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I've only read 2 of the books on this list, Affairs of Honor and A Brief History of Reconstruction but both are beyond excellent! I know you said you were more interested in American history from 150 years ago but the thing is that many Americans tend to overlook most of that period and obsess over the Founding. I'm capitalizing that because it's that important not only socially but politically and legally.

Due in part to our unique constitutional structure you'll hear lots of references in political conversations to what kind of country the Founders intended the United States to be. A huge portion of the pretensions proclamations of that nature are historically inaccurate. The best complete history of the entire founding of the United States I've found is John Ferling's A Leap in the Dark.

I highly recommend The American Journey by David Goldfield et al.. Even though it is a textbook, I think it's still pretty good. A lot of key themes in American history are covered in a relatively clear and concise manner. Also, it might sound slightly un-scholarly but, I really enjoy the fact that there are a bunch of pictures present throughout the entire text. In my opinion, the pictures can help to break up some otherwise boring topics, plus they can also help you visualize the time period.

Hope that helps!

edit: fixed some of the wording

Thanks, I am definitely interested in this man's life after reading a short bio. He seems like the one of the guys in the shadows that made the gears turn. Looks like a fascinating read.

Here is a link to the book for anyone else who is interested.

I'm going to toss this up on AskHistorians as well, just to see if I can get any different replies/discussions.

If you're interested in the general history of early America (through the Civil War), I'm a huge fan of Walter McDougall's work. Freedom Just Around the Corner documents the colonial era and the different cultural and historical trends that shaped the formation of the country. Throes of Democracy is the second volume, which describes the politics of the Civil War Era. They are my personal favorite books of American history.

He also has a book on America's foreign policy called Promised Land, Crusader State which explores some of the cultural and political forces that have driven American foreign policy for the last 200 years.

All three are fascinating depictions of American culture and politics.
At the moment, I'm in the middle of reading one of his earlier books, ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

K Blows Top. Right in the heat of the Cold War, this book deals with Krushchev's visit to the U.S. The writer is great at bringing the time period and background of what is happening to life. Even his story of how he decided to write the book is interesting. I have it on my AP Independent Reading Project for school. One of my seniors who loves history really couldn't stop talking about it. If you like books on the personalities of history and what is going on behind the scenes I highly recommend it.

I love Eric Foner's take on US History. I had a US from 1865 survey course in the winter that used Give Me Liberty! Volume 2 as the class text. He focuses on groups that are often marginalized and under represented. He does tend to insert his own liberal biases. I did enjoy his style though.

**Edited to include link to Volume 1.

You're really in the heart of the confederacy in the Petersburg/Richmond area. This makes it difficult to recommend books specifically about those areas because there is just much that happened. You could try Stephen Sears' book on the Peninsula Campaign. There is also Ferguson's Ashes of Glory if you're more interested in the social aspect of Richmond.

In my opinion, it's better to try to get a general feeling for the war and decide which aspects you are most interested in learning more about. The books I recommended before, or even Ken Burn's Civil War documentary, are great places to start. Reading about specific battles and campaigns first may not mean much to you without understanding how they fit into the bigger picture.

If you haven't already come across it, I highly recommend the Civil War Traveler website to figure out which sites you want to visit.

A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn

Also

History of the United States - The Teaching Company

*On a side note, I would say that The United States isn't truly remarkable compared to other countries. We were fortunate to have the combination of enlightenment thinkers establishing a secular republic combined with virtually unlimited natural resources and land for expansion without the need for war with other industrialized powers. Any other nation with such resources may have had equal success.

I doubt you are looking for a textbook, but in my AP US history class I used "The American Pageant" by David Kennedy.. who is a professor at Stanford. It was a good overview and well written and condensed. If you aren't looking to read several more specific books it might be a good option.

Great Resource!

Now I know what I'll be doing for the next few hours...

If anyone has not read Novus Ordo Seclorum, it does a great job (IMO) of summarizing some of the thought processes and initial reasoning for what ended up in the final draft of the Constitution.

I recommend American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms. It talks about several guns that were used by lawmen, specifically the Spencer Repeater, the Colt Single-Action Revolver (aka Peacemaker) and the Winchester 1873. You get technical information, first hand info on what it was like to fire one, best tactical usage, and historical anecdotes.

From the letters that Abigail wrote Jefferson, I do not think she was a Republican.

If you interested, the book The Letters of John and Abigail Adams is a great book.

Alistair Cooke's America is a very good starting place. Stylish text and great illustrations.

Avoid starting off with blatant propaganda like Howard Zinn.