America History Books

If you want to understand the mess made by the Bush Administration in the conduct of US foreign policy since 9/11, read this book. What it tells us is that ... the secretive, half-baked worldview of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al is nothing new....
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This is a very long book about a very long history of incompetence at the CIA. While there have been other books written about just how much the CIA resembles the Keystone Cops, such as Mike Ledeen's "Terror Masters" book written several years...
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However depressing, I thought this book was easy to read and was a necessary review of the agency with a "great reputation but lousy record" (I paraphrase one comment in the book).

I am giving it to a friend (a few years younger than...
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Larson has created the first must-read nonfiction title of the year, an assured and satisfying work which vividly portrays the one of the last grand gasps of the nineteenth century, the World's Fair of 1893.
Daniel Hudson Burnham, architect and...
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Well written and mostly an enjoyable read. But I was anticipating much more information about the serial killer, Dr. Holmes, and how he was related to the World's Fair. As it turns out, Holmes and his horrific activities were not really related to...
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A rewarding read that bounds along. It is chock full of information and detail that are clearly the result of considerable research. It is hard not to be engaged by this vivid portrait of a city enthusiastically committed to its future.
On a...
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Amity Shlaes: The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression HarperCollins, 2007, 433pp

This is a remarkable book which will forever change your understanding of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's role and the...
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"The Forgotten Man" emphasizes selectively-picked "moving stories of individual Americans" against government elites, which incorrectly frames the debate as government intervention ruining recovery versus supposedly free markets before the New...
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This is a well-written, informative work of history, combining people, places, events and analysis. However, one would be misled, as I was, by the publisher's description that this was a book showing the stories and experiences of ordinary people...
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I have just read Anne Coulter's review of this book. I came to Amazon to see what was said here about the book and about McCarthy, and found the PW review. Amazon has previously run leading negative reviews of conservative books, but I was...
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This book is pure bull. Don't be taken in. McCarthy ruined innocent lives.
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Evans' attempt to revive Joe McCarthy's reputation misses on several counts. The first being that McCarthy lied several times about exactly how many communists were on his original list - a list he never even had, and therefore the basis for his...
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"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Commemorative Pop-up" (story by L. Frank Baum and pop-up designs by Robert Sabuda) will delight Oz fans, collectors, artists, and the young at heart everywhere. Following Baum's story and illustrator W.W. Denslow's...
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I collect Robert Sabuda's books and love to give them as gifts. The copy I recently ordered was a disapointment.The tornado folded out parallel with the page instead of perpendicular to it. I compared it to my copy purchased last year and found...
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At 480 pages, Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War is in many ways a complete history of the Plymouth Colony. What a read though, and the pages flew by.....Mayflower is well written. Philbrick does a masterful...
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Ours doesn't have a conveniant inter-racial campfire at the Official Thanksgiving.Our GreenCorn festival is not what this country is celebrating evry year......The author is still missing some facts...our version is diffrent.
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I would have liked more of the book to be about the story of the Pilgrims themselves. Philbrick merely retells (for the most part) what is already available in Bradford's "Of Plimoth Plantation" which, of course, is a must-read for anyone...
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What topic could be more current than independence or the passionate desire that all men have for freedom? David McCullough brings his considerable literary talent to the fore in describing the fascinatingly pivotal year of 1776. Just one year...
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I am very disapointed in 1776 by David McCullough. In my opinion it is simply not up to the standard he set by his terrific biography of Truman or his wonderful story of the Panama Canal, The Path Between the Seas.

That part of 1776...
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I have no doubt that David McCullough's stirring new narrative, 1776, will be a bestseller. McCullough is a brand name and media outlets will love to have him appear. And 1776 is a particularly compelling read when you can hear Pulitzer Prize...
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"REDISCOVERING GOD IN AMERICA" IS A REFRESHING LOOK AT THE LIFES OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS AND HOW MUCH OF A ROLE FAITH PLAYED IN THERE LIFES AND SHAPED THE DESTINY OF THIS NATION.I REALLY APPRIEATE SPEAKER GINGRICH WRITING THIS BOOK AND SETTING THE...
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Newt, having a Ph.D. in History from Tulane, is probably capable of putting more substance about the role of God in America than this tiny pamphlet. Newt apparently visited about 7 sites in Washington, DC and did a little bit of research. read full review | report as inappropriate

Many Republican fans of Newt think that citing the Declaration of Idependance is PROOF POSITIVE that this nation has a stance on god. But the Declaration of Independance is a rhetorical secession document. When declaring war, it's always good to...
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