MR SMITH--SUGGESTIONS FOR AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH 1800
NON-FICTION
Judge Sewall's apology : the Salem witch trials and the forming of an American conscience by Richard
Francis.
Samuel Sewall was one of nine judges appointed to hear the Salem witch trials of 1692, and alone among them
publicly apologized for his role in the incident five years later. The author finds in that apology, and in Sewall's
life in general, a demonstration of the end of the Puritan view of the world as a simple struggle between Good
and Evil.
The European challenge by Time Life Books 192 p.
The European Challenge details the clash of cultures beginning 500 years ago. When Columbus and his crews
arrived in the Caribbean, native tribes were awed by the pale, bearded men from afar. Over the next 200 years,
however, as waves of Spanish, English, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Russian adventurers arrived in the New
World, the simplicity and wonder of native inhabitants elicited cynical oppression and bloodshed.
1491: new revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C Mann 465 p.
A groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the
Europeans in 1492.
Glory, passion and principles: the story of eight remarkable women at the core of the American Revolution
by Melissa Lukeman Bohrer 271 p.
This book tells the story of eight incredible women, each deprived of formal education, world travel, or equal
status, and yet all managed to flourish against incredible odds.
The idea of America : reflections on the birth of the United States by Gordon S. Wood 385 p.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the American Revolution explains why it remains the most significant event
in our history. In a series of elegant and illuminating essays, Wood explores the ideological origins of the
revolution--from ancient Rome to the European Enlightenment--and the founders' attempts to forge an
American democracy.
Inventing a nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson by Gore Vidal 198 p.
Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms, the convention halls, and the salons of
Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others.
Blacks in colonial America by Oscar Reiss 293 p.
This book discusses the lives of blacks, both slave and free, as they struggled to make homes for themselves
among the white European settlers in the New World.
Colonial craftsmen and the beginnings of American industry by Edwin Tunis. 159 p.
Describes and illustrates the work of craftsmen and artisans in Colonial America. Shows types of work done in
town shops and manufacturies, as well as, in homes, village shops, and country forges.
Frontier living by Edwin Tunis 165 p.
Describes the life of all the early settlers of the American frontier, where they lived and how; what they wore,
ate, used for furniture and tools; how they worked, played, traveled, went to school, worshiped and governed
themselves.
Colonial women : 23 Europeans who helped build a nation by Carole Chandler Waldrup. 195 p.
This is a book of biographies of 23 European women who were among the earliest arrivals in Colonial America.
They came to found their homes in a wilderness or to carry out the work of their religious denomination.
King Philip's War : civil war in New England, 1675-1676 by James D. Drake. 257 p.
Rejecting both the notion of King Philip's War as the "deadliest" war in "our" history and the conception of the
war as "us" versus "them", the author counters that New England society was an amalgamation of Indian and
European populations interrelated in complex ways, and that the war should therefore be viewed as a civil war
which changed the structure of a uniquely American regional society.
Seeds of discontent : the deep roots of the American Revolution, 1650-1750 by J. Revell Carr. 399 p.
A narrative history of the largely unexplored events--starting almost a century before--that inspired the
colonists to launch the American Revolution.
1776 by David McCullough. 386 p.
The author shifts his focus to the major players of the American Revolution, providing a detailed account of the
life and times of the generals and soldiers who fought for and won America's independence.
Washington's spies : the story of America's first spy ring by Alexander Rose. 370 p.
For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and deep into the shadowy underworld of double
agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed men who
inhabited this wilderness of mirrors and helped America win the Revolutionary War.
Samuel Adams : a life by Ira Stoll. 338 p.
With eloquence equal to Jefferson and Tom Paine, Adams helped ignite the flame of liberty and made sure it
glowed even during the Revolution's darkest hours.
A land so strange : the epic journey of Cabeza de Vaca : the extraordinary tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard
who walked across America in the sixteenth century by Andrés Reséndez. 314 p.
