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Thirteen Books You Must Read To Understand America

This list created by the noted author and historian Arthur M Schlesinger, Jr. appeared in an article in the February/March 1998 issue of American Heritage magazine. (Note: some books may be listed or only available as separate volumes, creating a list longer than thirteen)
1. The Federalist Papers (Signet Classics)
by Alexander Hamilton
  
2. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson  
3. Tocqueville: Democracy in America (Library of America)
by Alexis de Tocqueville
  
4. Ralph Waldo Emerson : Essays and Lectures (Library of America)
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
5. UNCLE TOM'S CABIN or Life among the Lowly
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  
6. Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858 (Library of America)
by Abraham Lincoln
  
7. Lincoln: Speeches and Writings : Volume 2: 1859-1865 (Library of America)
by Abraham Lincoln
  
8. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Penguin Classics)
by Mark Twain
  
9. American Commonwealth
by James Bryce
  
10. William James : Writings 1878-1899 : Psychology, Briefer Course / The Will to Believe / Talks to Teachers and Students / Essays (Library of America)
by William James
  
11. William James : Writings 1902-1910 : The Varieties of Religious Experience / Pragmatism / A Pluralistic Universe / The Meaning of Truth / Some Problems of Philosophy / Essays (Library of America)
by William James
  
12. The Education of Henry Adams  
13. The American Language
by H.L. Mencken
  
14. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (Black and African-American Studies) Volume 1
by Gunnar Myrdal
  
15. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (Black and African-American Studies) Volume 2
by Gunnar Myrdal
  
16.
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 The Irony of American History
by Reinhold Niebuhr
  
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Created by Oodb on Jun 22, 2008.