I’m currently in a college class that requires us to do a book review. The requirements are that it must be nonfiction, college level, and be related to our course material. I’m only a few weeks into the semester and so far we’ve started with the Reconstruction Era, Industrialization, the Trans-Mississippi West, and the Rise of Urban Order. Future chapters seemingly cover the Progressive Era, the New Era, The Great Depression, the Rise to Globalism, the Cold War, the Suburban Era, the Vietnam Era, and the Conservative Challenge. I would really prefer it if recommended books are on Kindle Unlimited, as I cannot really afford to buy one!
by Ok-Appearance-7273
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Here are two highly regarded college-level books on U.S. history from 1865 onward:
1. [**A People’s History of the United States**](https://amzn.to/4jKOdCV) by Howard Zinn
* This book offers a bottom-up perspective on U.S. history, focusing on the struggles of marginalized groups and how they shaped the nation. It covers Reconstruction, Industrialization, the Cold War, and more with a critical lens.
2. [**The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People, Volume II**](https://amzn.to/4aVrRKE) by Alan Brinkley
* A widely used college textbook that provides a comprehensive, well-balanced overview of U.S. history from Reconstruction to modern times. It includes analysis of political, economic, and cultural changes.
I attached the links in the titles above to their Amazon pages for you to check them out. Enjoy!
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody. I studied it in a college history class. She was a ground level civil rights worker, a freedom rider, and did voter registration. She also attended the March on Washington and was really critical of the I Have a Dream speech, so you get a slightly different perspective from the same side of the movement.
*Dark Horse: the Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield* [1881] by Kenneth D. Ackerman.
*Democracy in Desperation: The Depression of 1893* by Douglas Steeples.
*Banking Panics of the Gilded Age* by Elmus Wicker.
*The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush* by Pierre Berton.
*The First World War: An Illustrated History* by A.J.P. Taylor.
*Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI* [early 1920s] by David Grann.
*The Teapot Dome Scandal* [1923]: *How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country* by Laton McCartney.
*Six Days or Forever?: Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes* [1925] by Ray Ginger.
*Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America* by John M. Barry.
*Code Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan—and Why Truman Dropped the Bomb* by Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar.
*Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire* by Richard B. Frank.
*In Mortal Combat: Korea, 1950-1953* by John Toland.
*Vietnam: A History* by Stanley Karnow.
*The Root: The Marines in Beirut August 1982–February 1984* by Eric M. Hammel.
*Peacekeepers at War Beirut 1983 – The Marine Commander Tells His Story* by Timothy Geraghty, COL (Ret.).
*Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America’s War with Militant Islam* by Mark Bowden.
*Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War* by Mark Bowden.
*Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq* by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor.
*Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS* by Joby Warrick.
*Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa* by Maximilian Forte.