A good history of the United States

[nmmad]

I'm looking for a good introductory history of the United States. I'm particularly interested in 1776-1860. Can anybody recommend a history that is authoritative and/or well written? I'm not American and don't really know anything much, so even a good school text book might be interesting if anybody knows one.

[Themis]

I could recommend heaps of books but I don't know what your priorietes are in a book. I'll just add a few of them here, so you can look them up and see if they interest you.


"An outline of American history" - published in 1953, I think, you can buy it on amazon.co.uk (used)
Books by Joseph J. Ellis, like "Founding brothers", or Barbara Tuchman, which are probably a little too specific to work as an introduction.
"The Enduring vision" by Boyer/Clark/Kett/Salisbury/Stikoff/Woloch - around 1000 pages, but very good!
"History of the United States" by Kenneth Brody

For a quick overview I'd recommend the "Student's Companion to the USA" by Roswitha Sieper.

[nmmad]

Thanks for the recommendations. What I'm looking for is something that will give me a framework for reading further, so something comprehensive and reliable, basically. But if there is one that is well written and generally well regarded, all the better.