Tag: History
These Truths: A History of the United States by
Jill Lepore I finished this one on audio — 39 hours of it — and I’m still thinking about it weeks later. Jill Lepore is a Harvard historian and a staff writer for The New Yorker, and she set out to do something that sounds impossible: write a single-volume history of the United States, from…
The English and Their History by Robert Tombs
I am a bit over halfway into the 29 hour read/audio of Jill Lepore’s These Truths, and this evening while listening to , Conversations with Tyler, he mentioned The English and Their History by Robert Tombs as being his top nonfiction read and considers it top of the decade, a must read. Having lived…
Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright doesn’t just write as a former Secretary of State analyzing the geopolitical shifts of WWII; she writes as a daughter discovering her own family’s hidden secrets. It is a profound exploration of moral choices—how ordinary people and world leaders alike decided what was right in a world gone mad. If you want to…
The Soul of America, The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham
The Soul of America was recommended to me for the following reason. “You should read The Soul of America if you find yourself overwhelmed by the “partisan fury” of modern news and want a dose of evidence-based hope. Jon Meacham uses his expertise as a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer to show that while our current tensions…
HARVEY WASSERMAN’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES Introduction by Howard Zinn
I was in my early twenties when I first read Harvey Wasserman’s History of the United States. I was not an attentive student throughout my primary and secondary education, especially before the 10th grade. I missed much that I regret, but I also think I missed a large amount of propaganda teachings, which I do…
These Truths – A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Reason to Read You should read These Truths if you want a history that feels alive and unvarnished. Unlike the textbooks you may remember from school, Lepore writes with a novelist’s flair and a journalist’s eye for irony. She doesn’t just list dates; she asks a central, gripping question: Has the American experiment actually worked?…
