Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. It's about the Lewis and Clark expedition, and it's absolutely fantastic.
Written in kind of a narrative style, but mixed with real historical analysis and primary source quotes from letters, journals, other first-person accounts. It goes into the background and historical context for the expedition, and follows along in amazing detail.
I'm halfway through and recommend Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a vivid backdrop for the expedition. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson’s. There are numerous Indian chiefs, and Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition, along with the French-Indian hunter Drouillard, the great naturalists of Philadelphia, the French and Spanish fur traders of St. Louis, John Quincy Adams, and many more leading political, scientific, and military figures of the turn of the century.
I'm sure you've been taught a lot about them in your education, but I very much recommend <em>Undaunted Courage</em> by Stephen E. Ambrose to anyone interested in the whole story, including the political background of the expedition and the relationship between Jefferson and Lewis.
Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose. One of my favorite non-fiction authors! Very easy to read.
https://www.amazon.com/Undaunted-Courage-Meriwether-Jefferson-American/dp/0684826976
Undaunted Courage is one of my favorites. It's about the journey of Lewis and Clarke, but it also explores Lewis' interactions with Thomas Jefferson and provides examples of how life was back in their day. There's some crazy shit that happened on that expedition that your high school history class wouldn't dare to cover.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus is another good one. It's about the New World before Europeans had touched it. It also goes into the conquest and some would say destruction of the old way of life. It's written in a novel format so it's a very easy read.
I was an english major and to be honest, Ernest Hemingway was very difficult for me to get into. The Prince is short but you need to be in the right mindset. Meditations is very useful but it can be repetitive. If I were you I would focus on books that have a sense of adventure to them, then mix philosophy into that.