Which books do YOU think are necessary to understand America's history (and present)?

[strangejen]

It's no secret I'm a book nerd. But I feel like even though I did well in high school and graduated from college, I still don't know much or understand much about the world, or even America. This makes it hard for me to hear about issues on the news, because I don't fully understand things. I've been trying to catch myself up by reading a pretty big variety of books, but there's just not enough time to read them all.

I'm curious about what you all think are important books that contribute to an understanding of American politics and history?

I'll start with some thoughts:

The Fourth R (http://www.amazon.com/Fourth-R-Joan-DelFattore/dp/0300102178/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223989641&sr=8-1): Conflicts Over Religion in America's Public Schools by Joan DelFattore very much influenced my understanding of the history of that church/state wall of separation (a topic that is often brought up in political debates.)

I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't yet read Common Sense, The Rights of Man and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine (http://www.amazon.com/Common-Rights-Essential-Writings-Classics/dp/0451528891/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990797&sr=8-1), because it was a highly influential book during the time of the American Revolution.

Now for politics in general, the following science fiction/fable books are, of course, wonderful warnings -- particularly in regards to the role of government (or ruling parties) and how lack of political power of the masses is a scary thing:
1984 (Signet Classics) (http://www.amazon.com/1984-Signet-Classics-George-Orwell/dp/0451524934/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990013&sr=8-2) by George Orwell and Erich Fromm,
Animal Farm (http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Farm-George-Orwell/dp/1854597892/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990072&sr=8-1) by George Orwell and Ian Woodldridge,
Brave New World (http://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990053&sr=8-1) by Aldous Huxley, and
The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood.
And crap, there's one more in this genre I read this year that I can't remember. LOL. The one where the guy found a sewer to hide in sometimes and then ended up running away to the hills with a girl?

Anyway . . . would love to hear your thoughts.

[kjbstevens]

I loved Animal Farm. I think it's the only thing I actually paid attention to in high school.
The one main that I really think is great is The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History (http://www.amazon.com/Politically-Incorrect-American-History-Guides/dp/0895260476/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223991314&sr=8-1). It goes back and explains about people's real meaning and beliefs to let people really decide if they've been accurately portrayed by history. There is a The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution (http://www.amazon.com/Politically-Incorrect-Guide-Constitution-Guides/dp/1596985054/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223991314&sr=8-2) too which goes into the events happening at the time and the reasonings behind why they wrote things the way they did and what they were meaning by them.

[JCSimon]

Another one I like is "Lies My Teacher Told Me." Darned if I can remember the author, but it does a great job of explaining how selective our history education is and why it's been "tweaked" the way it has been.

[kjbstevens]

This one? That one sounds pretty goo. Onto the Xmas wish list. :)

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/1595583262/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223994470&sr=8-1)

[JCSimon]

This one? That one sounds pretty goo. Onto the Xmas wish list. :)

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/1595583262/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223994470&sr=8-1)

Yup, that's it. I homeschooled my kids and, right from the beginning, we used this alongside the "regular" history stuff.

[vegaschristina]

Personally, I'd just love to climb into Gina Marie's head. She seems to have such a grasp on things.

[Chreamps]

Totally agree with you there, Christina, maybe we need to go visit her in Germany?

[Nutmeg]

Niall Ferguson is controversial as a historian, but reading his book on the British Empire for one of my classes helped me see a different view of America. Basically it talks about the mistakes he thinks British empire made, and then how America repeats them.

I don't think I'd call it a necessary book, and I don't agree with everything, but I think its a useful one.

[JCSimon]

Totally agree with you there, Christina, maybe we need to go visit her in Germany?

Wait, wait!! Don't go without me! :clap

[lavendar]

Some excellent books on the beginnings of the United States are by David McCullough--they are must reads. I love his books 1776 (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=david+mccullough+books&safe=active&cid=816831054946037347#ps-sellers) and John Adams (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=david+mccullough+john+adams+book&btnG=Search+Products&show=dd&cid=3358455273484019189#ps-sellers). He's a fantastic historian! I'm looking at reading McCullough's The Course of Human Events (http://www.goldengatebookstore.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=333&upc=0743550382&affnr=-2610). What I find fascinating about these books is the human relationships surrounding the creation of the US. The way things happened then can help us understand our country today.

[lunafaerie]

I took a "futures" class where we had to read 1984, Brave New World, and others. But our assigned text for the class was Bold New World. Written in 1994, it basically laid out the last decade in mind, from the rise of terrorism, to the capital crisis we're in now. http://www.amazon.com/Bold-New-World-Essential-Twenty-First/dp/1568361807

Absolutely riviting to me. I read it as a futures book, but now it's like a history book, eerie.

[strangejen]

And crap, there's one more in this genre I read this year that I can't remember. LOL. The one where the guy found a sewer to hide in sometimes and then ended up running away to the hills with a girl?

