History 1211 Reading List: List of Recommended Books

With the Seven Years' War, Great Britain decisively eliminated French power north of the Caribbean — and in the process destroyed an American diplomatic system in which Native Americans had long played a central, balancing role — permanently changing the political and cultural landscape of North America. Anderson skillfully reveals the clash of inherited perceptions the war created when it gave thousands of American colonists their first experience of real Englishmen and introduced them to the British cultural and class system. We see colonists who assumed that they were partners in the empire encountering British officers who regarded them as subordinates and who treated them accordingly. This laid the groundwork in shared experience for a common view of the world, of the empire, and of the men who had once been their masters. Thus, Anderson shows, the war taught George Washington and other provincials profound emotional lessons, as well as giving them practical instruction in how to be soldiers. Depicting the subsequent British efforts to reform the empire and American resistance — the riots of the Stamp Act crisis and the nearly simultaneous pan-Indian insurrection called Pontiac's Rebellion — as postwar developments rather than as an anticipation of the national independence that no one knew lay ahead (or even desired), Anderson re-creates the perspectives through which contemporaries saw events unfold while they tried to preserve imperial relationships. Interweaving stories of kings and imperial officers with those of Indians, traders, and the diverse colonial peoples, Anderson brings alive a chapter of our history that was shaped as much by individual choices and actions as by social, economic, and political forces.

To the original text of what has become a classic of American historical literature, Bernard Bailyn adds a substantial essay, "Fulfillment," as a Postscript. Here he discusses the intense, nation-wide debate on the ratification of the Constitution, stressing the continuities between that struggle over the foundations of the national government and the original principles of the Revolution. This detailed study of the persistence of the nation's ideological origins adds a new dimension to the book and projects its meaning forward into vital current concerns.

The classic biography of the founder of the Mormon church, this book attempts to answer the questions that continue to surround Joseph Smith. Was he a genuine prophet, or a gifted fabulist who became enthralled by the products of his imagination and ended up being martyred for them? 24 pages of photos. Map.

This history of the American Civil War chronicles the entire war to preserve the Union - from the Northern point of view, but in terms of the men from both sides who lived and died in glory on the fields.

A book about the lives of David Crockett, James Bowie and William Barret Travis and about what really happened in the battle of the Alamo, these remarkable figures represent of the three distinct types of men responsible for pushing American civilization west of the Mississippi.
Crockett stood for the those who were always on the edge of the wilderness, for whom no home was ever permanent. Bowie epitomized those who invariably followed the entrepreneurs and exploiters, the men who profited, often outside the law, and moved on to the next potential bonanza. And Travis was the man of community and society, the lawgiver, the town builder, even the founder of a state or nation, one who came to stay and create.
Through tremendous research and with unprecedented access to Mexican military archives, Davis strips away the many layers of myth, legend and fable that surrounded Crockett, Bowie and Travis during their lives and after their deaths, portraying them as they really were-- heroic and unheroic, of great stature and deeply flawed, law abiding and lawbreaking.

A realistic and fascinating picture of life in colonial America recounted in colorful detail, the true story of Plymouth Colony.
The Pilgrims were not the somber, dark-clad historical figures children learn about in school. Nor were they nearly as pious as we've been led to believe: they wore brightly colored clothing, drank heavily, had adulterous affairs, and committed both petty and serious crimes against their neighbors. Using court transcripts, wills, probate listings, rare first-hand accounts, and archeological finds, the book delves into everyday life in Plymouth Colony, accurately recasting one of the most cherished chapters of American history.

Boone scouted the trans-Appalachian West for settlement, surveyed and helped build the Wilderness Road, and led the settlers' struggle against the Shawnee defenders of Kentucky. Drawing from popular narrative, public record, documentation from Boone's own hand, and recollection gathered by 19th-century antiquarians, the author employs the methods of the new social history to produce a portrait that defines Daniel Boone and the times he helped shape. Includes 16 pages of black and white illustrations

Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within sight of Philadelphia. George Washington lost ninety percent of his army and was driven across the Delaware River. Panic and despair spread through the states.
Yet, as David Hackett Fischer recounts in this riveting history, Washington--and many other Americans--refused to let the Revolution die. Even as the British and Germans spread their troops across New Jersey, the people of the colony began to rise against them. George Washington saw his opportunity and seized it. On Christmas night, as a howling nor'easter struck the Delaware Valley, he led his men across the river and attacked the exhausted Hessian garrison at Trenton, killing or capturing nearly a thousand men. A second battle of Trenton followed within days. The Americans held off a counterattack by Lord Cornwallis's best troops, then were almost trapped by the British force. Under cover of night, Washington's men stole behind the enemy and struck them again, defeating a brigade at Princeton. The British were badly shaken. In twelve weeks of winter fighting, their army suffered severe damage, their hold on New Jersey was broken, and their strategy was ruined.
We see how the campaign unfolded in a sequence of difficult choices by many actors, from generals to civilians, on both sides. While British and German forces remained rigid and hierarchical, Americans evolved an open and flexible system that was fundamental to their success. At the same time, they developed an American ethic of warfare that John Adams called "the policy of humanity," and showed that moral victories could have powerful material effects.

