America the Beautiful: Trees, Coins, & Lost States

Here at abcreads, we are celebrating history - with a twist!  We love an offbeat, engaging take on history, such as you might find in the works of Sarah Vowell (Assassination Vacation) and Amy Stewart (Flower Confidential) - books exploring history via an unusual angle or topic, with a slice of personal experience and/or opinions on the side. Here some off-the-beaten-track books with an American history bent that we hope you'll enjoy:


American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow

How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines by Mark Stein.

A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America--One State Quarter at a Time by Jim Noles

State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America edited by Matt Weiland & Sean Wilsey

Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States that Never Made It by Michael J. Trinklein

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf

Driving Home: An American Journey by Jonathan Raban

Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off & Other Lessons from the Lewis and Clark Trail by Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs

Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars by Paul Ingrassia

Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse