Since I began writing Mal Warwick on Books in 2010, I’ve read and reviewed nearly 500 popular books in the categories of history, current affairs, and biography. Most of them cast light on the history of the United States. Here, I’ve listed my 20 top picks for understanding American history. They’re arranged in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names. Each title and author is followed by the name and link for its review. Below this list you’ll find many others you may also find illuminating.
Included among the titles listed below are books by such prominent authors as Robert A. Caro, T. J. Stiles, Erik Larson, Adam Hochschild, Paul Kennedy, and Stephen Kinzer.
As you’ll see, one of the 20 top books in this post is a novel. All the rest are nonfiction, except where otherwise noted in the lists of runners-up that follow.
This post was updated on June 25, 2025.
The top 20 books for understanding American history
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander — The New Jim Crow: reexamining mass incarceration in America
Prof. Alexander explains how the country’s criminal justice system has been warped to the point of non-recognition by a series of Presidential actions, Congressional legislation, and Supreme Court decisions. Read the review.
Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America by Kurt Andersen—How America lost its way and ended up at war with itself
The extreme economic inequality and political polarization we experience today is the fruit of a half-century campaign by Big Business and the ultrarich to reverse the liberal consensus that produced economic growth and a robust middle class in the wake of World War II. Read the review.
The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War by James Bradley — Teddy Roosevelt and the dark side of American foreign policy
Racist attitudes were prevalent and unchallenged in the US at the turn of the 20th Century and achieved full expression in Teddy Roosevelt’s aggressive foreign policy. Read the review.
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz—Revisionist US history from an indigenous perspective
Every country has its foundation myth, and the United States no less than any other. Here, settlers fleeing religious persecution and poverty in Europe flooded our shores. They founded thriving colonies on the Eastern seaboard dedicated to freedom. After gaining their independence, they drove relentlessly across the continent “from sea to shining sea.” There were people already living on the land, of course. But they supported themselves mostly by hunting, living lives little changed from that of the hunter-gatherers of ancient times. Their resistance faded in the face of overwhelming odds. They couldn’t overcome the force of the country’s “Manifest Destiny.” Yet this myth is wrong in almost every respect. In An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, scholar Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz refutes it with eye-opening detail. Read the review.
Jefferson’s Second Revolution: The Election Crisis of 1800 and the Triumph of Republicanism by Susan Dunn—America’s first existential election
When George Washington died in 1799, the young republic was in a sorry state. The government had imprisoned dozens of opponents of the Federalist Administration, mostly newspaper editors, under the Sedition Act passed the previous year. And the volatile President, John Adams of Massachusetts, had alienated most of his allies, Alexander Hamilton chief among them. Thus, when his party nominated him for reelection in 1800, he had few friends and little enthusiastic support. And he faced Thomas Jefferson of Virginia with his fast-growing Republican Party. The future of America hung in the balance.
In the resulting campaign, the two candidates remained on the sidelines out of propriety. The contest devolved into an exchange of inflammatory personal insults between Federalist and Republican politicians in what may well have been the dirtiest presidential campaign in American history. Read the review.
Drive! Henry Ford, George Selden, and the Race to Invent the Auto Age by Lawrence Goldstone—This thrilling account of the early auto industry sets the record straight on Henry Ford
Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. Nor was he the first automaker to introduce interchangeable parts and mass production. Instead, his chief talents lie as a manager and businessman. Read the review.
American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild—Repression, censorship, and official violence in the First Red Scare
Woodrow Wilson was long ranked among the ten greatest US Presidents but has fallen far in historians’ estimation in recent decades. This remarkable book details the first Red Scare, engineered by Wilson and members of his administration, which helps explain why. Read the review.
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr—A supremely entertaining history of American empire
Immerwahr’s argument rests on a contemporary understanding of empire that encompasses all the many ways the United States extends its influence all across the globe. He refers to this 21st-century reality as a “pointillist empire” that no longer requires the US to occupy extensive territory overseas. Today, Immerwahr asserts, “powerful countries project their influence through globalization rather than colonization.” But the preeminence of the United States rests on several unique advantages. Read the review.
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer — They shaped US foreign policy for decades to come
Eisenhower’s Secretary of State and the long-time CIA director set the US on a path of undermining foreign governments in the name of anti-Communism. Read the review.
Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream by Nicholas Lemann—Economic inequality deconstructed in a brilliant historical study
Lemann traces the evolution of the three “big ideas” that have guided economic policymakers in the decades since World War I. He characterizes them as institutions, transactions, and networks. These three ideas “have a common thread. They share a kind of conceptual grandeur, a conviction that if we aim at producing a good society by adopting one all-encompassing principle, the result will be positive for everybody.” But Lemann soundly rejects this notion. Read the review.
One Nation Under Gods: A New American History by Peter Manseau — America’s surprising religious history in a highly readable book
In a book that’s full of surprises, Manseau surveys the country’s diverse religious history from the arrival of the Conquistadores and the Puritans to Scientology, the Right-Wing evangelicals, and New Age cults of recent years. Read the review.
Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel—Reparations for slavery—in the 19th century
Reparations for slavery is not a new idea. It was actively discussed in the nineteenth century, even during the era of slavery. Historian Caleb McDaniel won the Pulitzer Prize for History in his superb book that highlights that debate. Read the review.
The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law That Kept Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America by Daniel Okrent—The racist movement that stopped immigration a century ago
The tides of otherism have ebbed and flowed throughout five centuries of American history. Racism. Antisemitism. Xenophobia. From the genocide of the continent’s native peoples, to the enslavement of millions of transplanted Africans, to the Know-Nothing fury toward Irish immigrants and Catholics, to the racist violence and perversions of justice under Jim Crow, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the exclusionary policies of the Trump Administration, the fear, ignorance, and insecurity that give rise to otherism have always been with us. Now, in The Guarded Gate, Daniel Okrent surveys one slice of this sad history by examining the racist movement that effectively halted immigration a century ago. He does so with lucid prose and a meticulous appraisal of the facts. Read the review.
The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present by John Pomfret — A revealing history of U.S.-China relations
The destinies of the U.S. and China have been closely linked for more than a century—and began when the U.S. shed its identity as a British colony in 1776. Read the review.
Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin — The shocking reality behind the secret US war on “terror”
1,074 federal government organizations and nearly two thousand private companies are involved with programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence in at least 17,000 locations across the United States. Read the review.
The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News—and Divided a Country by Gabriel Sherman — Roger Ailes: the man who built Fox News and divided America
Roger Ailes helped swing the 2000 election to George W. Bush, championed the rise of the Tea Party, and promoted partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill. Read the review.
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles — The first robber baron and the emergence of the corporation
Vanderbilt pieced together the massive New York Central Railroad, one of the first of the huge corporations that soon came to dominate American life. Read the review.
The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government by David Talbot — When America’s secret government ran amok
It’s difficult not to conclude that Allen Dulles’ virtually unchallenged reign at the CIA in the 1950s was an unparalleled disaster, moving the agency into the business of assassination. Read the review.
The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State by David Vine—A powerful indictment of America’s permanent war
Vine argues persuasively that the thousands of military bases the United States has constructed around the world provide our government with the incentive to use military force more frequently and more aggressively. And he backs up his argument with abundant historical examples. Read the review.
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter—A gripping tale about the early American labor movement
The better histories of the period between the Civil War and the First World War give some sense of the monumental challenges the early American labor movement faced from rich men unafraid to use the most extreme violence to protect their millions. But it takes a novelist to convey the intimate detail that makes their stories truly memorable—as Jess Walter has done so brilliantly in The Cold Millions. Read the review.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson—When six million Americans left home behind
This pathbreaking book brought to the public outside academic circles the extraordinary story of the Great Migration that unfolded from World War I through the end of the Vietnam War. Then, six million African Americans fled the Jim Crow South for new opportunities in the North, Midwest, and West. Read the review.
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard—Understanding America’s polarization and how we got to now
Does the Red State-Blue State analysis of recent US elections make sense to you? Or pointing to the difference between Republicans and Democrats to explain election outcomes? Colin Woodward doesn’t think either one is useful in explaining how and why we vote as we do. Nor, in his opinion, are the boundaries that define our fifty states or the regions normally termed Northeast, Midwest, South, and so forth. None of these arbitrary distinctions stand up to scrutiny in light of the cultural history he relates so beautifully in his eye-opening book, American Nations. To understand polarization as it defines the American project today, reading this book is a must. Read the review.