HA HA! Figured it out!!!

Anthem (http://www.amazon.com/Anthem-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452281253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224003674&sr=8-1) by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff

[daly]

I tell everyone I know they should read this book. It is a non-fiction book but it so well written it reads like a novel:
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
(http://www.amazon.com/Looming-Tower-Qaeda-Road-Vintage/dp/1400030846/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224005805&sr=8-1)


the above title links to Amazon. Scroll down and read 'John's' review...he took notes from a lecture he attended giving by the author....very enlightening indeed!

[ssexton]

Hey Jen!!

I second David McCollough's books. John Adams was absolutely riveting! It inspired me to attempt to learn more about Western Civilization in general and to change the whole focus of our homeschool to a more classical format. So many of the founding fathers were inspired by the Greek and Roman philosophers and historians. Plutarch's Lives, Cicero, Plato, and then much later Locke and Rousseau among many others...I think we need to read their thoughts in order to fully understand the framework for our own institutions. In fact, the curriculum we use recommends reading Plutarch's Lives with younger children, starting at about age 10!

[Gina.Maria]

Now for politics in general, the following science fiction/fable books are, of course, wonderful warnings -- particularly in regards to the role of government (or ruling parties) and how lack of political power of the masses is a scary thing:
1984 (Signet Classics) (http://www.amazon.com/1984-Signet-Classics-George-Orwell/dp/0451524934/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990013&sr=8-2) by George Orwell and Erich Fromm,
Animal Farm (http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Farm-George-Orwell/dp/1854597892/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990072&sr=8-1) by George Orwell and Ian Woodldridge,
Brave New World (http://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223990053&sr=8-1) by Aldous Huxley, and
The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood.
And crap, there's one more in this genre I read this year that I can't remember. LOL. The one where the guy found a sewer to hide in sometimes and then ended up running away to the hills with a girl?

Anyway . . . would love to hear your thoughts.

I've read all of these and more and have taken a greater interest in non-fiction beyond biography in recent years. I'm finding books by statisticians without a political agenda (I'm thinking total math freaks, here) are a big turn-on for me, too. I enjoy memoires but I'm highly critical of these and don't always accept the stories told as fact. I, personally, view them as ego-strokes.

HA HA! Figured it out!!!

Anthem (http://www.amazon.com/Anthem-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452281253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224003674&sr=8-1) by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff

I was just going to say that! It's always on my bookshelf and I reread it often (I've had to replace it once.) I'd have to say it's my favorite book. Others that will always have a place on my bookshelf - The Holy Bible, Brave New World, The Hobbit, Einstein's Dreams and Atlas Shrugged. Others come and go but these six remain constant.

[Gina.Maria]

Personally, I'd just love to climb into Gina Marie's head. She seems to have such a grasp on things.

Totally agree with you there, Christina, maybe we need to go visit her in Germany?

Wait, wait!! Don't go without me! :clap

:wubThanks, Ladies. You'll have to come soon because I'm going to have to move back to the US before the end of the year. My husband was laid off - no one buys new equipment when there's an economic downturn - and I need to get a decent-paying job that doesn't require that I speak German fluently. I'll be stopping off in Los Angeles on my way home to family, so if anyone's nearby let me know. We can get together for dinner or something.

[txmusicmom]

Well I can tell you our kids aren't learning it now-- some only learn Reconstruction to Present......How convenient is that?

Personally I like reading original documents........ :)

I'll post my book list later.......my family wants to eat.........:shrug:shrug

[rmcabana]

I've got these on my shelf, but I haven't touched them yet...
Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States
Jon Stewart's America (http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stewart-Presents-America-Teachers/dp/0446691860/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224029694&sr=8-2)

I'm trying to remember the books I read in college as a history major - blanking on those of course! One of my favorite historians/biographers is Doris Kearns Goodwin and I also really love Blanche Wiesen Cook's books about Eleanor Roosevelt. I like women's views on history.

I think you can learn a lot from fiction as well. I've also liked novels that really capture periods in history or cultures. Like Grapes of Wrath, On The Road, Main Street, Toni Morrison's Jazz, Tim O'Brien's Vietnam books, Little House on the Prarie, Gone With the Wind, Dreaming in Cuban ... I could go on forever! :)

[JCSimon]

:wubThanks, Ladies. You'll have to come soon because I'm going to have to move back to the US before the end of the year. My husband was laid off - no one buys new equipment when there's an economic downturn - and I need to get a decent-paying job that doesn't require that I speak German fluently. I'll be stopping off in Los Angeles on my way home to family, so if anyone's nearby let me know. We can get together for dinner or something.

I wish! By then, I'll be buried in snow, whether I'm in Michigan or Wisconsin. :(

[Scorpiosue1102]

An interesting book is Machiavelli's The Prince. The Prince and politics go hand in hand.