Does the palpable ignorance around the election make you want to learn more about this country’s history?
In its December 2004 issue, American Heritage published an extensive and valuable bibliography of American history.
So here it is, certainly the most challenging editorial task we’ve ever attempted—and one of the most rewarding. We have drawn on the knowledge and enthusiasm of leading historians, writers, and critics to offer a compendium of the very best books about the American experience. Divided into both chronological and subject categories ranging from the rise of the Republic to sports, from the years of World War II to the African-American journey, each section presents the writer’s choice of the 10 best books in a particular field, along with lucid, lively explanations of what makes them great. The result, we believe, is both a valuable reference work and an anthology of highly personal views of the making of our country and our culture that is immensely readable in its own right.
The list is worth consulting.
By the way, Gore Vidal’s novel Lincoln makes the list. As noted below, Vidal is 83 today.