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These books each cover a specific aspect or period of the 19th Century. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, but it is designed to give you an overview of the entire century. Each of these books has an extremely wide scope and broad ambitions. They are also fairly conventional choices. When you fill a booklist with conventional safe picks, you leave off some of the good stuff. Trust us, we will get to the good stuff. [[File: Reconstruction.jpeg|Thumbnail|Reconstruction: American Unfinished Revolution by Eric Foner]]
Still, if you read each of these books you will gain a solid initial grasp of 19th Century America. Are there unforgivable omissions? Yes, there are ridiculously important books that have been left off the list, but you have to start somewhere.
#American West: Elliot West, ''[http://www.powells.com/book/contested-plains-indians-goldseekers-the-rush-to-colorado-9780700610297?partnerid=41307&p_ti The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado]'' (University of Kansas Press, 1998)
#Civil War: James M. McPherson, ''[http://www.powells.com/book/battle-cry-of-freedom-the-civil-war-era-9780195168952?partnerid=41307&p_ti Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era]'' (Oxford University Press, 2003)
#Reconstruction: Eric Foner, ''[http://www.powells.com/book/reconstruction-updated-ed-americas-unfinished-revolution-1863-1877-9780062354518?partnerid=41307&p_ti Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877]'' (Harper, 1989)
#Gilded Age: Robert H. Wiebe, ''[http://www.powells.com/book/search-for-order-1877-1920-9780809001040?partnerid=41307&p_ti The Search for Order, 1877-1920]'' (Hill and Wang, 1966)
[[Category:Booklists]][[Category:United States History]][[Category:19th Century History]] [[Category:Jacksonian America]] [[Category:Civil War]] [[Category:Reconstruction]] [[Category:Gilded Age]] [[Category: American West]] [[Category:History Booklists]][[Category:Expert Booklists]]
