Recs if you like Empire of Cotton: A Global History...

microhistory: the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research (such as an event, community, individual or a settlement); it aspires to "ask large questions in small places"

From dirt and sand, to rope and fabric, to coal and oil--nonfiction about seemingly simple materials and the ways they've influenced the course of human history.

Let's break through the fog of the capitalist, racist, colonial system that is holding all of us down. For a new world, we need new perspectives. (this list is from a white european girl, so PLEASE also seek out recommendations from BIPOC creators!!)

So many things we should know about the world we are not told during our education. To know the past is to be able to change the future

Historical scholarship which is critical of US state power, or which falls under a broad understanding of ‘critical’ approaches to the study of US history: e.g. Marxist history; contrapuntal history; women of color history; black radical history. More to come—

The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. The award goes back to 1948 with two winners every year, so I'm adding them starting with the most recent.