The American Canon

This is my attempt at an American Canon—a curated list to help readers understand the United States in all its complexity: its ideals and contradictions, its systems, people, and enduring debates. It brings together progressive, conservative, classical liberal, and nonpartisan works into a sustained dialogue across the political and intellectual spectrum.

I aimed for breadth without slipping into bibliography. The result is a two-part reading plan: a core list of 60 titles—readable over a few years—and a companion list of 70 works for deeper exploration. (The sections and structures of the Core and Companion lists don’t perfectly align—that’s intentional.)

I built this first and foremost as a reading plan for myself. I’ve read several of these works—but not all, or even most. The list draws from wide reading, generous recommendations, and many thoughtful conversations.

For readers with less time or just starting out, works marked with an asterisk (*) form a “Starter Core” of foundational readings for understanding the American experience.

Also see my Canon of Western and American Thought (the most important texts to shape Western—especially American—thought).

The American Canon – The Core List (60 titles)

This list contains foundational and essential texts crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the United States in its key dimensions, historical development, and enduring debates.

I. Founding Ideals and the American Revolution (7 titles)

Focus: The political philosophy, intellectual origins, and revolutionary foundations of the American order.

* The Roots of American Order – Russell Kirk
~ The Western moral and political inheritance beneath the American founding.
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution – Bernard Bailyn
~ How radical ideas about liberty and power drove colonial resistance.
The Radicalism of the American Revolution – Gordon Wood
~ The Revolution’s deeper transformation of American society and culture.
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence – Pauline Maier
~ How the Declaration became America’s political gospel.
* The Federalist Papers – Hamilton, Madison, Jay (see my suggested reading plan and modernizations here)
~ The most influential case for the Constitution—rational, pragmatic, and steeped in political theory.
The Anti-Federalist Papers (Representative Selections)
~ Warnings about elite power, centralization, and threats to liberty—many now eerily prescient.
- Centinel No. 1 (read with Federalist No. 10)
- Brutus No. 1 (with Federalist No. 14)
- Federal Farmer No. 2 (with Federalist No. 52)
- Cato No. 4 (with Federalist Nos. 67–72)
- Brutus No. 15 (read with Federalist Nos. 78–80)
- George Mason’s Objections to the Constitution (with Federalist No. 84)
These Truths: A History of the United States – Jill Lepore
~ A narrative history that measures America against its own stated ideals.

II. Building the Republic and Constitutional Practice (4 titles)

Focus: The development of early American political institutions, national identity, and constitutional implementation.

The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 – Joseph J. Ellis
~ How four statesmen turned a fragile confederation into a working republic.
The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction – Akhil Reed Amar
~ The turbulent birth and reinvention of America’s most cherished liberties.
* Democracy in America – Alexis de Tocqueville
~ Penetrating outsider’s portrait of American democracy’s genius and fragility.
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 – Daniel Walker Howe
~ Sweeping history of politics, faith, and innovation in the maturing republic.

III. Founders, Faith, and Early Political Leadership (4 titles)

Focus: Key leaders who shaped the Republic, revealing the contradictions and complexity of the early nation.

Washington: A Life – Ron Chernow
~ Comprehensive biography of the man who defined the presidency and the new Republic.
John Adams – David McCullough
~ Revolutionary, diplomat, and constitutionalist shaped by moral conviction..
* The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family – Annette Gordon-Reed
~ A family’s story reveals slavery’s reach into Jefferson’s household..
Political Sermons of the American Founding Era – ed. Ellis Sandoz (selected sermons)
~ Sermons that shaped early American views on liberty and government.
- Jonathan Mayhew, A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers (1750)
- Elisha Williams, The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants (1744)
- Charles Chauncy, An Election Sermon (1747)
- Samuel Langdon, Government Corrupted by Vice (1775)
- Jacob Duché, The Duty of Standing Fast in Our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties (1775)
- Samuel Sherwood, The Church’s Flight into the Wilderness (1776)
- John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men (1776)
- Jonathan Mahew, The Snare Broken (1766)
- Samuel Cooper, A Sermon on the Commencement of the Constitution (1780)
- Jonathan Edwards Jr., The Necessity of the Belief of Christianity (1794)

IV. The Civil War and Reconstruction (5 titles)

Focus: The rupture over slavery, the preservation of the Union, and the redefinition of freedom and federal power.

* Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Douglass
~ Firsthand account of slavery and the fight for freedom.
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era – James McPherson
~ Sweeping Civil War history linking battlefield, politics, and ideology.
Lincoln – David Herbert Donald
~ Definitive biography of the man who held the Union together and transformed its cause.
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America – Garry Wills
~ How one speech reframed the Constitution and national purpose.
Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 – Eric Foner
~ How postwar America struggled over freedom, justice, and power.

V. Race, Power, and American Institutions (11 titles)

Focus: How legal, economic, and institutional systems have shaped—and been shaped by—race, inequality, and power.

Up From Slavery — Booker T. Washington
~ Memoir of resilience and self-help in the face of racial oppression.
* The Souls of Black Folk – W.E.B. Du Bois
~ Foundational text on race, identity, and the “double consciousness.”
The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin
~ Prophetic warning on race, religion, and American moral failure.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley
~ Radical self-reinvention amid racism, incarceration, and political awakening.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
~ Sweeping history of the Great Migration and its national consequences.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander
~ Argues mass incarceration replaced earlier forms of racial control.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents – Isabel Wilkerson
~ Argues that a hidden caste system, not just race, shapes American hierarchy and injustice.
Discrimination and Disparities – Thomas Sowell
~ Challenges assumptions about systemic racism and economic inequality.
Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America – Juan González
~ Reveals how U.S. empire shaped Latino migration—and Latino identity reshaped America.
Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans – Ronald Takaki
~ Sweeping history of exclusion, labor, and resilience across Asian American communities.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America – Kathleen DuVal
~ A thousand-year history of Indigenous diplomacy, resilience, and power across shifting empires.

VI. Moral Order and Public Life (4 titles)

Focus: The role of religious faith, moral frameworks, and shared beliefs in shaping American identity and public life.

After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory – Alasdair MacIntyre
~ Argues modern morality collapsed after losing classical and religious foundations.
* Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics – Reinhold Niebuhr
~ Realist view of how power distorts collective ethics, even when individual morality remains high.
The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America – Richard John Neuhaus
~ Warns that excluding religion from public life undermines democratic discourse and pluralism.
Why Liberalism Failed – Patrick J. Deneen
~ Blames liberalism’s internal logic for eroding community, virtue, and shared moral foundations.

VII. Culture, Identity, and Belonging (4 titles)

Focus: The lived experience of American identity through race, gender, memory, and narrative imagination.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
~ Classic tale of race, freedom, and moral conscience on the American frontier.
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
~ Novel of racial invisibility and search for identity in America.
Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism – bell hooks
~ Groundbreaking critique of racism and sexism in American life.
* Beloved – Toni Morrison
~ Haunting story of slavery’s trauma and its lingering grip.

VIII. Capitalism, Work, and American Inequality (4 titles)

Focus: Competing visions of economic freedom, dignity, labor, inequality, and American prosperity.

There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America – Philip Dray
~ Sweeping history of how American workers reshaped the industrial order.
* The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
~ Fictionalized portrait of Depression-era hardship and migration.
* Capitalism and Freedom – Milton Friedman
~ Classic defense of free markets as safeguards of liberty.
The Theory of the Leisure Class – Thorstein Veblen
~ Critique of consumerism, status-seeking, and idle wealth.

IX. Institutions, Polarization, and Civic Life (7 titles)

Focus: The rise, unraveling, and future of America’s civic institutions—political, educational, and communal.

