Comments on: Books about American politics http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:29:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Henry (not the famous one) http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-246023 Henry (not the famous one) Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:17:25 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-246023 In the intersection of history and fiction, Vidal's Lincoln is wonderful. Then read Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. As for straight history, try Irving Bernstein's histories "The Lean Years" and "The Turbulent Years" on American labor in the 1920's and the 1930's. His brief dissection of the jurisprudence of William Howard Taft is enough to remind us of the violence inherent in the system, to quote another great political theorist. Michael Hamburger "Our Portion of Hell," on the civil rights movement's impact on that part of Tennessee between Memphis and Mississippi, is a good history of what the movement meant in an area that did not see reporters or tv cameramen. "The Children," by the late great David Halberstam, is a closely observed view of what it took to challenge segregation. The political is personal, as it turns out. On Jacksonianism: read Schlesinger's book to discover that Old Hickory was the precursor to FDR, the way the OT prophets paved the way for JC. Hilarious in its wholly unintended way. And as for McPherson's wonderful book--a real page turner and one that notes the connection between coitus interruptus and abolitionism somewhere in the first few chapters--my favorite anecdote is a personal one. When the book club at my workplace admitted me and another person, she chose "Battle Cry of Freedom." I brought home the paperback, with its Currier & Ives picture of a Civil War battle on the cover, which my son, then five, spotted and demanded that I read all 800+ pages to him. We started with the prologue, which describes an incident during the Mexican-American War in which Grant, Lee and Longstreet all featured. My son kept interrupting me to ask about the specialized military language ("What are 'jaunty dragooms?'" he asked), but by two thirds of the first page he had given up, asking me "Dad, is this in English?" That was as far as we got. The book club broke up too. Not McPherson's fault, however. In the intersection of history and fiction, Vidal’s Lincoln is wonderful. Then read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.

As for straight history, try Irving Bernstein’s histories “The Lean Years” and “The Turbulent Years” on American labor in the 1920’s and the 1930’s. His brief dissection of the jurisprudence of William Howard Taft is enough to remind us of the violence inherent in the system, to quote another great political theorist.

Michael Hamburger “Our Portion of Hell,” on the civil rights movement’s impact on that part of Tennessee between Memphis and Mississippi, is a good history of what the movement meant in an area that did not see reporters or tv cameramen. “The
Children,” by the late great David Halberstam, is a closely observed view of what it took to challenge segregation. The political is personal, as it turns out.

On Jacksonianism: read Schlesinger’s book to discover that Old Hickory was the precursor to FDR, the way the OT prophets paved the way for JC. Hilarious in its wholly unintended way.

And as for McPherson’s wonderful book—a real page turner and one that notes the connection between coitus interruptus and abolitionism somewhere in the first few chapters—my favorite anecdote is a personal one. When the book club at my workplace admitted me and another person, she chose “Battle Cry of Freedom.” I brought home the paperback, with its Currier & Ives picture of a Civil War battle on the cover, which my son, then five, spotted and demanded that I read all 800+ pages to him. We started with the prologue, which describes an incident during the Mexican-American War in which Grant, Lee and Longstreet all featured. My son kept interrupting me to ask about the specialized military language (“What are ‘jaunty dragooms?’” he asked), but by two thirds of the first page he had given up, asking me “Dad, is this in English?”

That was as far as we got. The book club broke up too. Not McPherson’s fault, however.

]]> By: Sean Young http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245781 Sean Young Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:42:44 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245781 Since this thread seems about done with, I compiled all the suggestions so far into a list: Abbey, Edward: The Monkey Wrench Gang Adams, Henry: History of the United States During The Administration of Thomas Jefferson Adams, Henry: The Education of Henry Adams Agee, James and Walker Evans: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Allen, Frederick: Only Yesterday (followed by a sequal, Since Yesterday) Ambrose, Stephen: The Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938. Anderson, Jack: Confessions of a Muckraker Anderson, Terry: The Movement and the Sixties. Ayers, Edward: The Promise of the New South Bailyn, Bernard: Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Baker, Russell: Looking Back Barry, John: Rising Tide. Berry, Wendell: Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community Boorstin, Daniel: The Americans Bourne, Randolph: essays Bouton, Jim: Ball Four. Bowden, Mark: Blackhawk Down Boyle, Kevin: Arc of Justice Brady, Joan: Theory of War Branch, Taylor: Parting the Waters (part of 3 part series). Branch, Taylor: trilogy about America in the King years. Brands, H.W.: The Strange Death of American Liberalism Brooks, Juanita: Quicksand and Cactus Brown, Dee: Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee Brown, Dee: Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blow Bryan, John: Whatever Happened to Timothy Leary Caro, Robert: Lyndon Johnson. Caro, Robert: The Power Broker Carter, Dan: From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich : race in the conservative counterrevolution, 1963-1994. Carter, Dan: The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics. Carter, Dan: When the war was over : the failure of self-reconstruction in the South, 1865-1867. Carter, Jimmy: book on his first election. Carter, Stephen: The Culture of Disbelief. Cash, W.J.: The Mind of the South Cather, Willa: Death Comes to the Archbishop Cather, Willa: My Antonia Cather, Willa: The Bohemian Girl Chandler, Raymond: The Long Goodbye Cohen, Lizabeth: A Consumer’s Republic. Cohen, Lizabeth: Making a New Deal. Coll, Steve: Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 Cozzens, James Gould: Guard of Honor Cramer, Richard Ben: What It Takes. Cronon, William: Nature’s Metropolis. Dallek, Robert: His biography of Lyndon B Johnson Dawidoff, Nicholas: The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg Debo, Angie: And Still the Waters Run DeLillo, Don: Underworld Deloria, Vine: Custer Died for Your Sins (very funny, believe it or not!) Dick, Philip K.: novels Dickens, Charles: American Notes: For General Circulation Dionne, EJ: Why Americans Hate Politics. Doig, Ivan: This House of Sky Dos Passos, John: USA Trilogy Draper, Theodore: A Struggle for Power: The American Revolution. Drinnon, Richard: Facing West DuBois, W.E.B.: Reconstruction DuBois, W.E.B.: The souls of Black Folk Duncan, Dayton: Miles from Nowhere (US life in rural counties). Dunne, Peter Finley: The Mr. Dooley books (e.g. Mr. Dooley in War and Peace) Ehrenreich, Barbara: Fear of Falling Ehrenreich, Barbara: The Hearts of Men Elkins, Stanley and Eric McKitrick: The Age of Federalism Ellroy, James: Novels (esp. American Tabloid, The L.A. Quartet) Evans, Walker: Walker Evans: American Photographs Faulkner, William: Light in August, among others Fisher, David Hackett: Albion’s Seed. Foner, Eric: Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men Foner, Eric: Reconstruction Foner, Eric: The Story of American Freedom Frank, Thomas: What’s the Matter With Kansas Freeman, Josh: Working Class New York. Fussell, Paul: Wartime Genovese, Eugene: Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. Genovese, Eugene: The World the Slaveholders Made: Two Essays in Interpretation. Ginsberg, Ben: The American Lie. Goldman, Eric: Rendezvous With Destiny Goodwyn, Lawrence: Democratic Promise. Goodwyn, Lawrence: The Populist Moment. Greene, Melissa Fay: Praying for Sheetrock. Gregory, James: American Exodus Griffith, Robert: The Politics of Fear. Gunther, John: Inside USA Haldeman, Joe: 1968 Hayley, Alex: The Autobiography of Malcolm X Herr, Michael: Dispatches Hodgson, Godfrey: America in Our Time Hofstader, Richard: The American Political Tradition. Hofstader, Richard: The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Hofstadter, Richard: The Age of Reform. Hofstadter: The American Political Tradition Howe, Daniel Walker: What Hath God Wrought, the Oxford History of America 1815-1848. Hunt, Michael: Ideology in U.S. Foreign Policy Jacoby, Susan: Freethinkers Jaffa, Harry V.: Crisis of the house divided: An interpretation of the issues in the Lincoln-Douglas debates James, C.L.R.: American Civilisation James, C.L.R.: Mariners, Renegades and Castaways Johnson, Chalmers: Nemesis (part III of a trilogy) Johnson, James Weldon: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Johnson, Paul: Sam Patch the Famous Jumper Jones, Edward: The Known Worl (novel). Josephson, Matthew: The Politicos Josephson, Matthew: The Robber Barons Karp, Walter: The Politics of War Kauffman, Bill: Ain't My America Kauffman, Bill: Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette Kauffman, Bill: Look Homeward, America Kay, Terry: The Year the Lights Came On (novel). Kennedy, David M.: Freedom from Fear Kennedy, David: Freedom from Fear. Kerouac, Jack: On the Road Kesey, Ken: Sometimes A Great Notion Key, V.O.: Southern Politics in State and Nation. Kimmell, Haven: A Girl Called Zippy Klein, Naomi: The Shock Doctrine Krugman, Paul: Conscience of a liberal Lacy, Al: Tears of the Sun Lasch, Christopher: The Agony of