Other insightful books that help in understanding American history
One hundred other titles follow that might be considered runners-up. All are nonfiction. They’re arranged in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names.
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed—How the gold standard caused the Great Depression
The Lords of Creation: The History of America’s 1 Percent by Frederick Lewis Allen—Why the Great Recession happened—and the Great Depression before it
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire by Kurt Andersen — Conspiracy theories, fake news, and other delusions in American history
One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson — Voter suppression, gerrymandering, and voter ID laws brilliantly explained
Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding… Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis by Sam Anderson—America revealed through the lens of a single mid-sized city
The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War by Scott Anderson—Four CIA spies who helped set US policy in the 1940s and 50s
A Warning by Anonymous, a Senior Trump Administration Official—An anonymous White House Republican tells all
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-44 by Rick Atkinson — Friendly fire and bumbling generals in WWII
The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 by Rick Atkinson—“The greatest catastrophe in human history”
Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches From America’s Class War by Joe Bageant — On the front lines of America’s class war
Pelosi by Molly Ball—A critical but admiring biography of Nancy Pelosi
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass — Nixon, Kissinger, and the genocide history has ignored
American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church by Alex Beam — Joseph Smith: the remarkable man who founded the Mormon Church
The Longest War: Inside the Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda by Peter L. Bergen — “The Longest War”: The conflict between the U.S. and Al Qaeda
American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power by Andrea Bernstein—The Trumps and the Kushners: the backstory
The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery by Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles—An entertaining account of deception in World War II
The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird — The PLO, Miss Universe, and the CIA—and it’s all true
“The Rest of Us”: The Rise of America’s Eastern European Jews by Stephen Birmingham—Start here to understand Jews in America
Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin III — Berkeley in 1969: Black Panthers, the FBI, and the Vietnam War
The Spy Who Knew Too Much: An Ex-CIA Officer’s Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal by Howard Blum—Unmasking the mole in the CIA
Republican Gomorra: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal — When religion dominated the views of American conservatives
Presidents in Crisis: Tough Decisions inside the White House from Truman to Obamaby Michael K. Bohn—An eye-opening plunge into Presidential decision-making
The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King—The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea by Walter R. Borneman—The four men who led the US Navy in WWII
The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia by James Bradley — “Who lost China?” Nobody.
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H. W. Brands — A new Benjamin Franklin biography is a compelling read
The Black Calhouns: From Civil War to Civil Rights with One African American Family by Gail Lumet Buckley — Living the African-American experience
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power by Robert A. Caro — A masterful portrait of Lyndon Johnson as President
The Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman—Reflecting on 100 years of landmark ACLU cases
Asian American Histories of the United Statesby Catherine Ceniza Choy—An Asian American history book focused on the present
Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do and What You Can Do About It by Jeffrey D. Clements — Citizens United, corporate personhood, and the way forward
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen — The amazing story of America’s Banana King
Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science that Changed the Course of World War II by Jennet Conant—The amateur scientist who helped deliver radar and the atomic bomb
The Summit: Bretton Woods, 1944: J. M. Keynes and the Reshaping of the Global Economy by Ed Conway — The clash of personalities that determined our economic history
The Buck Stops Here: The 28 Toughest Presidential Decisions and How They Changed History by Thomas J. Craughwell and Edwin Kiester, Jr.—Assessing the most fateful Presidential decisions
Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right by Matthew Dallek—The roots of today’s Right-Wing extremism
The Fortunes by Peter Ho Davies—The Chinese American experience in America
Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew F. Delmont—African-Americans in World War II
Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe—They personified Gilded Age excess
Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary by Geoffrey Cowan—Teddy Roosevelt: progressive, champion of primary elections, and a racist
The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of World War II in the Pacific by William Craig—The ugly background to Japan’s unconditional surrender
The Twilight War: The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran by David Crist — The ugly US-Iran war, past, present, and future
American Disruptor: The Scandalous Life of Leland Stanford by Roland de Wolk—The California Governor who was a notorious thief
The Jews in America by Max I. Dimont—A brilliant account of Jewish history in America
The Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a Village Caught in Between by Michael Dobbs—Did FDR betray the Jews of Europe?