Theodore Rex – Edmund Morris
~ TR’s presidency as a high-water mark of energetic reform and public trust.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs
~ How vibrant neighborhoods—and bad planning—make or break civic trust, democracy, and public life.
Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America – Rick Perlstein
~ How Nixon’s rise reflected—and deepened—the nation’s cultural and political divisions.
* Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community – Robert Putnam
~ Fading civic engagement leaves Americans disconnected and alone.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business – Neil Postman
~ Mass media trivializes public discourse and civic seriousness.
* The Closing of the American Mind – Allan Bloom
~ Argues that relativism and empty pluralism hollowed out higher education.
The Revolt of the Elites: And the Betrayal of Democracy – Christopher Lasch
~ A biting warning: detached elites corrode national solidarity.

X. Law, the Constitution, and Power (5 titles)

Focus: The interpretation and evolution of American constitutional law and the structure of power in the legal system.

* America’s Constitution: A Biography – Akhil Reed Amar
~ Clause-by-clause account of the Constitution’s text, design, and political logic.
We the People: Foundations – Bruce Ackerman
~ Reimagines American constitutional development through transformative popular moments.
The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law – Robert Bork
~ Defense of originalism and warning against activist judging.
The Case Against the Supreme Court – Erwin Chemerinsky
~ Sweeping indictment of the Court’s failure to protect justice and equality.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America – Richard Rothstein
~ Exposes how law and policy entrenched racial segregation across America.

XI. American Power and Modern Transformation (5 titles)

Focus: America’s emergence as a global power, and how technology, surveillance, and global influence have shaped modern life.

Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department – Dean Acheson
~ Insider account of how postwar America built the liberal world order and confronted Soviet power.
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 – David M. Kennedy
~ Political and social history of how America endured depression and rose to global dominance during WWII.
How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States – Daniel Immerwahr
~ Reveals the hidden geography of American power through its overseas territories and military reach.
Silent Spring – Rachel Carson
~ Sparked the modern environmental movement by exposing dangers of industrial pesticides and unchecked technological progress.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power – Shoshana Zuboff
~ Explains how tech companies built a new economic regime by turning human behavior into data for profit and control.

The American Canon – Companion Readings (70 titles)

This list provides essential depth, alternative perspectives, historical context, and key narratives that complement the Core list, allowing readers to explore themes and debates more deeply.

I. Founding Era Context and Debate (4 titles)

This section adds depth and alternative perspectives to the Core’s exploration of America’s founding ideas, focusing on key figures, social context, and early challenges.

Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different – Gordon S. Wood
~ Portraits of the Founders as a uniquely principled and transformative generation.
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life – Walter Isaacson
~ Biography of the most complex and pragmatic Founder—scientist, statesman, and self-made American.
The American Republic – Orestes Brownson
~ Mid-19th-century defense of the U.S. Constitution as a divinely ordained structure of liberty.
Liberty’s First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech – Charles Slack
~ The untold story of how the Sedition Act nearly crushed the First Amendment—and how resistance preserved it.

II. American History Narratives and Key Moments (6 titles)

This section offers narrative-driven accounts and regional perspectives on pivotal moments and trends in American history, expanding upon the Core’s historical sections.

Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations – John Avlon
~ Explores the lasting impact of Washington’s final address as a blueprint for national unity and restraint.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln – Doris Kearns Goodwin
~ Lincoln’s masterclass in leadership through coalition-building during America’s greatest crisis.
The Civil War: A Narrative – Shelby Foote (Selections)
~ Sweeping, literary account of the Civil War’s human, political, and military dimensions.
The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West – Patricia Nelson Limerick
~ Reimagines Western history as a story of continuity, conflict, and myth-making.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West – Dee Brown
~ Devastating chronicle of U.S. expansion told through the displacement of Native peoples.
The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
~ Reconstructs early American life and identity through everyday artifacts and forgotten women’s labor.

