This purpose of this page is to suggest some good books that you might want to read. The reviews of the various books listed here are very short but should still give you some idea of what you can expect to find in each book.
 

Books that Apply to U.S. History to 1877

Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, by Richard Brookhiser
Call Number: E312 .B85 1996

Is Public Education Necessary, by Samuel L. Blumenfeld
Call Number: LA212 .B58 1985. This book's title does not completely convey the nature of its contents. In fact this is a history of the "public school" movement in America, its origins, early proponents, and their purposes. It also shows how the country got along before there were "public schools," as we now know them.

The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat, by Earl J. Hess
Call Number: E468.9 .H58 1997

For Courageous Fighting and Confident Dying: Union Chaplains in the Civil War, by Warren B. Armstrong
Call Number: E635 .A75 1998

The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865, by Mark Grimsley
Call Number: E487 .G78 1995. One of the best and most important books yet written about the Civil War, Hard Hand of War takes a fascinating look at the way Union soldiers and, eventually, their commanders moved from treating Southerners as friendly civilians to the point of treating them, by the end of the war, as hostile civilians.

Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity, 1822-1865, by Brooks D. Simpson
Call Number: E672 .S614 2000. This is the best biography of the Civil War's best general--an excellent book. It is the first volume of a projected two-volume set and covers the years from Grant's birth to the end of the Civil War.

Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War, by James M. McPherson
Call Number: E468 .M228 1996. This is a collection of essays written at various times by America's premier living Civil War scholar. McPherson writes well and offers interesting insights. My two favorite chapters are "The War of Southern Aggression" and "What's the Matter with History?"

For more suggestions on Civil War reading, see Woodworth's Civil War Canon.
 
 

Books that Apply to Broad Themes in U.S. History and Apply to the Periods both Before and After 1877

The Tragedy of American Compassion, by Marvin Olasky
Call Number: HV4505 .O38 1992

Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America, by Marvin Olasky
Call Number: HQ767.5.U5 O43 1992
Full Review

The God Who is There, by Francis Schaeffer
Call Number: BT1102 .S3 1998

How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, by Francis Schaeffer
Call Number:

Intellectuals, by Paul Johnson
Call Number: HM213 .J64 1989b. British historian Paul Johnson here tells the stories of a number of figures who are or have been considered great minds of the modern world. Without entirely giving away the contents of the book, I will say that he shows them to have been somewhat less than great. My favorite episode from the book is Ernest Hemmingway shooting up his toilet with a Thompson .45 caliber submachinegun. Johnson's point, by the way, is that these people are not at all qualified to tell us what we ought to think.

Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties, by Paul Johnson
Call Number: D421 .J64 1983

Books that Apply to U.S. History since 1877

The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, by Calvin Coolidge
Call Number:

Witness, by Whitaker Chambers
Call Number: E743.5 .C47

Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator, by Arthur Herman

The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors, by Herbert Romberstein and Eric Breindel

In Denial: Historians, Communism and Espionage, by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr

Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, by John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr

We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, by John Lewis Gaddis

A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy, by Thomas C. Reeves
Call Number: E842 .R36 1991. Reeves argues persuasively that character is a legitimate consideration in evaluating the worth of a leader, and he shows that John F. Kennedy, whatever might have been his perceived strengths as a leader, was in fact woefully lacking in precisely this area.

A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963, by Ellen J. Hammer
Call Numberr: DS556.9 .H346 1987

The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1: The Path to Power, by Robert A. Caro
Call Number: E847 .C34 1982

The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2: Means of Ascent, by Robert A. Caro
Call Number: E847 .C34 1982

Blue's Bastards, by Randy Herrod
Some apology is necessary for the title of this book. It was the nickname of the platoon to which marine Randy Herrod belonged during part of his time in Vietnam. The story Herrod tells reveals much about the nature of the Vietnam War and why it was so difficult for the American soldiers and Marines who fought it. It also points up the importance of good leadership.

Going Downtown: The War against Hanoi and Washington, by Jack Broughton
Call Number: DS558.8 .B76 1988. Another revealing book about the Vietnam War, this time the aerial side of the conflict, Broughton's book shows how U.S. government policies often made it impossible for military personnel to wage the war in any sort of sane way.

In the Presence of Mine Enemies, 1965-1973: A Prisoner of War, by Howard and Phylis Rutledge
Call Number: DS557.A675 R87

When Hell was in Session, by Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr.
Call Number: DS557.A675 R87

A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley
Call Number: DS558 .S65 1999. Sorley makes the case that Gen. Creighton Abrams essentially completed the U.S. victory in Vietnam after 1968. By the end of Abrams's tenure as U.S. commander in southeast Asia, the goals that U.S. policy-makers had set out to achieve in the region had all been accomplished--save that the Communists were not willing to give up.

Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History, by B. G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley
Call Number: DS558 .B85 1998. This amazing book reveals that many journalists and historians have been doing sloppy work over the years in their unquestioning acceptance of fraudulent claims of Vietnam heroics or atrocities. Burkett's careful and well documented research demolishes a whole constellation of myths: the myth of frequent American atrocities against Vietnamese civilians, the myth that Vietnam veterans are a bunch of psychos, even the myth of Agent Orange.

Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy, by G. Gordon Liddy
Call Number: E860 .L53. Liddy is an amazing man whose life makes fascinating reading--from eating a rat, to watching from a treetop while the Hindenburg flew over his boyhood home, to busting Timothy Leary. Liddy's story is also essential to understanding the Watergate affair.

Silent Coup: The Removal of a President, by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin
Call Number: E860 .C635 1991. This book sparked a veritable media war, complete with lawsuits from various parties who did not want its revelations to come to light. The reason is that it offers the most accurate and thorough explanation yet brought to light for the sordid events known as Watergate. As we now know, however, Colodny and Gettlin were wrong in the guess about the identity of "Deep Throat." That may have been the only thing they were wrong about.

An American Life, by Ronald Reagan

Under Fire: An American Story, by Oliver L. North

Revolution, by Martin Anderson
Call Number: E877 .A84 1988

Reagan: In His Own Hand, edited by Kiron K. Skinner

Victory: The Regan Administration's Secret Strategy that Hastened the Collapse of the Soviet Union, by Peter Schweizer

Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph over Communism, by Peter Schweizer

The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980, by Steven F. Hayward

The Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom
Call Number: E169.1 .B653 1987

Standing Firm, by Dan Quayle

Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent inside the Clinton White House, by Gary Aldrich. This is another one of those books that people tried to suppress. In this case it was the Clinton administration that tried to prevent the book's publication. The reasons for that will be obvious when you read the book. At the time of its publication, Clinton defenders scoffed at its revelations as completely unbelievable. Of course, they were unbelievable, but also, as subsequent developments revealed, completely true.

Year of the Rat: How Bill Clinton Compromised U.S. Security for Chinese Cash, by Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett II

Truth at Any Cost: Ken Starr and the Unmaking of Bill Clinton, Susan Schmidt and Michael Weisskopf

Sellout: The Inside Story of President' Clinton's Impreachment, by David P. Schippers. This small book is the personal story of the lead prosecutor in the 1999 trial (or what passed for a trial) of impeached president William J. Clinton. Schippers in fact argues persuasively that the affair was a "first ward election," a done-deal, and that no genuine trial was ever allowed to take place.
 
The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories, by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Hillary's Secret War: The Clinton Conspiracy to Muzzle Internet Journalists, by Richard Poe. Full Review

Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years, by Rich Lowry

Unveiling Islam, by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner