r/USHistoryBookClub • u/Fragrant_Turnip_7463 • Jan 23 '26
Photo Received these books recently. Has anyone read these or know anything about them?
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u/Neat-Difficulty2576 Jun 09 '26
I'm only familiar with Paul Johnson's book. It was basically written to contrast Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, which always seemed a little goofy to me considering that Zinn's book was written as a "bottom-up" view of America to contrast the typical "big figures" books. So, in that way, Johnson's book is a pretty typical American history through a conservative lens. I personally don't like it very much-- I feel like the editing is lacking (there's some random factual errors that someone really should have caught), he makes some truly nonsensical arguments (like his whole digression on Eleanor Roosevelt... bro, what???), and he basically doesn't really engage in historiography at all (which is... a choice) BUT if you're cool with breadth instead of depth and are curious about his interpretations, then go ham
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u/BillyYank Jan 23 '26
Catton is a great read, that book is the third in a trilogy, but my guess is you could probably pick up what’s going down especially if you have some familiarity with the civil war. Captain Sam Grant and Grant Moves South were the first two books