the American Left Lasch, Christopher: The Culture of Narcissism Lasch, Christopher: The Revolt of the Elites Lasch, Christopher: The True and Only Heaven Lasch, Christopher: The World of Nations (essays) Lawrenson, Helen: Stranger at the Party Least Heat Moon, William: Prairyerth Lebergott, Stanley: Pursuing Happiness Leebaert, Derek: The Fifty-Year Wound Lemann, Nicholas: The Promised Land Levering-Lewis, David: two-volume bio of W.E.B. DuBois. Lewis, Michael: Moneyball. Lewis, Sinclair: Elmer Gantry Limerick, Patricia: Legacy of Conquest Lindblom, Charles E.: Inquiry and Change: The Troubled Attempt to Understand and Shape Policy Linn, Brian: The Philippine War, 1899-1902 Litwack, Leon: anything by him. Loewen, James W.: Lies My Teacher Told Me Macdonald, Dwight: essays (e.g. Notes of a Revolutionist or Politics Past: Essays in Political Criticism) Mailer, Norman: Of a Fire on the Moon Mailer, Norman: The Naked and the Dead Martin, George: The Armageddon Rag. Marx, Karl: Journalism (see: <a href="http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1861/us-civil-war/index.htm" rel="nofollow">Marxists.org</a>) McCarthy, Cormac: Novels, esp. Blood Meridian McCormick: America’s Half-Century McDougall, Walter: history of the USA: Freedom Around the Corner. McDougall, Walter: Promised Land, Crusader State McDougall, Walter: Throes of Democracy. McMurty, Larry: essays and review (e.g. Sacagawea’s Nickname) McPherson, James: Battle Cry of Freedom. Mencken, H.L.: Newspaper Days Mencken, H.L.: Selected Prejudices Meyers, Marvin: The Jacksonian Persuasion. Michener’s Centennial and Texas. Nash, George: The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Nevins, Allen: Ordeal of the Union (reads like poetry). Norris, Frank: The Octopus North, Douglass: Growth and Welfare in the American Past and The Economic Growth of the United States 1790 – 1860. Obama, Barack: Dreams From My Father O'Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried Onuf, Peter: Origins of the Federal Republic is good. Oxford History of the United States, esp. James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: the United States 1945-74 & Restless Giant (1974-2000) Payne, Charles M.: I’ve Got the Light of Freedom. Percy, William: Lanterns on the Levee. Perlstein, Rick: Nixonland. Phillips, Kevin: The Cousins’ Wars. Pollan, Michael: The Omnivore’s Dilemma Powell, John Wesley: travels Powers, Richard: Gain Pritchett, Wendell: Brownsville, Brooklyn. Rakove, Jack: Original Meanings. Reisner, Marc: Cadillac Desert Renda, Mary: Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of US Imperialism 1915-1940 Rhodes, Richard: Arsenals of Folly Riis, Jacob: How the Other Half Lives Robinson, Kim Stanley: "The Lucky Strike" Rodgers, Daniel: Republicanism: Career of a Concept. Rolvaag, Ole: Giants in the Earth Rosenfeld, Richard N. and Edmund S. Morgan: American Aurora: A Democratic-Republican Returns: The Suppressed History of Our Nation’s Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It Royko, Mike: Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago Sawislak, Karen: Smoldering City. Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr.: The Cycles of American History Schlosser: Fast Food Nation Schulman, Bruce: The Seventies. Sellars, Chuck: The Market Revolution Sheehan, Neil: A Bright Shining Lie Sherrill, Robert: The Gothic Politics of the Deep South Sinclair, Upton: The Jungle Sklar, Judith: American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion is also a useful, fun quick read. Sloman, Larry: Reefer Madness: The History of Marijuana in America Starr, Paul: The Creation of the Media Starr, Paul: The Social Transformation of American Medicine Steele, Ronald: Walter Lippmann and the American Century Steffens, Lincoln: The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens Steffens, Lincoln: The Shame of the Cities (with preface by Hofstadter) Stegner, Wallace: Beyond the 100th Meridian Stegner, Wallace: Essays (e.g. Wolf Willow) Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath Stiglitz, Joseph: Making Globalization Work Stone, I.F.: In Time of Torment Stuart, Jesse: The Thread that Runs so True. Takaki, Ronald: A Different Mirror: A History of Multi-Cultural America. Terkel, Studs: works, esp. Working Thompson, Hunter S.: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail Toomer, Jean: Cane Twain, Mark: Life on the Mississippi Twain, Mark: works Twelve Southerners: I’ll Take My Stand Utley, Robert: Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life. Utley, Robert: High Noon in Lincoln Vale, Lawrence: From the Puritans to the Projects Vidal, Gore: seven-volume “American Chronicles” series (historical novels) Vidal, Gore: The United States: Essays Vonnegut, Kurt: Jailbird. Washington, Booker T.: Up from Slavery. Watson, Harry: Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America West, Elliott: The Contested Plains White, Richard: It’s Your Misfortune and None of my Own Wilentz, Sean and Paul Johnson: the Kingdom of Matthias Wilentz, Sean: The Rise of American Democracy Willeford, Charles: novels (esp. Cockfighter, The Woman-Chaser) Williams, Harry: book on Huey Long. Williams, William Appleman: The Contours of American History Wills, Garry: His book about the Gettysburg Address Wills, Garry: Nixon Agonistes Wolfe, Tom: Mau Mauing the Flack Catchers Wolfe, Tom: The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test Wolfe, Tom: The Right Stuff. Wood, Gordon: Creation of the American Republic. Woodward, C. Vann: The Strange Career of Jim Crow Worster, Donald: Rivers of Empire Yates, Richard: Revolutionary Road Young, Marilyn: The Vietnam Wars Zinn, Howard: A People’s History of the United States Since this thread seems about done with, I compiled all the suggestions so far into a list:

