Because my interest in American history as a kid started primarily as an interest in its military history, two periods I neglected well into adulthood were the "Era of Good Feelings"/Jacksonian Era from 1815-45 and the post-Civil War "Gilded Age" from 1870 until the First World War. I've been trying to rectify that "Swiss Cheese" knowledge base in more recent times with a sustained reading campaign on both eras (but more consistently on the Jacksonian years).
Here's what I've read/listened to so far, all of which have ranged from good to excellent and I would recommend, and would appreciate any other recommendations:
Here's what I've read/listened to so far, all of which have ranged from good to excellent and I would recommend, and would appreciate any other recommendations:
- What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1845 by Daniel Walker Howe (Pulitzer Prize winner)
- Andrew Jackson by Robert Remini (probably the foremost scholar of the era, this was the one-volume abridgement of his acclaimed three-volume Jackson bio)
- John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger
- John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit by James Traub
- Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman by Harlow Giles Unger
- Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H.W. Brands (UT prof and prolific writer)
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