Research Guides: American History I Research Guide: Books and eBooks

Use the library catalog to search for books on your subject, or place holds on the books listed below:

Wake Tech Library Catalog (opens in new window)

Search for books at the six Wake Tech library locations. You can also request books from community colleges across the state.

Indigenous Continent by Pekka Hamalainen
ISBN: 9781631496998
Publication Date: 2022
In this book, Pekka Hämäläinen challenges the Eurocentric narrative of colonial America, highlighting the resilience of Indigenous peoples in North America well into the 19th century. Hämäläinen highlights that Native empires were not passive victims of colonialism but engaged in diplomacy and leadership to flourish in the face of increasing white settlement, offering a crucial correction to the traditional historical perspective.
Unworthy Republic by Claudio Saunt
ISBN: 9780393609844
Publication Date: 2020
In this book, Saunt shows how the politics and economics of white supremacy lay at the heart of the displacement of Native Americans; how corruption, greed, and administrative indifference and incompetence contributed to the debacle of its implementation; and how the consequences still resonate today.
What Sorrows Labour in My Parent's Breast? by Brenda E. Stevenson
ISBN: 9781442252165
Publication Date: 2023
Brenda Stevenson offers a concise history of the African American family's evolution and resilience during the era of slavery, exploring the impact of gender, generation, location, labor, economic factors, and societal laws on these families.
The War Before the War by Andrew Delbanco
ISBN: 9781594204050
Publication Date: 2018
The devastating story of how fugitive slaves drove the nation to Civil War. The fugitive slave story illuminates what brought us to war with ourselves and the terrible legacies of slavery that are with us still.
The Civil War by DK
ISBN: 9781465429575
Publication Date: 2015
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Civil War, including its history, causes, consequences, eyewitness accounts, military leaders, key locations, treatment of wounded soldiers, and the issue of slavery, offering a detailed account of this significant historical conflict.

Wake Tech students have access to thousands of eBooks. Try these databases or the titles below:

Ebook Central (opens in new window)
- Over 35,000 eBooks available to read and download.
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) (opens in new window)
- This database allows you to use an online dictionary and create a citation for the eBook

Women's War by Stephanie McCurry
ISBN: 9780674987975
Publication Date: 2019
Stephanie McCurry's "Women's War" challenges the notion that women were/are excluded from war, revealing their vital and often overlooked role in the Civil War and emphasizing their ongoing significance in all conflicts.
Beyond Slavery's Shadow by Warren Eugene Milteer
ISBN: 9781469664385
Publication Date: 2021
On the eve of the Civil War, most people of color in the United States toiled in bondage. Yet nearly half a million of these individuals, including over 250,000 in the South, were free. In Beyond Slavery's Shadow, Warren Eugene Milteer Jr. demonstrates how the growing influence of white supremacy and proslavery extremism created serious challenges for free persons categorized as "free people of color."
Surviving Genocide by Jeffrey Ostler
ISBN: 9780300218121
Publication Date: 2019
Jeffrey Ostler's book examines how American democracy was built on the dispossession of Native Americans during U.S. expansion, while also highlighting the resilience of Native people in forming alliances, defending their communities, and rebuilding in the face of genocide.
An Environmental History of the Civil War by Judkin Browning; Timothy Silver
ISBN: 9781469655383
Publication Date: 2020
The Civil War was not just a military conflict but also a moment of transformation in Americans' relationship to the natural world. In considering human efforts to find military and political advantage by reshaping the natural world, Browning and Silver assert that the Civil War's outcome was shaped by the environment and that the war itself was a pivotal moment in environmental history.
Colonization after Emancipation by Phillip W. Magness; Sebastian N. Page
ISBN: 9780826219091
Publication Date: 2011
This book uncovers an overlooked project that reveals the complexity of Abraham Lincoln's ideas on ending slavery, shedding new light on his administration's approach to this issue.