The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan — The “Muslim immigrants” of the nineteenth century
The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies by Jason Fagone — The woman codebreaker who caught gangsters and Nazi spies
Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell — Clarence Darrow, superstar of the Gilded Age
Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer—American history through a Cuban lens
Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox—Life undercover in the CIA chasing suitcase nukes
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss by Margalit Fox—She was organized crime’s boss in Gilded Age New York
The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man, 1945-1953 by Jeffrey Frank—A revealing new biography of Harry Truman
How the Post Office Created America: A History by Winifred Gallagher—How would the states have become united without the post office?
Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II by Marc Gallicchio—The unconditional Japanese surrender in WWII
The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America—and How to Undo His Legacy by David Gelles—He set the course for Big Business in America today
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell—Malcolm Gladwell wades into the debate about strategic bombing in WWII
National Security and Double Government by Michael J. Glennon — Who makes national security decisions? Not the President!
The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession by Dana Goldstein — Teacher training, normal schools, and “bad teachers”
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann — The case that helped put the FBI on the map
A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order by Richard A. Haass — American foreign policy in a “nonpolar” world
Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann—Red meat for political junkies: “The Making of the President 2012”
The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote — and How to Get It Back by Thom Hartmann—The Republican war on voting unmasked
The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings — A revisionist history of intelligence in World War II
The Bridge at Remagen by Ken Hechler—The strategic breakthrough that opened the Allies’ way to Berlin
Bravehearts: Whistle-Blowing in the Age of Snowden by Mark Hertsgaard — National security or insecurity?
Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex by Michael Hiltzik — The man who fathered Big Science
Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild — The American role in the Spanish Civil War
Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes by Adam Hochschild—Early 20th-century America viewed through the life of one extraordinary woman
The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E. Hoffman — A gripping true-life tale of Cold War spycraft
Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France by James Holland—Debunking the myths about D Day and Normandy
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston—The last living former slave tells his story
Jonas Salk: A Life by Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs — Jonas Salk: the doctor who cured polio and saved millions
The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen — The mind-boggling story of America’s top-secret military research
Mary’s Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace by Peter Janney — Why did JFK die? The most convincing explanation I’ve ever read
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson—Dynamite, anarchists, and the first modern detectives
Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe by Jonathan W. Jordan—The American generals who led the Allies to victory
Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War by Fred Kaplan — The secret history of cyber war
Asia’s Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific by Robert D. Kaplan — Competition between the U.S. and China through the lens of geopolitics
The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans, a Story of Love and War by Catherine Grace Katz—The Yalta controversy and the fate of Poland
What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party by Michael Kazin—A stirring history of the Democratic Party
The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb by Sam Kean—The secret mission to stop the Nazi atomic bomb
The Edge of Anarchy: The Railroad Barons, the Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America by Jack Kelly—The American labor movement in the Gilded Age
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi—Racism still kills
Engineers of Victory: The Problem-Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War by Paul Kennedy —The problem-solvers who won World War II
Patton’s Prayer: A True Story of Courage, Faith, and Victory in World War II by Alex Kershaw — The amazing story of how George S. Patton won the Battle of the Bulge
The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of the American Empire by Stephen Kinzer — The origins of the American empire
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson — Both Democrats and Republicans have lost their way
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy by Robert Kuttner—Why we need to elect a progressive Democratic President in 2020
Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror by Charles Lane—The first man who fought the Ku Klux Klan—and won
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson — Why the U.S. failed to speak out against the rise of Hitlers Germany
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson — When a U-boat sank the Lusitania and changed history
Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump’s Washington and the Price of Submission by Mark Leibovich—A fresh and funny look at the Trump Administration
Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service by Devin Leonard—An entertaining history of the post office
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr—An investigative journalist tackles the American supermarket
American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress by Wesley Lowery—Understanding white supremacy through personal stories
Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillis—Assessing the havoc Amazon has created
Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow—America’s home-grown fascism
Watergate by Thomas Mallon — Watergate through a novelist’s eyes
Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years, by Thomas Mallon — Ronald Reagan deconstructed in a new Thomas Mallon novel
Landfall by Thomas Mallon—A novelist’s sympathetic portrait of George W. Bush
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable — Malcolm X, reconsidered in the context of his time
The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future by Stephen Marche—Is a new American civil war inevitable?
