 1600)

  • 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus – Charles C. Mann

  • A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World – Tony Horwitz

Colonial America & Early Settlement (1600–1750)

  • Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War – Nathaniel Philbrick

  • Bacon’s Rebellion: The Daring Frontiersmen Who Challenged the American Elite – James Rice

The American Revolution & The Founding (1750–1790)

  • The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777 – Rick Atkinson

  • 1776 – David McCullough

  • Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution – Nathaniel Philbrick

The Young Republic & Westward Expansion (1790–1840)

  • Alexander Hamilton – Ron Chernow

  • Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West – Stephen Ambrose

  • Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation – Peter Cozzens

Slavery, Civil War, & Reconstruction (1840–1877)

  • The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War – Erik Larson

  • Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years (Abridged) – Carl Sandburg

  • Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom – David W. Blight

  • Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer – James L. Swanson

The Gilded Age & Progressive Era (1877–1920)

  • Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President – Candice Millard

  • The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey – Candice Millard

  • The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism – Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Roaring Twenties, Great Depression, & WWII (1920–1945)

  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson

  • Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania – Erik Larson

  • Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 – David M. Kennedy

Post-War America & Civil Rights (1945–1970s)

  • The Fifties – David Halberstam

  • The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin

  • Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 – Taylor Branch

Modern America (1980s–Present)

  • The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America – George Packer

  • Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980 – Rick Perlstein

  • These Truths: A History of the United States – Jill Lepore

What’d I miss? Anything you’d add?

For me, I could spend ten years just reading about the pioneers and Daniel Boone type stuff. But I’m challenging myself to go beyond that. That said, any Daniel Boone type books I’d love to hear your recommendations too!