Abbey, Edward: The Monkey Wrench Gang
Adams, Henry: History of the United States During The Administration of Thomas Jefferson
Adams, Henry: The Education of Henry Adams
Agee, James and Walker Evans: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
Allen, Frederick: Only Yesterday (followed by a sequal, Since Yesterday)
Ambrose, Stephen: The Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938.
Anderson, Jack: Confessions of a Muckraker
Anderson, Terry: The Movement and the Sixties.
Ayers, Edward: The Promise of the New South
Bailyn, Bernard: Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.
Baker, Russell: Looking Back
Barry, John: Rising Tide.
Berry, Wendell: Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community
Boorstin, Daniel: The Americans
Bourne, Randolph: essays
Bouton, Jim: Ball Four.
Bowden, Mark: Blackhawk Down
Boyle, Kevin: Arc of Justice
Brady, Joan: Theory of War
Branch, Taylor: Parting the Waters (part of 3 part series).
Branch, Taylor: trilogy about America in the King years.
Brands, H.W.: The Strange Death of American Liberalism
Brooks, Juanita: Quicksand and Cactus
Brown, Dee: Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee
Brown, Dee: Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blow
Bryan, John: Whatever Happened to Timothy Leary
Caro, Robert: Lyndon Johnson.
Caro, Robert: The Power Broker
Carter, Dan: From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich : race in the conservative counterrevolution, 1963-1994.
Carter, Dan: The politics of rage : George Wallace, the origins of the new conservatism, and the transformation of American politics.
Carter, Dan: When the war was over : the failure of self-reconstruction in the South, 1865-1867.
Carter, Jimmy: book on his first election.
Carter, Stephen: The Culture of Disbelief.
Cash, W.J.: The Mind of the South
Cather, Willa: Death Comes to the Archbishop
Cather, Willa: My Antonia
Cather, Willa: The Bohemian Girl
Chandler, Raymond: The Long Goodbye
Cohen, Lizabeth: A Consumer’s Republic.
Cohen, Lizabeth: Making a New Deal.
Coll, Steve: Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Cozzens, James Gould: Guard of Honor
Cramer, Richard Ben: What It Takes.
Cronon, William: Nature’s Metropolis.
Dallek, Robert: His biography of Lyndon B Johnson
Dawidoff, Nicholas: The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
Debo, Angie: And Still the Waters Run
DeLillo, Don: Underworld
Deloria, Vine: Custer Died for Your Sins (very funny, believe it or not!)
Dick, Philip K.: novels
Dickens, Charles: American Notes: For General Circulation
Dionne, EJ: Why Americans Hate Politics.
Doig, Ivan: This House of Sky
Dos Passos, John: USA Trilogy
Draper, Theodore: A Struggle for Power: The American Revolution.
Drinnon, Richard: Facing West
DuBois, W.E.B.: Reconstruction
DuBois, W.E.B.: The souls of Black Folk
Duncan, Dayton: Miles from Nowhere (US life in rural counties).
Dunne, Peter Finley: The Mr. Dooley books (e.g. Mr. Dooley in War and Peace)
Ehrenreich, Barbara: Fear of Falling
Ehrenreich, Barbara: The Hearts of Men
Elkins, Stanley and Eric McKitrick: The Age of Federalism
Ellroy, James: Novels (esp. American Tabloid, The L.A. Quartet)
Evans, Walker: Walker Evans: American Photographs
Faulkner, William: Light in August, among others
Fisher, David Hackett: Albion’s Seed.
Foner, Eric: Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men
Foner, Eric: Reconstruction
Foner, Eric: The Story of American Freedom
Frank, Thomas: What’s the Matter With Kansas
Freeman, Josh: Working Class New York.
Fussell, Paul: Wartime
Genovese, Eugene: Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made.
Genovese, Eugene: The World the Slaveholders Made: Two Essays in Interpretation.
Ginsberg, Ben: The American Lie.