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer — How the Koch brothers are revolutionizing American politics
The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth by Mark Mazzetti — Drones, mercenaries, and targeted murder: the new CIA strategy
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough — The true (and surprising) story of the Wright Brothers
Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books by Jess McHugh—The bestsellers that shaped the American character
Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live—and How their Wealth Harms Us All by Michael Mechanic—The curious lives of the rich and not-so-famous
The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton by Jefferson Morley—James Jesus Angleton, the man who nearly destroyed the CIA
The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomyby Charles R. Morris—The Robber Barons who dominated the Gilded Age
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy — The amazing story of the American “Code Girls” who helped win World War II
The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism by Adam Nagourney — A balanced look inside the New York Times
The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw — An outstanding biography of Joseph P. Kennedy
Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown by Jim Newton—Jerry Brown: politician, would-be monk, “man of tomorrow?”
A Promised Land by Barack Obama—Barack Obama’s memoir is a literary tour de force
Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism by Kathryn S. Olmsted — How today’s conservatism grew in the cotton fields of California
Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson—The men behind the British-American partnership in WWII
Patriotic Betrayal: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Secret Campaign to Enroll American Students in the Crusade Against Communism by Karen M. Paget — How the CIA infiltrated the National Student Association
From Warsaw With Love: Polish Spies, the CIA, and the Forging of an Unlikely Alliance by John Pomfret—The long-lasting alliance between Polish spies and the CIA
The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace by Eric Rauchway — FDR, the gold standard, and the Great Depression
Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese-American Internment in World War II by Richard Reeves — The shameful story of Japanese-American Internment in WWII
The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It by Robert B. Reich—Robert Reich explains how the ultra-wealthy have rigged the system
The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick — Historical perspective on the surprising rise of Barack Obama
Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America by Heather Cox Richardson—How the Republican Party came to be what it is today
Steep: The Precipitous Rise of the Tea Party, by Lawrence Rosenthal and Christine Trost—Tea Party politics may not be what you think
Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America by Clay Risen (The roots of today’s reactionary politics?)
Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power by Seth Rosenfeld — J. Edgar Hoover, Ronald Reagan, and the violence in 1960s Berkeley
Empire of Resentment: Populism’s Toxic Embrace of Nationalism by Lawrence Rosenthal—A scholar of Right-Wing politics dissects the Trump coalition
Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda by Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker — Understanding the secret American campaign against Al Qaeda
Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff—Bucking the Pentagon’s resistance to change
Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly—The amazing true story of the Black women in the space race
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America by Russell Shorto—About that old myth of how Indians sold Manhattan for $24 in beads
Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way) by Rachel Slade—Bringing manufacturing back to America: a family saga
Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles by Les Standiford — How the desert town of Los Angeles became the city it is today
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson — A searing look at America’s broken criminal justice system
Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T. J. Stiles — A superb biography of George Armstrong Custer
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot — From the Summer of Love to the Jonestown massacre
By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution by David Talbot and Margaret Talbot—Chronicling the incomplete second American Revolution
Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson—How Joe Biden’s family and top aides covered up his steady decline
Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United by Zephyr Teachout — Citizens United, bribery, and corruption in America
America’s Social Arsonist: Fred Ross and Grassroots Organizing in the Twentieth Century by Gabriel Thompson — The man who trained Cesar Chavez in community organizing
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin — The kidnapping that shook America
David Brower: The Making of the Environmental Movement by Tom Turner — The remarkable life of David Brower
Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam by Nick Turse — A wrenching view of how the U.S. military fought the Vietnam War
Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon by Larry Tye: A balanced new biography of Bobby Kennedy
Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage by Douglas Waller — The remarkable spymaster who launched the US into espionage
One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon by Tim Weiner — An eye-opening book about the Nixon White House
The CIA: An Imperial History by Hugh Wilford—The CIA and American Empire
1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History by Jay Winik — The sad story of FDR’s complicity in the Holocaust
The Winds of War (World War II #1 of 2) by Herman Wouk — Is this classic World War II novel the best ever?
The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright—An eye-opening novel grounded in the real world of small-town politics
The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age by Tim Wu — It’s time for antitrust: break up big corporations to restore democracy
One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 by Jia Lynn Yang—What has made America a nation of immigrants?
Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang—The Chinese immigrant experience in 19th-century America
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