Need some non-textbook resources for 11th grade history. Can anyone recommend a book from personal experience?

Question

I'm doing US history this year, to fill in all the blanks. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably be done with the book in a few months.

After that, I want to start from post-Neolithic and work my way up. If I can, I'd like to avoid a textbook; I tend to have an easier time focusing on books written by nerds in the field. There's also a price consideration, but if you guys can recommend a textbook that goes for about $20 used, that works.

My history plan for next year is to read three chapters a week, and write something about each chapter. Essay, outline, or report, doesn't matter really as long as it's something. The ideal chapter length would be about 40 pages; I need to play with information to really retain it and can't spend much more than an hour on each subject. I'm a fast reader and writer, but I think my point still stands.

I'm only after secular books; I respect religion but I'm not after a religious slant in my education.

According to the last standardized test I took

Answer 1

We have found that Project Gutenberg is a treasure trove of very-well written classics of literature, history, biography, and more. Best of all, it is free. Basically, it is an online library of out-of-copyright books. When you think about it, history has been a subject of study for generations. The books written in past generations are as much, or more, valid as the newest textbook fresh from the printing line.

The Project Gutenberg website is at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Use their search engine to locate books on American History.

Specific to history, you may enjoy the collection at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%2... Do not let the inclusion of the word 'children' in the title of this page mislead you to think that the quality level is juvenile though. Some are aimed at younger readers, but others would not be a dissappointment to a college student.

Some titles I highly recommend are ...

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (outstanding read!)

at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/148

With Lee in Virginia by Henty. It is at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19154

You mentioned that you do better if you interact with what you read. We have found that concept-mapping is a great method for note-taking and study.  Our favorite software for making these is Cmap. It is free and you can even opt to use their free serevers for your concept maps so that you can collaborate, do online study groups, or just be able to post your cmaps as html to share them. You can see some examples of concept mapping (and the Cmapping software specifically) at our Family Cmap site. Some links to get you to pages there specifically useful to history are ...

My son's college concept maps from his college Western Civilization class (main page, take the links at the bottom's of the nodes to get to other ages): http://cmapspublic2.ihmc.us/servlet/SBRe...

My 7th grader's concept maps from his study of World history up to the Middle Ages from last year can be accessed from his main portfolio page from last year at http://cmapspublic2.ihmc.us/servlet/SBRe... . Just look down the subject list until you see his World History A course. Click the links at the bottoms of the nodes to access other concept map pages.

If you like what you see in regards to the Cmaps, go to http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/index.php to download the software. If you have any questions about how to get started using it, feel free to e-mail me.

Answer 2

Not textbooks but if you can fit it in I would highly recommend any of the historical "fiction" novels written by Micheal or Jeff Shaara (father / son).

Micheal Shaara's "Killer Angels" which is part of a civil war trilogy is a Pulitzer prize winning novel.  

All of the books are historically accurate except for the character building aspects.

I would also recommend Gore Vidal's Lincoln.

All of the books are American history.

Answer 3

Try the book "1776" for some interesting reading about the revolutionary war. It's secular.

Answer 4

There is a book named "1491", about the Americas before the Europeans arrived. I found it fairly interesting reading.  You might be able to find it at a library.

Answer 5

Is there a public college or main library near you.  Go to their library and browse.

I found all sorts of facinating micro-history books.

I was doing research for a project I was working on on a sort of Rennesance woman and I came across, basically, the real Dr. Quinn (not her name) and how it took her 12 years to get trained and her treck from the Eastern part of the country to the western plain states.  She could only get 1 year of training at a time before the men sent her packing and she even did a stint with a dentist.

Another medical woman in 13th Century France was arrested for practising medicine (she had apprenticed for 15 years) and was taken before the University of Paris who examined her and denied her Medecia credentials, she was banished from the town.

Apparently she was actually a pretty good medic.  She didn't subscribe to the blood letting and bile balancing concepts and she used herbal medicines and had a good track record in curing people.

These were true people.

This NP I knew was reading this book on some big whig from the Eastern world in BC time.  It was a 1,000 page book and it covered half his child hood.

Now that's a history book!

That's the kind of a book you'll write to get your MS or PHD

Answer 6

http://www.pandiapress.com/history_odyss...

History Odyssey from this publisher, level 3, should work well for you.

Answer 7

I suggest you go for a literature-based course.  TRISMS would probably be a great fit for you.  It's not in the $20 range, but it will definitely challenge you, and it allows you to build a course from whatever viewpoint you'd like to.  It offers credits in a number of areas, isn't based on any one viewpoint (Christian, secular, humanist, whatever), and offers coursework centering around both research and literature.  It offers incredible reading selections on a number of levels, both fiction and nonfiction, for every period in history.  It also covers the beginning of civilization through the present, in different courses.

Once you get the curriculum, everything else can be found at your public library for free.  It offers credits in pretty much every subject except for math and lab science (though it offers research in the history of both), and you can pick and choose what you want to focus on.

(I was able to get the curriculum for free for my son from a curriculum consignment store, I've also seen it deeply discounted.  Even at full price, it's comletely worth it.)

Answer 8

Sonlight has a great catalog that lists non-textbook books about history.  It is a Christian company, but the actual history books used are not religious.

http://www.sonlight.com

Usborne also has some great History encyclopedias.  Their books are always interesting and well written.

http://www.usborne.com/default.asp

Here's another book list:

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/history....

Answer 9

http://studentsfriend.com/aids/curraids/...

http://www.besthistorysites.net/LessonPl...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/

I had another one but can't find it right now.  

Hope this helps

Answer 10

I took A.P. history and we used the American Pageant textbook...its good if your into learning a lot about history...here is a site that compares all the prices of new, used, and refurbished http://www.directtextbook.com/prices/061...