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Anthony’s NotesA personal field guide
From the notebook

Curriculum Map (Kanban) (Revised)

Supplementary

Stage 0 — Reference Shelf (audit, not chronological)

  • A Patriot’s History of the United States — Larry Schweikart reference
  • These Truths: A History of the United States — Jill Lepore reference
  • From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 — George C. Herring reference foreign-policy

Stage 1 — Pre-Columbian to Colonial (Pre-history–1763)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Parts 1–2) spine
  • 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus — Charles C. Mann context
  • Wilderness at Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent — Ted Morgan environment
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Introduction only) foreign-policy

Stage 2 — Revolution & Founding (1763–1789)

  • The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789 — Robert Middlekauff anchor
  • The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 — Gordon S. Wood anchor
  • Benjamin Franklin: An American Life — Walter Isaacson biography
  • First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans — Thomas E. Ricks context
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 1) foreign-policy

Stage 3 — Constitution & Early Republic (1787–1815)

  • Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution — Richard Beeman
  • Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution — Pauline Maier
  • The Federalist Papers — Hamilton, Madison, Jay (core set now; full set later) primary
  • The Constitution of the United States — Gregg Jarrett
  • The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World, 1788–1800 — Jay Winik anchor
  • Washington: A Life — Ron Chernow biography
  • Founding Partisans — H.W. Brands
  • Alexander Hamilton — Ron Chernow biography
  • American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson — Joseph Ellis biography
  • Rush — Stephen Fried
  • The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left — Yuval Levin context
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 2–3) foreign-policy

Stage 4 — Market Revolution to Sectional Crisis (1815–1848)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Part 3) spine
  • What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 — Daniel Walker Howe anchor
  • Undaunted Courage — Stephen Ambrose
  • The Pursuit of Happiness — Jeffrey Rosen
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 4) foreign-policy

Stage 5 — Slavery, Civil War, Reconstruction (1848–1877)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Part 4) spine
  • How the Word Is Passed — Clint Smith slavery
  • Battle Cry of Freedom — James McPherson anchor
  • Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 — Eric Foner anchor
  • A. Lincoln — Ronald C. White biography
  • This Republic of Suffering — Drew Gilpin Faust
  • Lincoln at Gettysburg — Garry Wills
  • Race and Reunion — David W. Blight memory
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 5–6) foreign-policy

Stage 6 — Gilded Age & the West (1877–1900)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Part 5) spine
  • Empire of the Summer Moon — S.C. Gwynne
  • Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee — Dee Brown indigenous
  • The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge — David McCullough industrialization
  • Morgan: American Financier — Jean Strouse
  • The Rise and Fall of American Growth — Robert J. Gordon (Ch. 1–4) economy
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 7) foreign-policy

Stage 7 — Progressive Era to WWII (1900–1945)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Part 6) spine
  • The First World War — John Keegan
  • Paris 1919 — Margaret MacMillan
  • The Great Gatsby — F. Scott Fitzgerald fiction
  • Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 — David M. Kennedy anchor
  • Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 — John M. Barry
  • No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt — Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • The Longest Day — Cornelius Ryan
  • The Rise and Fall of American Growth — Gordon (Ch. 5–9 + Entr’acte p.319) economy
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 8–14) foreign-policy

Stage 8 — Postwar Boom, Cold War, Civil Rights (1945–1968)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Part 7) spine
  • Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 — James T. Patterson anchor
  • The Fifties — David Halberstam
  • G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century — Beverly Gage
  • The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War — David Halberstam
  • Parting the Waters — Taylor Branch civilrights
  • The Children — David Halberstam civilrights
  • George Marshall: Defender of the Republic — David L. Roll biography
  • The Rise and Fall of American Growth — Gordon (Ch. 10–12) economy
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 15–16) foreign-policy

Stage 9 — Realignment & Late Cold War (1968–1991)

  • A History of the American People — Paul Johnson (Finish) spine
  • Nixonland — Rick Perlstein
  • Reaganland — Rick Perlstein
  • The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink — William Inboden
  • The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York — Robert A. Caro government
  • The Rise and Fall of American Growth — Gordon (Ch. 13–15 + Entr’acte p.522) economy
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 17–19) foreign-policy

Stage 10 — Post–Cold War to Present (1992–present)

  • The American Century and Beyond: U.S. Foreign Relations, 1893–2014 — George C. Herring anchor
  • How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States — Daniel Immerwahr
  • The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq — George Packer
  • Presidents of War — Michael Beschloss synthesis
  • The Rise and Fall of American Growth — Gordon (Ch. 16–18 + Postscript) economy
  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring (Ch. 20 + “America as Hyperpower 1992–2007”) foreign-policy

Stage 11 — Biographical Masterclass (thread throughout)

  • John Adams — David McCullough biography
  • Truman — David McCullough biography
  • Grant — Ron Chernow biography
  • The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt — Edmund Morris biography
  • Theodore Rex — Edmund Morris biography
  • Colonel Roosevelt — Edmund Morris biography
  • The Path to Power — Robert A. Caro biography
  • Master of the Senate — Robert A. Caro biography
  • The Passage of Power — Robert A. Caro biography
  • Kissinger: The Idealist — Niall Ferguson biography

Stage 12 — Thematic & reflective (read whenever)

  • The Story of American Freedom — Eric Foner theme-freedom
  • The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea — Jack E. Davis environment
  • Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild — Lee Sandlin regional
  • Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans — T.R. Fehrenbach regional
  • A People’s History of the United States — Howard Zinn contrast

Stage 13 — Completion Ledger (so chunked books finish)

  • From Colony to Superpower — Herring: Intro (Stage 1), Ch.1 (Stage 2), Ch.2–3 (Stage 3), Ch.4 (Stage 4), Ch.5–6 (Stage 5), Ch.7 (Stage 6), Ch.8–14 (Stage 7), Ch.15–16 (Stage 8), Ch.17–19 (Stage 9), Ch.20+ (Stage 10)
  • The Rise and Fall of American Growth — Gordon: Ch.1–4 (Stage 6), Ch.5–9+Entr’acte (Stage 7), Ch.10–12 (Stage 8), Ch.13–15+Entr’acte (Stage 9), Ch.16–18+Postscript (Stage 10)