Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Oxford History of the United States is by far the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. In this Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed addition to the series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North... (more)

America's Jubilee: A Generation Remembers the Revolution After 50 Years of Independence

America's Jubilee: A Generation Remembers the Revolution After 50 Years of Independence

by Andrew Burstein

In America's Jubilee distinguished historian Andrew Burstein presents an engrossing narrative that takes us back to a pivotal year in American history, 1826, when the reins of democracy were being passed from the last Revolutionary War heroes to a new generation of leaders. Through brilliant sketches of selected individuals and events, Burstein creates an evocative portrait of the hopes and fears of Americans... (more)

What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States

What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States

by James F. Simon

The bitter and protracted struggle between President Thomas Jefferson and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall defined the basic constitutional relationship between the executive and judicial branches of government. More than one hundred fifty years later, their clashes still reverberate in constitutional debates and political battles. In this dramatic and fully accessible account of these titans of the... (more)

A Fatal Friendship: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

A Fatal Friendship: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

by Arnold A. Rogow

For almost two centuries, historians have been unable to explain the extraordinary duel in July 1804 that killed Alexander Hamilton and ended Vice President Aaron Burr's political career. Distinguished political scientist and writer Arnold Rogow examines the background and character of both duelists in a brilliant work that will change forever our understanding of honor, politics, and friendship in the early... (more)

The Era of Good Feelings

by George Dangerfield

Winner of the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes, this is the standard history of the years between Jefferson and Jackson.

Aaron Burr, Part 1

by Samuel H. Wandell, Meade Minngerode

1925. Volume 1 of 2. This work is a biography written, in large part, from original and hitherto unused material. There is in history but one Aaron Burr. He was at once man-of-the-world, student, madman, schemer, diplomat, leader. The authors trust that the world, so long kept in ignorance of Burr's real character, shall come to see him in a new light and appreciate him for what he was - nothing more, nothing... (more)

A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign

A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign

by Edward J. Larson

"They could write like angels and scheme like demons." So begins Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Larson's masterful account of the wild ride that was the 1800 presidential election -- an election so convulsive and so momentous to the future of American democracy that Thomas Jefferson would later dub it "America's second revolution." This was America's first true presidential campaign, giving birth to our two-party... (more)

Flag, the Poet and the Song: The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner

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Tags: national period

What Hath God Wrought

The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

by Daniel Walker Howe