A narrative history of the United States running from Columbus's 1492 landing through the 2000 election, told deliberately from the standpoint of Arawaks, indentured servants and slaves, industrial workers, immigrants, women, and dissenters rather than the 'Founding Fathers,' generals, and presidents who usually anchor textbook accounts.
Books mentioned in A People's History of the United States (45)
Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy: “when he read Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, it deeply affected him”
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan: “A pioneering, early book, strong and influential, was Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique.”
The Promise of American Life by Herbert Croly: “a manifesto of the new Progressivism appeared—a book called The Promise of American Life by Herbert Croly”
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: “could not adequately be described except in a novel like Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage”
Wealth Against Commonwealth by Henry Demarest Lloyd: “Books written by Populist leaders, such as Henry Demarest Lloyd's Wealth Against Commonwealth...”
Coin's Financial School by William Hope Harvey: “and William Harvey Coin's Financial School, were widely read”
Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau: “printed as an essay, 'Civil Disobedience': It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law...”
Fathers and Children by Michael Rogin: “We find these in Michael Rogin's Fathers and Children”
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo: “write a powerful and chilling antiwar novel...Johnny Got His Gun”
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: “Joseph Heller's Catch-22, and Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, captured this GI anger”
Common Sense by Thomas Paine: “Tom Paine's Common Sense, which appeared in early 1776 and became the most popular pamphlet”
Hard Times by Charles Dickens: “I was reminded of the character in Dickens' Hard Times, the pedant Gradgrind”
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer: “Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, captured this GI anger against the army 'brass'”
From Here to Eternity by James Jones: “James Jones's From Here to Eternity, Joseph Heller's Catch-22...captured this GI anger”
The People of the Abyss by Jack London: “One of the influences on Upton Sinclair's thinking was a book, People of the Abyss, by Jack London”
Black Boy by Richard Wright: “His autobiography of 1937, Black Boy, gave endless insights”
Progress and Poverty by Henry George: “His book Progress and Poverty argued that the basis of wealth was land”
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: “Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, published in 1906, brought the conditions in the meatpacking plants of Chicago to...attention”
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque: “as Erich Maria Remarque wrote in his great novel...the official dispatches announced 'All Quiet on the Western Front'”
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: “John Steinbeck, in his novel of the depression, The Grapes of Wrath, describes what happened”
The Iron Heel by Jack London: “In 1906, he wrote his novel The Iron Heel, with its warning of a fascist America”
The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills: “Wright Mills, in his book of the fifties, The Power Elite, counted the military as part of the top elite”
The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois: “had just written and published his poetic, powerful book The Souls of Black Folk”
Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris: “Joel Chandler Harris, in his Uncle Remus stories, would have Uncle Remus say...”
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway: “Ernest Hemingway would write A Farewell to Arms.”
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: “Sinclair Lewis captured the false sense of prosperity...in his novel Babbitt”
Iola Leroy; Or, Shadows Uplifted by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: “she wrote the first novel published by a black woman: Iola Leroy or Shadows Uplifted”
Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke: “Edmund Burke, who had written in his Reflections on the Revolution in France that 'a woman is but an animal...'”
The Hamlet by William Faulkner: “William Faulkner, in his novel The Hamlet, described the man on whom southern farmers depended”
Sisterhood Is Powerful by Robin Morgan: “In the book Sisterhood Is Powerful, an important collection of women's writing around 1970, an article by Lucinda Cisler...”
American Negro Slavery by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips: “Ulrich Phillips, a southerner whose American Negro Slavery is a classic study, wrote...”
America's Working Women by Rosalyn Baxandall: “The authors of America's Working Women (Baxandall, Gordon, and Reverby) describe the situation”
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: “four years before Marx and Engels's Communist Manifesto appeared, the Awl wrote...”
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Book Collective: “a book assembled by eleven women in the Boston Women's Health Book Collective called Our Bodies, Ourselves”
The Age of Jackson by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.: “The Age of Jackson by Arthur Schlesinger...do not mention Jackson's Indian policy”
The Jacksonian Persuasion by Marvin Meyers: “The Jacksonian Persuasion by Marvin Meyers...do not mention Jackson's Indian policy”
Woman and the New Race by Margaret Sanger: “Sanger had written in Woman and the New Race: 'No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body.'”
Columbus: His Enterprise by Hans Koning: “As Hans Koning sums it up in his book Columbus: His Enterprise...”
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope: “Frances Trollope, an Englishwoman, in her book Domestic Manners of the Americans, wrote...”
American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan: “Edmund Morgan writes, in his history of early Virginia, American Slavery, American Freedom”
Time on the Cross by Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman: “One recent book on slavery (Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, Time on the Cross) looks at whippings...”
Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller: “A book by Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will, was widely read”