SunshineMom Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 What are your top five nonfiction American history books recommended for high school? A few that come to mind... A People's History of United States, Zinn 1776, Mcullough Undaunted Courage, Ambrose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Indiginous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts, Lies My Teacher Told Me by David Lowen come to mind right of the top of my head. I am assuming you do not mean primary source documents like the Federalist Papers, the AntiFederalist Papers, Locke's Treatise of Government, that sort of thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunshineMom Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 Correct EndofOrdinary. I am looking for engaging books on history for my soon to be 9th grader. She is reading through American Odyssey now but would prefer reading 6-10 books of nonfiction to another history textbook next year. I would like to give her many book suggestions to choose from. She will be taking an American Literature and Composition class next year as well. I know this is a different approach to history and I haven't worked out all the details. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaT Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 a lot of these are looonngg, but very good. Some might be too long for a 9th grader. John Adams by David McCullough, long, basis of HBO miniseries Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, long, basis of the musical Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, long, about Lincoln's Cabinet during the Civil War, basis of movie Lincoln Stealing Lincoln's Body by Thomas J. Craughwell, on the establishment of the Secret Service One Summer: America, 1927, by Bill Bryson, on events of 1927 Bloodstained Sea: The U.S. Coast Guard in the Battle of the Atlantic, 1941-44, by Michael G. Walling, one of the shorter books on WWII that are available The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, by Bill Bryson, memoir growing up in Iowa in the 1950s. An American Insurrection: James Meredith and the Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, by William Doyle, on the violent desegregation of the University of Mississippi in 1962 Carry Me Home, Birmingham, Alabama, The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, by Diane McWhorter, long, but very well-written. Won the Pulitzer Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly, on black 'computers' at NASA, basis of current movie The Rise of the Rocket Girls, by Nathalia Holt, on women 'computers' at NASA Also, John Lewis' March trilogy, graphic novel on the 1963 March on Washington You could also do movies: HBO John Adams miniseries Lincoln, based on Team of Rivals Last year my daughter did an online U.S. history course and we watched history movies over the course of the year. It was shocking to first watch Gettysburg, which was based on Killer Angels and it's affectionate view of Confederate generals, then watch 12 Years a Slave. We did a lot with the Civil Rights movement: The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Selma, The Great Debaters. PBS has a documentary series, The American Experience, which included a film on the year 1963, which is very good. Fiction could be useful, too: Stephen Crane's Red Badge of Courage, Herman Melville's Moby Dick Louisa May Alcott's Little Women Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby.... Uncle Tom's Cabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaT Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 oops, sorry, I got carried away..... totally skipped over that I was to give ONLY FIVE books... :blushing: i really really like history.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunshineMom Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 Wow Maria, thank you so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) Some of my favorites….(really, only five books?! :eek: ) Lies My Teacher Told Me or Lies Across America, by James Lowen Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick--he has other good titles as well... Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis--he has other good stuff… just about anything by David McCullough (I am especially fond of his John Adams bio) The Partly Cloudy Patriot or Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell Edited February 1, 2017 by Zoo Keeper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ailina Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 We just read "12 Years a Slave," by Solomon Northup. Autobiography (with a ghost writer.) Haunting narrative and rich real-life context. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russell. It is to some, an edgy book, but it's quite the engaging read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 My son just finished reading The Incorporation of American: Culture and Society in the Gilded Age by Allen Trachtenberg and found it fascinating. The other non-fiction big hit this year was Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys by Michael Collins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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