III. Structures of Identity: Race, Gender, Class and Power in America (10 titles)

This section focuses on how race has been constructed, narrated, and contested in American institutions and imaginations—from legal and social systems to personal and cultural narratives.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
~ 19th-century abolitionist novel that shaped American attitudes toward slavery and race.
Coming of Age in Mississippi – Anne Moody
~ Memoir of a young Black woman’s journey through poverty, Jim Crow, and grassroots civil rights activism in Mississippi.
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America – Clint Smith
~ Travelogue-style reflection on how different historical sites preserve, distort, or forget the history of slavery.
My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir – Clarence Thomas
~ A personal account of race, ambition, and alienation—from poverty in the segregated South to a seat on the Supreme Court.
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America – James Forman Jr.
~ Examines how Black leaders shaped criminal justice policy, complicating standard narratives about mass incarceration.
The Promised Land – Nicholas Lemann
~ Portrait of Black migration and the rise of the modern underclass.
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History – Ned Blackhawk
~ Sweeping reinterpretation of American history through the central role of Indigenous nations.
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez – Richard Rodriguez
~ Memoir exploring assimilation, education, and identity from a Mexican-American perspective.
Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
~ Nigerian immigrant’s journey through race, culture, and belonging in America.
The Feminine Mystique – Betty Friedan
~ Exposed the deep malaise of mid-century housewives and launched second-wave feminism.

IV. Faith, Morality, and Civic Imagination (8 titles)

This section explores American reflections on conscience, meaning, and moral limits—through philosophy, theology, prophetic critique, and lived experience. These works ask what kind of people we are becoming, and what kind we ought to be.

Nature – Ralph Waldo Emerson
~ Transcendentalist call to perceive the divine in nature and the self—birth of a uniquely American spiritual philosophy.
The Abolition of Man – C.S. Lewis
~ Defense of objective moral order against relativism and technocratic dehumanization.
The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism – Michael Novak
~ Argues capitalism thrives when grounded in moral and religious tradition.
The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial – Robert Bellah
~ Traces how America’s public morality fractures during national crises and cultural upheaval.
The Prophetic Imagination – Walter Brueggemann
~ Argues that biblical prophecy challenges dominant powers through poetic imagination and social critique.
What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets – Michael Sandel
~ Challenges the expansion of market logic into every aspect of life, from education to healthcare.
Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
~ Lyrical meditation on faith, grace, and mortality in mid-century small-town America.
Witness – Whittaker Chambers
~ Cold War memoir of ideological betrayal and spiritual awakening—an anguished defense of faith and freedom.

V. Economic Thought and Inequality (6 titles)

This section supplements the Core’s economic analysis with additional critical perspectives and historical context on capitalism and its consequences.

Enterprising Americans: A Business History of the United States – John Chamberlain
~ Celebrates entrepreneurship as the engine of American progress.
Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II – Arthur Herman
~ How industry mobilized to win WWII—and transformed the U.S. economy.
The Wealth of Nations – Adam Smith (Selected Excerpts)
~ Foundational defense of markets and division of labor as engines of prosperity.
The Road to Serfdom – F.A. Hayek
~ Argues that central planning leads inevitably to tyranny and economic stagnation.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century – Thomas Piketty (Key Chapters)
~ Data-driven critique of rising inequality under modern capitalism.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City – Matthew Desmond
~ Shows how housing instability perpetuates poverty in modern America.

VI. Culture, Civic Life, and Polarization (8 titles)

This section explores the forces shaping American culture, community ties, political divisions, and the dynamics of civic engagement and decline, complementing the Core’s analysis.

The Paranoid Style in American Politics – Richard Hofstadter
~ Classic essays on American conspiracy thinking and its recurring role in political life.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion – Jonathan Haidt
~ Social psychologist explains moral roots of political division and tribalism.
Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment – Francis Fukuyama
~ Argues identity politics, left and right, have replaced universal ideals in liberal democracies.
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis – Robert Putnam
~ Investigates the widening opportunity gap and its impact on American community and mobility.
The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America – George Packer
~ Journalistic epic tracing institutional collapse and social fragmentation from Reagan to the Great Recession.
The Road to Character – David Brooks
~ Contrasts “résumé virtues” and “eulogy virtues” in an effort to recover moral seriousness in American life.
The Best and the Brightest – David Halberstam
~ How technocratic hubris deepened the Vietnam War—and disillusioned a generation.
A Time to Build – Yuval Levin
~ Argues rebuilding institutions is key to restoring national trust.

