Learn about the our nation's history with these titles

Learn about people, events, and moments from more than 25 decades of our nation’s history as we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Teen and adult librarians from EVPL have compiled suggested reading lists that detail epic struggles, momentous triumphs, and fascinating heroes that are all part of our country’s collective story.

JUMP TO: Nonfiction Young Adult Titles | Fiction Young Adult Titles | Nonfiction Adult Titles | Fiction Adult Titles

Notre Dame Professor Dr. Patrick Griffin will present “The Revolutionary War in Three Paintings” as the next presenter in SPEAK 2026. Patrick Griffin’s work explores the intersection of colonial American and early modern Irish and British history. As America observes the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Griffin’s insights will illuminate the history of peoples and cultures spanning the Atlantic Ocean.

📅 Tuesday, Jul. 21 | 🕰️ 7:00 – 8:00 pm | 📍 Evansville Museum

Young Adult Titles | Nonfiction

• America Redux: Visual Stories from Our Dynamic History by Ariel Aberg-Riger
• Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
• Ours to Tell: Reclaiming Indigenous Stories by Eldon Yellowhorn
• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M. Hoose
• Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen
• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Jean Mendoza
• Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin
• Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and The Secret History of the Vietnam War by Steve Sheinkin
• We the People: A History of the US Constitution by Jill Lepore
• John Adams by David McCullough
• Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• American Revolutions: A Continental History by Alan Taylor
• The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-45 by Rick Atkinson
• 1776 by David McCullough
• These Truths by Jill Lepore
• Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

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Young Adult Titles | Fiction

• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
• All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor
• Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
• Kent State by Deborah Wiles
• When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

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Adult Titles | Nonfiction

• Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann Bausum
• The Ghost Army of World War II: How One Top-Secret Unit Deceived the Enemy with Inflatable Tanks, Sound Effects, and Other Audacious Fakery by Rick Beyer
• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and The Unmaking of US History by Ned Blackhawk
• The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower
• The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown
• Enabling Acts: The Hidden Story of How the Americans with Disabilities Act Gave the Largest US Minority its Rights by Lennard Davis
• Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond
• A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
• The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
• The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff
• When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day by Garrett Graff
• Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
• The United Symbolism of America: Deciphering Hidden Meanings in America’s Most Familiar Art, Architecture, and Logos by Robert Hieronimus
• How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr
• The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America by Charles Kaiser
• Wilderness at Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent by Ted Morgan
• Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
• A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII by Sonia Purnell
• Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and The Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland by Scott Shane
• Revolution Song by Russell Shorto
• Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi
• How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
• Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster: The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War by Gerri Willis
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• The Soul of a Nation Reader: Writings By and About Black American Artists, 1960-1980

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Adult Titles | Fiction

• The First Ladies by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
• Yellow Wife: A Novel by Sadeqa Johnson
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
• The Lunar Housewife: A Novel by Caroline Woods

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EVPL Staff

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With 8 locations throughout Vanderburgh County, EVPL is ready to discover, explore, and connect WITH you! We encourage you to uncover new things, revisit old favorites, and to engage with us along the way.