A People's History of the United States

This is a classic for good reason. The US history book you wish you'd had as a textbook in college, or high school, or ever. Howard Zinn dismantles every myth you've ever internalized about American exceptionalism, and shows you a different side of the story. Other books have since taken the theme much further, but Zinn's still your starting point when you're wondering what is up and why it seems like everything in this country is done by old white dudes. Spoiler alert: It's not, it never has been, and it had better not be if we're going to survive. This is good history, well-researched, and told from the perspectives of Native Americans, people of color, women, working class people, and others who haven't traditionally had more than a sidebar, if that, in the history books.