In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a
hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision
to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the four
hundred men who had embarked on the voyage, only four survived-three Spaniards and an African slave. They
journeyed for almost ten years in search of the Pacific Ocean that would guide them home, and they were
forever changed by their experience.
A land as God made it : Jamestown and the birth of America by James Horn 337 p.
Jamestown -the first permanent English settlement in North America, after the disappearance of the Roanoke
colony was founded thirteen years before the Mayflower landed. Many of the key tensions of Jamestown's
early years became central to American history, for good and for ill: Jamestown introduced slavery into Englishspeaking North America; it became the first of England's colonies to adopt a representative government; and,
it was the site of the first clashes between whites and Indians over territorial expansion.
The shipwreck that saved Jamestown : the Sea Venture castaways and the fate of America by Lorri Glover
and Daniel Blake Smith. 322 p.
Floundering from two years of warfare with Indians and dissent among the settlers, the Virginia Company was
about to collapse. To rescue the doomed colonists and restore order, the company chose a new leader, Thomas
Gates. Nine ships left Plymouth in the summer of 1609--the largest fleet England had ever assembled--and
sailed into the teeth of a storm to save the colony.
The first scientific American : Benjamin Franklin and the pursuit of genius by Joyce E. Chaplin. 421 p.
Chaplin's authoritative biography considers all of Franklin's work in the sciences, showing how science became
central to public culture and therefore to Franklin's success. He demonstrated in his earliest experiments and
observations that he was uniquely suited to solve problems in every realm. He charted the Gulf Stream, made
important observations on meteorology, and used the burgeoning science of "political arithmetic" to make
unprecedented statements about America's power. Eventually he stepped onto the world stage as an illustrious
statesman and diplomat in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
Franklin : the essential founding father by James Srodes 435 p.
Srodes argues that without Ben Franklin we would still be British subjects. In this book, Srodes tells Franklin's
incredible life story making full use of the previously neglected Franklin papers to provide the most riveting
account yet of the journalist, scientist, politician, and unlikely adventurer.
John Hancock : merchant king and American patriot by Harlow Giles Unger. 383 p.
A successful merchant and accomplished politician, Hancock became the first signatory of the Declaration of
Independence. And when he served as a delegate to the Federal Convention of 1787, it was his suggestion to
entertain amendments to the proposed Constitution that later became the basis for the Bill of Rights. Hancock
lived at the center of late 18th-century Boston politics and commerce, and his life is an engaging prism through
which to view Revolutionary New England.
American lion : Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham. 483 p.
A thought-provoking study of Andrew Jackson chronicles the life and career of a self-made man who went on
to become a military hero and seventh president of the United States, critically analyzing Jackson's seminal role
during a turbulent era in history, the political crises and personal upheaval that surrounded him, and his legacy
for the modern presidency.
Native roots : how the Indians enriched America by Jack Weatherford. 310 p.
Our place names, our farming and hunting techniques, our crafts, the very blood that flows in our veins--all
derive from American Indians ways that we consistently fail to see.
Aaron Burr : conspiracy to treason by Buckner F. Melton, Jr. 278 p.
This book explores Aaron Burr's part in one of the most sensational criminal conspiracies in American history.
Known as the "Burr Conspiracy," it involved a plan to invade Mexico and set up an independent republic there
or, alternately, to get the Western frontiers to cede from the Union and form a separate republic.
Duel : Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the future of America by Thomas Fleming 446 p.
Fleming takes the reader into the post-revolutionary world of 1804, a chaotic and fragile time in the young
country as well as a time of tremendous global instability. Hunger for fame spawned antagonisms that
wreaked havoc on themselves and their families and threatened to destabilize the fragile young American
republic. From that poisonous brew came the tangle of regret and anger and ambition that drove these two
men to their murderous confrontation.
Jefferson's great gamble : the remarkable story of Jefferson, Napoleon and the men behind the Louisiana
Purchase by Charles Cerami 309 p
This momentous moment in American history forever changed the scope of the nation and its people.
Undaunted courage : Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the opening of the American West by
Stephen E. Ambrose 511 p.
Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge
at the time to provide a colorful and realistic backdrop for the Lewis and Clark expedition. Lewis saw the North
American continent before any other white man; Ambrose describes in detail native peoples, weather,
landscape, science, everything the expedition encountered along the way, through Lewis's eyes.
The times of their lives : life, love, and death in Plymouth Colony by James Deetz and Patricia Scott
Deetz.366 pages
Who were the Pilgrims? Far from the somberly clad, stern, and righteous figures children learn about in school,
many of the early settlers of Plymouth actually dressed in bright colors, drank heavily, and often got into
trouble. A surprising new look at America's founding fathers and mothers, The Times of Their Lives presents a
realistic, factual account of the Plymouth colony based on contemporary archaeology, cultural research, and
living history.
FICTION
The fort : a novel of the Revolutionary War by Bernard Cornwell 468 p.
After the British establish a fort on the Penobscot River, the Massachusetts patriots--among them General
Peleg Wadsworth and Colonel Paul Revere--mount an expedition to oust the redcoats.
To try men's souls : a novel of George Washington and the fight for American freedom by Newt Gingrich
345 p.
This story follows three men with three very different roles to play in history: General George Washington,
Thomas Paine, and Jonathan Van Dorn, a private in Washington's army. The action focuses on one of the most
iconic events in American history: Washington crossing the Delaware.
Valley Forge : George Washington and the crucible of victory by Newt Gingrich 438 p.
In the winter of 1777, Washington and his demoralized army arrive at Valley Forge where they discover that
their repeated requests for a stockpile of food, winter clothing, and building tools have been ignored by
Congress. In spite of the suffering and deceit, Washington endures all, joined at last by a volunteer from
Germany who begins the hard task of recasting the army as a professional fighting force capable of facing the
British head-on and changing the course of history.
Sacajawea : the story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Joseph Bruchac. 199 p.
Sacajawea, a Shoshoni Indian interpreter, peacemaker, and guide, and William Clark alternate in describing
their experiences on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Northwest.
City of dreams : a novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and early Manhattan by Beverly Swerling. 591 p.
Set in the 1600’s, this novel follows the stories of two families in a city where slaves were burned alive on Wall
Street, where James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams walked the Broad Way arguing America's
destiny, and where one of the greatest hospitals in the world would be born in a former shipwright's workshop.
Shadowbrook : a novel of love, war, and the birth of America by Beverly Swerling. 490 p.
Swerling tells a gripping story set in 1754. In a low-lying glen in the Ohio Country, where both the French and
the English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of the savage seven-year conflict
destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution.
The Glorious cause: a novel of the American Revolution by Jeff Shaara 736 p.
This novel relates the colonists' uphill battle in their quest for freedom, while General George Washington
makes a fateful decision to cross the Delaware River and confront the enemy in New Jersey
Bone walker: an Anasazi mystery by Kathleen O’Neal Gear 445 p.
Among the Algonquian people in 1300 A.D. to escape an arranged marriage, Red Knot plans to meet and flee
with High Fox, handsome son of the chief of a neighboring village. But she is brutally murdered in the woods,
political mayhem ensues, and war seems on the way.
Kingdom on the waves by M.T. Anderson 561 p.
When he and his tutor escape to British-occupied Boston, Octavian learns of Lord Dunmore's proclamation
offering freedom to slaves who join the counterrevolutionary forces.
Chains: seeds of America by Laurie Halse Anderson 316 p.
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the
Revolutionary War.
Pox party by MT Anderson 315 p.
Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African
American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up
to and during the Revolutionary War.
People of the Lakes by Kathleen O'Neal Gear 192 pages
Clan fighting over a powerful totemic mask has brought the Mound Builder people of the Great Lakes region to
the edge of destruction. It is up to Star Shell, daughter of a Hopewell chief, to rid her people of this curse.
People of the mist by Kathleen O'Neal Gear 432 pages
The eighth in a series of popular novels about precolonial North America concerns the Algonquins who
inhabited the Chesapeake Bay area 600 years ago.
Descriptions taken from the library’s III catalog and Novelist