28 Best nonfiction books like Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet

Cover of Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet

Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

By: Elizabeth D. Samet

3.60

Format: 354 pages, Hardcover

In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that em…

"Our national problem has not been ignoring the Civil War, but turning it into a kind of theme park in which nostalgia and mendacity have eclipsed the raw and unpleasant truth that one army fought, and lost, a battle for the liberty to enslave other human beings, while the other, full of imperfect men fighting for a variety of motives, secured the emancipation of those human beings and thereby preserved a political experiment underwritten by the idea of equality."

-Elizabeth D. Samet, Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

"Our national problem has not been ignoring the Civil War, but turning it into a kind of theme park in which nostalgia and mendacity have eclipsed the raw and unpleasant truth that one army fought, and lost, a battle for the liberty to enslave other human beings, while the other, full of imperfect men fighting for a variety of motives, secured the emancipation of those human beings and thereby preserved a political experiment underwritten by the idea of equality."

-Elizabeth D. Samet, Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

If you liked the nonfiction plot in Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet , here is a list of 28 books like this:

Cover of At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century by Ronald H. Spector

1. At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century

By: Ronald H. Spector

3.86

Format: 463 pages, Paperback

Beginning with a gripping account of one of the most decisive naval battles in history-the 1905 bat… read more

Similar categories in Ronald H. Spector's At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • history
  • war
  • world war ii
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappé

2. Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians

By: Noam Chomsky , Ilan Pappé

4.13

Format: 240 pages, Paperback

Described by a UN fact-finding mission as "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punis… read more

Similar categories in Noam Chomsky's Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • war
"The new crimes that the US and Israel were committing in Gaza as 2009 opened do not fit easily into any standard category—except for the category of familiarity."

-Noam Chomsky, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians

"Of course all such conclusions about appropriate actions against the rich and powerful are based on a fundamental flaw: This is us, and that is them. This crucial principle, deeply embedded in Wester…"

-Noam Chomsky, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians

"Hamas is regularly described as 'Iranian-backed Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.' One will be hard put to find something like 'democratically elected Hamas, which has long been…"

-Noam Chomsky, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians

Cover of The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II by Charles Glass

3. The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II

By: Charles Glass

4.19

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

A fast-paced narrative history of World War II centered on the little explored subject of deserters… read more

Similar categories in Charles Glass's The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • world war ii
  • nonfiction
  • history
  • war
Cover of The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Cordery Khan

4. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan

By: Yasmin Cordery Khan

4.39

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

The Partition of India in 1947 promised its people both political and religious freedom--through th… read more

Similar categories in Yasmin Cordery Khan's The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • politics
  • history
  • nonfiction

5. The Cold War: A World History

By: Odd Arne Westad

3.33

Format: 140 pages, Hardcover

From a Bancroft Prize-winning scholar, a new global history of the Cold War and its ongoing impact … read more

Similar categories in Odd Arne Westad's The Cold War: A World History book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

6. Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law

By: None

4.67

Format: 40 pages, Hardcover

Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the Amer… read more

Similar categories in None's Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

Cover of American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis by Adam Hochschild

7. American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis

By: Adam Hochschild

4.21

Format: 422 pages, Hardcover

From award-winning, New York Times bestselling historian Adam Hochschild, a fast-paced, revelatory … read more

Similar categories in Adam Hochschild's American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters by Charan Ranganath

8. Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

By: Charan Ranganath

3.95

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

Memory is far more than a record of the past. In this groundbreaking tour of the mind and brain, on… read more

Similar categories in Charan Ranganath's Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • nonfiction
  • psychology
  • audiobook
Cover of 2054 by Elliot Ackerman

9. 2054

By: Elliot Ackerman

3.46

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

From the acclaimed authors of the runaway New York Times bestseller 2034 comes another explosive wo… read more

Similar categories in Elliot Ackerman's 2054 book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • politics
  • audiobook
Cover of Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land by Jacob Mikanowski

10. Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land

By: Jacob Mikanowski

4.09

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

Eastern Europe is disappearing. Not off the map of course, but as an idea. Today it calls to min… read more

Similar categories in Jacob Mikanowski's Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • politics
  • history
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll

11. The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

By: Steve Coll

4.44

Format: 576 pages, Hardcover

From bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll, the definitive story of the decades-… read more

Similar categories in Steve Coll's The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination by Stuart A. Reid

12. The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination

By: Stuart A. Reid

4.40

Format: 640 pages, Hardcover

A spellbinding work of history that reads like a Cold War spy thriller—about the US-sanctioned plot… read more

Similar categories in Stuart A. Reid's The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk

13. The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History

By: Ned Blackhawk

4.18

Format: 596 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essentia… read more

Similar categories in Ned Blackhawk's The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

14. How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

By: Daniel Immerwahr

4.46

Format: 513 pages, Hardcover

A pathbreaking history of the United States' overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empir… read more

Similar categories in Daniel Immerwahr's How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"At various times, inhabitants of the U.S. Empire have been shot, shelled, starved, interned, dispossessed, tortured, and experimented on. What they haven't been, by and large, is seen."

-Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

"Hoover’s greatest challenge was one of the least visible: the humble screw thread. Screws, nuts, and bolts are universal fasteners. They function in industrial societies, as one writer put it, like s…"

-Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

Cover of Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin

15. Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism

By: Jeffrey Toobin

4.16

Format: 426 pages, Kindle Edition

The definitive account of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the enduring legacy of Timothy McVeigh… read more

Similar categories in Jeffrey Toobin's Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire by Caroline Elkins

16. Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire

By: Caroline Elkins

4.26

Format: 896 pages, Hardcover

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian: a searing study of the British Empire that interrogates … read more

Similar categories in Caroline Elkins's Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • politics
  • history
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Watergate: A New History by Garrett M. Graff

17. Watergate: A New History

By: Garrett M. Graff

4.49

Format: 832 pages, Hardcover

From Garrett​ Graff, comes the first definitive narrative history of Watergate, exploring the full … read more

Similar categories in Garrett M. Graff's Watergate: A New History book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Enemies and Neighbors: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 by Ian   Black

18. Enemies and Neighbors: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017

By: Ian Black

4.20

Format: 512 pages, Hardcover

In Enemies and Neighbors, Ian Black, who has spent over three decades covering events in the Middle… read more

Similar categories in Ian Black's Enemies and Neighbors: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century by Fiona  Hill

19. There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century

By: Fiona Hill

4.13

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A celebrated foreign policy expert and key impeachment witness reveals how declining opportunity ha… read more

Similar categories in Fiona Hill's There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • politics
  • history
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew F. Delmont

20. Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad

By: Matthew F. Delmont

4.53

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

The definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective, written by civil righ… read more

Similar categories in Matthew F. Delmont's Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • world war ii
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy by Thomas F. Schaller

21. White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy

By: Thomas F. Schaller

3.82

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

A searing portrait and damning takedown of America’s proudest citizens — who are also the least lik… read more

Similar categories in Thomas F. Schaller's White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • sociology
  • audiobook
Cover of Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen

22. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America

By: Pekka Hämäläinen

4.05

Format: 592 pages, Hardcover

There is an old, deeply rooted story about America that goes like this: Columbus “discovers” a stra… read more

Similar categories in Pekka Hämäläinen's Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Jeff Sharlet

23. The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War

By: Jeff Sharlet

4.02

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into cor… read more

Similar categories in Jeff Sharlet's The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • sociology
  • audiobook
Cover of Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict by Oren Kessler

24. Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict

By: Oren Kessler

4.33

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

Winner, 2024 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature One of the Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Books … read more

Similar categories in Oren Kessler's Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet

25. Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

By: Elizabeth D. Samet

3.60

Format: 354 pages, Hardcover

In Looking for the Good War, Elizabeth D. Samet reexamines the literature, art, and culture that em… read more

Similar categories in Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • psychology
  • world war ii
  • nonfiction
  • sociology
  • audiobook
"Our national problem has not been ignoring the Civil War, but turning it into a kind of theme park in which nostalgia and mendacity have eclipsed the raw and unpleasant truth that one army fought, an…"

-Elizabeth D. Samet, Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

Cover of All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia by Simon Garfield

26. All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia

By: Simon Garfield

3.65

Format: 390 pages, Hardcover

The encyclopaedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars a… read more

Similar categories in Simon Garfield's All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • nonfiction
  • history
  • audiobook
Cover of Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War by Roger Lowenstein

27. Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War

By: Roger Lowenstein

4.24

Format: 448 pages, Hardcover

From renowned journalist and master storyteller Roger Lowenstein, a revelatory financial investigat… read more

Similar categories in Roger Lowenstein's Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • war
  • nonfiction
Cover of Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past by Kevin M. Kruse

28. Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past

By: Kevin M. Kruse

3.93

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

In this instant New York Times  bestseller, America’s top historians set the record straight on the… read more

Similar categories in Kevin M. Kruse's Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • american
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
"Violence meant to seize and shore up power—a claim to sovereignty through the violence of the mob—is fundamentally American."

-Kevin M. Kruse, Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past

"Although in this case it is an understandable, emotional reaction meant to decry antidemocratic violence, the notion that January 6 is 'not who we are' is one manifestation of what has become a regul…"

-Kevin M. Kruse, Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past

"People may hear ‘white nationalism’ and assume it to be adjacent with patriotism, or at the very least consider it as pro-American. But after 1983 the nation at the heart of white nationalism was not…"

-Kevin M. Kruse, Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past

Cover of American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 by Cameron McWhirter

29. American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15

By: Cameron McWhirter

4.29

Format: 496 pages, Hardcover

The epic history of America’s most controversial weaponIn the 1950s, an obsessive firearms designer… read more

Similar categories in Cameron McWhirter's American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World by Ian Bremmer

30. The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World

By: Ian Bremmer

3.71

Format: 268 pages, Kindle Edition

Renowned political scientist Ian Bremmer draws lessons from global challenges of the past 100 years… read more

Similar categories in Ian Bremmer's The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • sociology
  • audiobook
"In the introduction, I wrote that COVID had started a war, and nobody won. Let me amend that. Technology won, specifically, the makers of disruptive new technologies and all those who benefit from th…"

-Ian Bremmer, The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World

Cover of The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America by Philip Bump

31. The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America

By: Philip Bump

3.61

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

A widely-read Washington Post columnist takes a deep dive into what the end of the baby boom means … read more

Similar categories in Philip Bump's The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America book and Elizabeth D. Samet's Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness

  • american history
  • history
  • politics
  • nonfiction
  • sociology
  • audiobook

25 Top audiobook books like Looking for the Good War: American Amnesia and the Violent Pursuit of Happiness by Elizabeth D. Samet

Transform Your Habits

At War at Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century

Ronald H. Spector

3.86

Transform Your Habits

American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis

Adam Hochschild

4.21

Transform Your Habits

Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters

Charan Ranganath

3.95

Transform Your Habits

2054

Elliot Ackerman

3.46

View all the books

20 must-read audiobook books like The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk

Transform Your Habits

Night Watch

Jayne Anne Phillips

3.79

Transform Your Habits

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Hampton Sides

4.51

Transform Your Habits

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

Erik Larson

4.24

Transform Your Habits

James

Percival Everett

4.54

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