Looking for British written American history on Kindle

[jasong]

Just what the title says. I tried to do a search in the Kindle app, but couldn't come up with the right terms, got a few British things about wars(I want recent history, like Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Obama stuff) but it was mostly British detective novels. I used to read a lot of British stuff because of the Ubuntu newsfeed, but that's been gone for a couple years because of poor backup habits and the weird notion ;) I could become a serious gamer.

One thing that I would definitely be interested in would be either non-American blogs about American culture and also so-called counter-culture American stuff.

[chappy]

Not exactly what you are asking for, but related, is Alistair Cooke's phenomenal collection of thoughts about America and American culture spanning the time from just after WWII to the early 2000s. These were made to be read on the BBC but they stand as excellent personal essays as well. Available in Kindle format at least from Amazon.uk.

Cooke is decidely pro-American which puts his insights in context but his insights as the outsider seeing the inside are fantastic. (and it's incredibly well written.)

[jasong]

Originally Posted by chappy

Not exactly what you are asking for, but related, is Alistair Cooke's phenomenal collection of thoughts about America and American culture spanning the time from just after WWII to the early 2000s. These were made to be read on the BBC but they stand as excellent personal essays as well. Available in Kindle format at least from Amazon.uk.

Cooke is decidely pro-American which puts his insights in context but his insights as the outsider seeing the inside are fantastic. (and it's incredibly well written.)

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Edit: Turns out if you change co.uk to com, you get the website with American pricing. Was a bit frustrated at first that there was no obvious way to switch. Command-line, only loser hipsters are afraid of it.

[Primeinator]

Jasong,

If you want to read more about American history you have no further to look than Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States 1492 - Present (published in 1980)." Granted, he was an American historian and not British; however, you will find his material unlike anything in an American history textbook. He presents a far less appealing/patriotic history than do the textbooks. Some of his other works would likely provide you with material on the counterculture movements in American during the 50s-70s especially as he was not only an acclaimed historian but also a noted social and civil activist. His writings on the anti-war movements and the pro-labor movements are also quite good. In fact, the above book was banned from use in many schools in the US because some felt it presented an "nonfactual and anti-American viewpoints" and that it contained significant "propaganda and encouraged disrespect for authority."

A People's History can be used as a textbook but it really doesn't read as one (at least in all places).

If you require a true British historian, then I am sorry to have wasted your time. If, however, you just require a different perspective on American history then it would be worth your time to read some of Zinn's work.

Regards,

Kyle