Goldman, Eric: Rendezvous With Destiny
Goodwyn, Lawrence: Democratic Promise.
Goodwyn, Lawrence: The Populist Moment.
Greene, Melissa Fay: Praying for Sheetrock.
Gregory, James: American Exodus
Griffith, Robert: The Politics of Fear.
Gunther, John: Inside USA
Haldeman, Joe: 1968
Hayley, Alex: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Herr, Michael: Dispatches
Hodgson, Godfrey: America in Our Time
Hofstader, Richard: The American Political Tradition.
Hofstader, Richard: The Paranoid Style in American Politics.
Hofstadter, Richard: The Age of Reform.
Hofstadter: The American Political Tradition
Howe, Daniel Walker: What Hath God Wrought, the Oxford History of America 1815-1848.
Hunt, Michael: Ideology in U.S. Foreign Policy
Jacoby, Susan: Freethinkers
Jaffa, Harry V.: Crisis of the house divided: An interpretation of the issues in the Lincoln-Douglas debates
James, C.L.R.: American Civilisation
James, C.L.R.: Mariners, Renegades and Castaways
Johnson, Chalmers: Nemesis (part III of a trilogy)
Johnson, James Weldon: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Johnson, Paul: Sam Patch the Famous Jumper
Jones, Edward: The Known Worl (novel).
Josephson, Matthew: The Politicos
Josephson, Matthew: The Robber Barons
Karp, Walter: The Politics of War
Kauffman, Bill: Ain’t My America
Kauffman, Bill: Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette
Kauffman, Bill: Look Homeward, America
Kay, Terry: The Year the Lights Came On (novel).
Kennedy, David M.: Freedom from Fear
Kennedy, David: Freedom from Fear.
Kerouac, Jack: On the Road
Kesey, Ken: Sometimes A Great Notion
Key, V.O.: Southern Politics in State and Nation.
Kimmell, Haven: A Girl Called Zippy
Klein, Naomi: The Shock Doctrine
Krugman, Paul: Conscience of a liberal
Lacy, Al: Tears of the Sun
Lasch, Christopher: The Agony of the American Left
Lasch, Christopher: The Culture of Narcissism
Lasch, Christopher: The Revolt of the Elites
Lasch, Christopher: The True and Only Heaven
Lasch, Christopher: The World of Nations (essays)
Lawrenson, Helen: Stranger at the Party
Least Heat Moon, William: Prairyerth
Lebergott, Stanley: Pursuing Happiness
Leebaert, Derek: The Fifty-Year Wound
Lemann, Nicholas: The Promised Land
Levering-Lewis, David: two-volume bio of W.E.B. DuBois.
Lewis, Michael: Moneyball.
Lewis, Sinclair: Elmer Gantry
Limerick, Patricia: Legacy of Conquest
Lindblom, Charles E.: Inquiry and Change: The Troubled Attempt to Understand and Shape Policy
Linn, Brian: The Philippine War, 1899-1902
Litwack, Leon: anything by him.
Loewen, James W.: Lies My Teacher Told Me
Macdonald, Dwight: essays (e.g. Notes of a Revolutionist or Politics Past: Essays in Political Criticism)
Mailer, Norman: Of a Fire on the Moon
Mailer, Norman: The Naked and the Dead
Martin, George: The Armageddon Rag.
Marx, Karl: Journalism (see: Marxists.org)
McCarthy, Cormac: Novels, esp. Blood Meridian
McCormick: America’s Half-Century
McDougall, Walter: history of the USA: Freedom Around the Corner.
McDougall, Walter: Promised Land, Crusader State
McDougall, Walter: Throes of Democracy.
McMurty, Larry: essays and review (e.g. Sacagawea’s Nickname)
McPherson, James: Battle Cry of Freedom.
Mencken, H.L.: Newspaper Days
Mencken, H.L.: Selected Prejudices
Meyers, Marvin: The Jacksonian Persuasion.
Michener’s Centennial and Texas.
Nash, George: The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America
Nevins, Allen: Ordeal of the Union (reads like poetry).
Norris, Frank: The Octopus
North, Douglass: Growth and Welfare in the American Past and The Economic Growth of the United States 1790 – 1860.
Obama, Barack: Dreams From My Father
O’Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried
Onuf, Peter: Origins of the Federal Republic is good.