VII. Law and Constitutional Order (7 titles)

This section offers additional perspectives on the American legal system, the Supreme Court, and the evolution of constitutional rights.

John Marshall: Definer of a Nation – Jean Edward Smith
~ Biography of the Chief Justice who shaped the Supreme Court’s role and solidified judicial review.
Gideon’s Trumpet – Anthony Lewis
~ Narrative of a landmark case establishing the right to legal counsel and expanding constitutional protections.
Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made – Jim Newton
~ Biography of the Chief Justice behind major civil rights rulings and the liberal transformation of the Court.
Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived – Antonin Scalia
~ Personal and judicial reflections of the Court’s leading originalist and conservative voice.
The Antitrust Paradox: A Policy at War with Itself – Robert H. Bork
~ Conservative critique of antitrust law and defense of consumer-welfare-driven legal interpretation.
The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court – Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong
~ Behind-the-scenes account of the Burger Court and the internal workings of the judiciary.
Taking the Constitution Away from the Courts – Mark Tushnet
~ Radical progressive argument for limiting judicial power and reclaiming constitutional meaning through politics.

VIII. Empire, Environment, and Innovation (7 titles)

This section complements the Core’s focus on major contemporary challenges, offering additional depth on America’s global role, environmental issues, and the impact of technology.

Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World – Walter Russell Mead
~ Explains distinct traditions shaping U.S. foreign policy strategy.
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York – Robert Caro
~ Exposes how power, bureaucracy, and infrastructure shaped inequality in the American city.
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 – Lawrence Wright
~ Chronicles the rise of al-Qaeda and the intelligence failures that led to the September 11 attacks.
The Technological Society – Jacques Ellul
~ Warns that unchecked technology reshapes society beyond human control.
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution – Walter Isaacson
~ Tells how digital revolutionaries transformed work, communication, and life.
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy – Cathy O’Neil
~ Reveals how opaque algorithms amplify inequality and erode civic accountability in modern America.
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming – David Wallace-Wells
~ Stark warning about climate change’s catastrophic potential and America’s role in driving and addressing it.

IX. Modern Political Identity and Leadership (4 titles)

This section provides key biographical and historical accounts of pivotal figures and periods in recent American political history, supplementing the broader historical sections.

King: A Life – Jonathan Eig
~ Definitive biography of Martin Luther King Jr., illuminating his radicalism, faith, and moral leadership.
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream – Doris Kearns Goodwin
~ Intimate portrait of LBJ’s ambition, insecurity, and the forces that shaped his sweeping domestic legacy.
Ronald Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination – Richard Reeves
~ Balanced account of Reagan’s ideas, instincts, and the reshaping of American conservatism.
Barack Obama: The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama – David Remnick
~ Traces Obama’s identity, ambition, and the racial and generational shifts his presidency embodied.

X. Southern History and Culture (3 titles)

This section provides dedicated focus on the distinct history, culture, and identity of the American South.

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 – Taylor Branch
~ Sweeping account of the civil rights movement’s early years, centered on the South’s moral and political reckoning.
All the King’s Men – Robert Penn Warren
~ Novel of ambition, populism, and corruption in a fictionalized Deep South.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – John Berendt
~ True-crime portrait of Savannah’s eccentric charm and shadowy undercurrents.

XI. Fiction and Moral Imagination (7 titles)

A few works of fiction that explore American themes, character, and the human experience through narrative and moral imagination.

Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
~ Epic meditation on obsession, authority, and the American soul.
The Innocents Abroad – Mark Twain
~ Satirical travelogue that skewers American exceptionalism and cultural naïveté.
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
~ Tragic portrait of ambition, illusion, and the corruptions of the American Dream.
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
~ Coming-of-age story that confronts race, justice, and moral courage in the Jim Crow South.
American Pastoral – Philip Roth
~ A midcentury idealist watches his life unravel in the face of generational revolt and American disillusionment.
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
~ A missionary family’s unraveling in postcolonial Congo reveals Western blindness and moral complexity.
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
~ Stark, haunting vision of love, survival, and hope in a post-apocalyptic America.