The Vine: June 26, 2009
Dear Sarah,
I am currently living in London but will be moving back to the good ol’ U.S. of A this summer.My Irish boyfriend is set to follow and, being the thoughtful and intellectually curious person he is, wants to read a book on U.S. history before he moves stateside.
I really don’t know of any — all my knowledge comes from elementary/middle/high school and college textbooks of which I have no specific memories.I suppose a textbook would work for him if it’s written for an adult and is interesting, but perhaps another format would be better.
Can you or any of your readers recommend a well-written book that generally covers U.S. history?
I hope I don’t have to settle for U.S. History for Dummies (unless it’s actually a good book)
Dear Hope,
I haven’t read it, but I hear good things about Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, and I suspect the readers will recommend that one (or will at least have read it).Beyond that, while I can recommend histories of periods, I can’t think of any other books off the top of my head that are considered complete primers on the country’s history and well-written also.
Readers, any books to add?
Tags: Ask The Readers Howard Zinn popcult
After your boyfriend gets through a general introduction, if he’s Irish he might enjoy “White Savage”, by Fintan O’Toole, the life of William Johnston, 1715 to 1774. He was one of the Warren family from Warrenstown, County Meath, who got around a lot and took part in rather a lot of history, and are the reason why there are Warren Streets in both New York and in London) .
I would have to agree with the suggestion of Jon Stewart’s book. Zinn’s is also wonderful, but I have to, again, agree that first reading the “wrong” gives reading the “right” an entirely different level of appreciation.
Sarah Vowell’s “The Wordy Shipmates” covers the early colonies and is wildly entertaining. Not really what he’s looking for but it makes great parallels between then and now, and having a close relationship with the British he’ll probably enjoy learning what made them trek over here. Also it’s damn funny, especially the audio version.