Oxford History of the United States, esp. James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: the United States 1945-74 & Restless Giant (1974-2000)
Payne, Charles M.: I’ve Got the Light of Freedom.
Percy, William: Lanterns on the Levee.
Perlstein, Rick: Nixonland.
Phillips, Kevin: The Cousins’ Wars.
Pollan, Michael: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Powell, John Wesley: travels
Powers, Richard: Gain
Pritchett, Wendell: Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Rakove, Jack: Original Meanings.
Reisner, Marc: Cadillac Desert
Renda, Mary: Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of US Imperialism 1915-1940
Rhodes, Richard: Arsenals of Folly
Riis, Jacob: How the Other Half Lives
Robinson, Kim Stanley: “The Lucky Strike”
Rodgers, Daniel: Republicanism: Career of a Concept.
Rolvaag, Ole: Giants in the Earth
Rosenfeld, Richard N. and Edmund S. Morgan: American Aurora: A Democratic-Republican Returns: The Suppressed History of Our Nation’s Beginnings and the Heroic Newspaper That Tried to Report It
Royko, Mike: Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago
Sawislak, Karen: Smoldering City.
Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr.: The Cycles of American History
Schlosser: Fast Food Nation
Schulman, Bruce: The Seventies.
Sellars, Chuck: The Market Revolution
Sheehan, Neil: A Bright Shining Lie
Sherrill, Robert: The Gothic Politics of the Deep South
Sinclair, Upton: The Jungle
Sklar, Judith: American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion is also a useful, fun quick read.
Sloman, Larry: Reefer Madness: The History of Marijuana in America
Starr, Paul: The Creation of the Media
Starr, Paul: The Social Transformation of American Medicine
Steele, Ronald: Walter Lippmann and the American Century
Steffens, Lincoln: The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens
Steffens, Lincoln: The Shame of the Cities (with preface by Hofstadter)
Stegner, Wallace: Beyond the 100th Meridian
Stegner, Wallace: Essays (e.g. Wolf Willow)
Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath
Stiglitz, Joseph: Making Globalization Work
Stone, I.F.: In Time of Torment
Stuart, Jesse: The Thread that Runs so True.
Takaki, Ronald: A Different Mirror: A History of Multi-Cultural America.
Terkel, Studs: works, esp. Working
Thompson, Hunter S.: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
Toomer, Jean: Cane
Twain, Mark: Life on the Mississippi
Twain, Mark: works
Twelve Southerners: I’ll Take My Stand
Utley, Robert: Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life.
Utley, Robert: High Noon in Lincoln
Vale, Lawrence: From the Puritans to the Projects
Vidal, Gore: seven-volume “American Chronicles” series (historical novels)
Vidal, Gore: The United States: Essays
Vonnegut, Kurt: Jailbird.
Washington, Booker T.: Up from Slavery.
Watson, Harry: Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America
West, Elliott: The Contested Plains
White, Richard: It’s Your Misfortune and None of my Own
Wilentz, Sean and Paul Johnson: the Kingdom of Matthias
Wilentz, Sean: The Rise of American Democracy
Willeford, Charles: novels (esp. Cockfighter, The Woman-Chaser)
Williams, Harry: book on Huey Long.
Williams, William Appleman: The Contours of American History
Wills, Garry: His book about the Gettysburg Address
Wills, Garry: Nixon Agonistes
Wolfe, Tom: Mau Mauing the Flack Catchers
Wolfe, Tom: The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test
Wolfe, Tom: The Right Stuff.
Wood, Gordon: Creation of the American Republic.
Woodward, C. Vann: The Strange Career of Jim Crow
Worster, Donald: Rivers of Empire
Yates, Richard: Revolutionary Road
Young, Marilyn: The Vietnam Wars
Zinn, Howard: A People’s History of the United States

]]> By: Joshua W. Burton http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245765 Joshua W. Burton Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:31:35 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245765 Frederick Allen, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060956658" rel="nofollow">Only Yesterday</a></i>. A brilliantly readable history of the wild ride that was 1919-29, written from the unique "sadder but wiser" perspective of grim 1931. Frederick Allen, Only Yesterday. A brilliantly readable history of the wild ride that was 1919-29, written from the unique “sadder but wiser” perspective of grim 1931.

]]> By: Eli Rabett http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245738 Eli Rabett Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:05:59 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245738 Lemme take a mulligan (and congratulations) If you are feeling maniacal after getting tenure there never was a worse downer than Rolvaag's "Giants in the Earth" which illuminates the Scandinavian migrations to the Great Plains. Lemme take a mulligan (and congratulations)

If you are feeling maniacal after getting tenure there never was a worse downer than Rolvaag’s “Giants in the Earth” which illuminates the Scandinavian migrations to the Great Plains.

]]> By: john luke http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245724 john luke Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:18:46 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245724 Charles E. Lindblom, "Inquiry and Change: The Troubled Attempt to Understand and Shape Policy". Deeply engaging. Charles E. Lindblom, “Inquiry and Change: The Troubled Attempt to Understand and Shape Policy”. Deeply engaging.

]]> By: Ralph Hitchens http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245693 Ralph Hitchens Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:17:19 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245693 My candidate for the Great American Novel is _Guard of Honor_ by James Gould Cozzens. Tells a lot about America during WW-2, when the whole country (it seemed) went to war. My candidate for the Great American Novel is Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens. Tells a lot about America during WW-2, when the whole country (it seemed) went to war.

]]> By: LFC http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245677 LFC Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:10:06 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245677 Comment #66 suggested Cormac McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. An excellent novel, its use of language is extraordinary, but its vision of the world and human nature can be summed up quickly: violence is innate, life in the Southwest in the early 20th cent. (as I recall, some of it is set in Mexico) was nasty, brutish, and often short. (The 'Blood' in the title should be taken very seriously.) ------- Stanley Lebergott, 'Pursuing Happiness'. A somewhat unfashionable defense of consumption and consumerism by an economic historian who was quite conservative, certainly by the time he wrote this. (I use the past tense b/c he is no longer writing.) He was a skillful deployer of data of all kinds. I only dipped into it. Comment #66 suggested Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Blood Meridian’. An excellent novel, its use of language is extraordinary, but its vision of the world and human nature can be summed up quickly: violence is innate, life in the Southwest in the early 20th cent. (as I recall, some of it is set in Mexico) was nasty, brutish, and often short. (The ‘Blood’ in the title should be taken very seriously.)———-
Stanley Lebergott, ‘Pursuing Happiness’. A somewhat unfashionable defense of consumption and consumerism by an economic historian who was quite conservative, certainly by the time he wrote this. (I use the past tense b/c he is no longer writing.) He was a skillful deployer of data of all kinds. I only dipped into it.

]]> By: Dan Hardie http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245658 Dan Hardie Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:52:53 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245658 God, I'm late to this party. James M. MacPherson: 'Battle Cry of Freedom'. The volume of the Oxford History of the USA dealing with the Civil War, and its causes. The second half of the book is one of the best narratives of the war I have ever read. But the first half of the book is even better: an account of the economic and social development of the US in the 1840s adn 1850s, which includes (among other things) brilliant discussions of the nature of US capitalism, the differences between different immigrant communities, the decline of the Whigs and the emergence of the Republicans, the guerrilla war in Kansas. There is an account of slavery that is both viscerally horrifying and analytically convincing (and contains a cool but brilliant dismissal of 'Time on the Cross'). The treatment of the causes of the Civil War is brilliant: the first time I felt I had grasped the key issues. MacPherson argues hard on a number of points- that the Mexican War was key to precipitating the Civil War, or that a Confederacy could never have co-existed peacefully with the North (or with its Southern neighbours). Very few flaws indeed. Really a fine book. God, I’m late to this party.

James M. MacPherson: ‘Battle Cry of Freedom’. The volume of the Oxford History of the USA dealing with the Civil War, and its causes. The second half of the book is one of the best narratives of the war I have ever read. But the first half of the book is even better: an account of the economic and social development of the US in the 1840s adn 1850s, which includes (among other things) brilliant discussions of the nature of US capitalism, the differences between different immigrant communities, the decline of the Whigs and the emergence of the Republicans, the guerrilla war in Kansas. There is an account of slavery that is both viscerally horrifying and analytically convincing (and contains a cool but brilliant dismissal of ‘Time on the Cross’).

The treatment of the causes of the Civil War is brilliant: the first time I felt I had grasped the key issues. MacPherson argues hard on a number of points- that the Mexican War was key to precipitating the Civil War, or that a Confederacy could never have co-existed peacefully with the North (or with its Southern neighbours).

Very few flaws indeed. Really a fine book.

]]> By: ian http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245648 ian Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:27:20 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245648 <i>Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee</i> and <i>Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blow</i>, both by Dee Brown <i>Prairyerth</i>, by William Least Heat Moon - a detailed historical and geographical account of a single county in Kansas. Engrossing Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee and Hear that Lonesome Whistle Blow, both by Dee Brown

Prairyerth, by William Least Heat Moon – a detailed historical and geographical account of a single county in Kansas. Engrossing

]]> By: Laleh http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245643 Laleh Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:05:21 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245643 Oh and Karl Marx's journalistic writings on US politics c. 1860s are absolutely fantastic great read, mostly because they are so refreshingly perceptive! Oh and Karl Marx’s journalistic writings on US politics c. 1860s are absolutely fantastic great read, mostly because they are so refreshingly perceptive!

]]> By: Laleh http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245642 Laleh Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:03:59 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245642 Given the US's imperial history, two books make a good read: Brian Linn's _The Philippine War, 1899-1902_ and Mary Renda's _Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of US Imperialism 1915-1940_. I think there are also books to be read on native American reservations, and on the internment of the Japanese. And I would actually welcome recommendations in those departments too. Given the US’s imperial history, two books make a good read: Brian Linn’s The Philippine War, 1899-1902 and Mary Renda’s Taking Haiti: Military Occupation and the Culture of US Imperialism 1915-1940.

I think there are also books to be read on native American reservations, and on the internment of the Japanese. And I would actually welcome recommendations in those departments too.

]]> By: jen http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245641 jen Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:29:01 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245641 more on the west besides the works mentioned above -- Richard White's It's Your Misfortune and None of my Own is not as much of a narrative as the syntheses in the Oxford series (McPherson, Howe, Kennedy) mentioned above, but it is equally authoritative and also funny in parts. Patricia Limerick's Legacy of Conquest and Donald Worster's Rivers of Empire are also classics of the (not so) new western history. Elliott West's The Contested Plains is just a great book. more on the west besides the works mentioned above—Richard White’s It’s Your Misfortune and None of my Own is not as much of a narrative as the syntheses in the Oxford series (McPherson, Howe, Kennedy) mentioned above, but it is equally authoritative and also funny in parts. Patricia Limerick’s Legacy of Conquest and Donald Worster’s Rivers of Empire are also classics of the (not so) new western history. Elliott West’s The Contested Plains is just a great book.

]]> By: mike shupp http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245640 mike shupp Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:37:05 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245640 Another choice, in a more traditional vein (you're assumed to have read de Tocqueville) Charles Dickens - AMERICAN NOTES: FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION. Another choice, in a more traditional vein (you’re assumed to have read de Tocqueville)

Charles Dickens – AMERICAN NOTES: FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION.

]]> By: mike shupp http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245639 mike shupp Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:25:38 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245639 Norman Mailer - OF A FIRE ON THE MOON. For a change of pace. Brilliant book. Norman Mailer – OF A FIRE ON THE MOON.

For a change of pace. Brilliant book.

]]> By: LFC http://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/08/books-about-american-politics/comment-page-3/#comment-245638 LFC Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:41:21 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=7045#comment-245638 First, congratulations. Second, a few recommendations: Ronald Steel, 'Walter Lippmann and the American Century' (pub. 1980 or thereabouts, reissued by Transaction). Beautifully written, superbly researched; won the Bancroft Prize. Admiring but not uncritical of Lippmann, and puts him in the context of 20th cent. US history. C. Lasch has been mentioned but not his book of essays 'The World of Nations'. On the fiction front: Richard Yates, 'Revolutionary Road' (1961) (still in print, Vintage paperback). Stinging, keenly observed critique of mid-1950s suburbia. If you're interested, I have a feeling there are quite a few good novels about McCarthyism and that period, but others will have to fill in the specifics there (or maybe some already have, above). The above recs. also seem to be light on labor history, but I will, again, have to leave the specifics to others. First, congratulations.

Second, a few recommendations:
Ronald Steel, ‘Walter Lippmann and the American Century’ (pub. 1980 or thereabouts, reissued by Transaction). Beautifully written, superbly researched; won the Bancroft Prize. Admiring but not uncritical of Lippmann, and puts him in the context of 20th cent. US history.

C. Lasch has been mentioned but not his book of essays ‘The World of Nations’.

On the fiction front: Richard Yates, ‘Revolutionary Road’ (1961) (still in print, Vintage paperback). Stinging, keenly observed critique of mid-1950s suburbia.
If you’re interested, I have a feeling there are quite a few good novels about McCarthyism and that period, but others will have to fill in the specifics there (or maybe some already have, above).

The above recs. also seem to be light on labor history, but I will, again, have to leave the specifics to others.

]]>