From popular historian Fleming comes a compelling, intimate look at the founding fathers--Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison--and the women who played an essential role in their lives.

This vivid account of the life and times of Paul Revere was first published in 1942, to great acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize. An elegant storyteller and expert historian, Edith Forbes paints a memorable portrait of American colonial history and of this most legendary of revolutionary heroes, "not merely one man riding one horse on a certain lonely night of long ago, but a symbol to which his countrymen can yet turn.

The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790.

This book tells an extraordinary story of the people of early New England and their spiritual lives. It is about ordinary people--farmers, housewives, artisans, merchants, sailors, aspiring scholars--struggling to make sense of their time and place on earth. David Hall describes a world of religious consensus and resistance: a variety of conflicting beliefs and believers ranging from the committed core to outright dissenters. He reveals for the first time the many-layered complexity of colonial religious life, and the importance within it of traditions derived from those of the Old World. We see a religion of the laity that was to merge with the tide of democratic nationalism in the nineteenth century, and that remains with us today as the essence of Protestant America.

An in-depth examination of America's "Second War of Independence". The first comprehensive history to explore not just the military aspects but the economic and political dimensions in a single volume. With over 100 pages of notes. For students, historians, and general readers.

In this work, Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society. "A pioneering work in . . . the sexual structuring of society. This is not just another book about witchcraft".--Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University.

Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known. But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost -- Washington, who had never before led an army in battle.

Written by the naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison, this Pulitzer prize-winning book is widely recognized as the only authoritative, modern biography of the naval officer frequently referred to as the father of the U.S. Navy. It vividly portrays the illustrious career of John Paul Jones, from his early training at sea in the British West Indian merchant trade, to his exploits in the newly independent American navy, to his appointment as an admiral in the Russian navy and command of a squadron in the Black Sea. With compelling detail and remarkable insight, the dramatic narrative captures Jones's tenacity and fierce dedication and loyalty to his men and country, despite ill treatment and only begrudged recognition from his superiors. Jones's incredible victories at sea form an important part of the book. Morison's description of the battle between Jones's Bonhomme Richard and HMS Serapis is considered one of the most vivid accounts of a naval battle in the English language.

The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates's acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America's greatest leader. Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln's rise from bitter poverty in America's midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of the book examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country's most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln's assassination. In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

ANew York TimesNotable Book and aSan Jose Mercury NewsTop 20 Nonfiction Book of 2003In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead, they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New World.The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history, and this book brings it fully to life for the first time. Drawing on extensive original documents, David A. Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan, to the resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith, to the spirited Pocahontas, who twice saved Smith’s life. He also gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about the colony. This is a superb work of history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.

In this new biography, based on a reexamination of Thoreau's manuscripts and on retracing of his trips, Robert Richardson offers a view of Thoreau's life and achievement in their full nineteenth century context.

This historical narrative of the Salem witch trials takes its dialogue from actual trial records but applies modern psychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria. Starkey's sense of drama also vividly recreates the atmosphere of pity and terror that fostered the evil and suffering of this human tragedy.

What is prominent professor and political commentator Wills talking about when he says, "The power of words has rarely been given a more compelling demonstration"? The mere 272 words of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, that's what. It's a maxim, true or false, of American historiography that so much stuff has been written about the sixteenth president that even his doctor's dog was at some point accorded "biographical" treatment. Well, don't bother reading about that questionably distinguished mutt; read Wills instead. And what you'll be treated to is an insightful and completely original extended essay on the effect of Lincoln's brief speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery following the North's Pyrrhic victory over Lee's incursion into Yankee territory. Yes, the prose of the address was peerless, but Wills explains just how peerless it was, submitting the thesis that the address effected a change in the minds of American citizens as fundamentally as if the Constitution had been formally altered. Lincoln, that verbal magician, in speaking to the crowd assembled to honor the war dead on that November day of 1863, left the audience and every other American with the notion that the Civil War was being fought for the equality of all persons, when in fact the Constitution guaranteed no such thing. Actually, this beautifully written book is far less arcane than any description might indicate; in fact, anyone with an interest in U.S. history--or simply in ideas--will be intrigued by its argument.