British author John Keegan is known for his masterful books on military history, among them The Face of Battle and The Price of Admiralty. Here he addresses the U.S. Civil War in an account that focuses on the conflict as a military rather than a political problem. Zeroing in on the importance of geography and military leadership on both Confederate and Union sides, Keegan illuminates other aspects of the war as well: tactics, demographics, and weather all played a part. The American Civil War has won good reviews for, among other things, the way it places the war in context with other historical conflicts.

Armchair cartographers will love this chronicle of the early 16th-century creation of the Waldseemüller map (the first to label the giant landmass on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean as "America"), but armchair historians are in for a treat, too. In addition to tracing the history of the map itself, The Fourth Part of the World examines how the work of explorers and the cartographers who mapped out their discoveries shaped their contemporaries' understanding of the world around them. If you're interested in the Age of Discovery or in cartography itself, you won't want to miss this "fascinating saga" (Kirkus Reviews).

Written by Barack Obama's campaign manager, The Audacity to Win is just one of many books about the 2008 race for the U.S. presidency (see Richard Wolffe's Renegade or Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson's The Battle for America 2008). This one, however, benefits from an insider's perspective that can't really be beaten. In the course of revealing the strategies that led to Obama's win (and the errors that caused some worry), David Plouffe draws a vivid picture of the team's strategy and the importance of volunteers, and candidly shares his--and Obama's--thoughts on the selection of a vice presidential candidate.

Striking west from Omaha and east from California, the two lines that formed the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. met in Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869. Though it united the country geographically, the railroad exploited workers, decimated the Plains Indians, and was plagued by corruption and excess...all aspects that are captured in this "stunning fusion of splendid scholarship and graceful writing" (Kirkus Reviews). And if you enjoy this work, you'll want to check out the author's The Old Iron Road, in which he and his family follow pioneer routes west by car, visiting the ghost towns and other historic attractions he learned about in the course of writing Empire Express.

Written during the 1960s and first published in 1970, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was one of the first accounts of white settlement across North America in the 19th century that accurately reflected the plight of the Native Americans who were forced off their lands, resettled on reservations, or slaughtered. Both factual and wrenching, this book helped to give a voice to Native Americans and offers a detailed history of the various Western tribes. If you haven't come across Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee yet, you shouldn't miss this ground-breaking volume.

No picture of the American West would be complete without a Pony Express rider dashing across a barren landscape, for despite the Express' brief time in operation (only 18 months), it has endured in popular culture. Both an authoritative history of the cross-continental courier service and an examination of how its legend grew, Orphans Preferred discusses the dangers inherent in being a Pony Express rider, the myths and legends associated with its brief tenure, and its most noted riders. Readers with a penchant for reading about the glory-tinged exploits of an era gone by won't want to miss this fascinating book, which carefully separates fact from fiction.

If you're looking for an introduction to or a better understanding of what happened during--and after--the battle at Little Bighorn, this well researched and highly informative book draws on recent findings to piece together the actual events and shed light on the participants themselves. Portraits of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull can all be found here, as can carefully detailed depictions of Custer's second-in-command and the actions of ordinary privates, ultimately giving a clear and fair picture of this contentious period in American history. It's an "excellent reexamination," says Booklist.

Focusing on the California and Oregon trails, this chronological narrative of the overland migration west during the 1840s leaves nary a stone unturned. Historian Frank McLynn starts with an introduction to the philosophy of Manifest Destiny, then goes on to discuss the varied groups of early pioneers who followed the trails. While he includes the better-known groups, such as the Donner Party and the mass migration of Brigham Young's Mormon followers, his use of contemporary diaries and other artifacts allows him to share the experiences of lesser-known pioneers as well. For a more in-depth view of solely the Oregon Trail, try David Dary's The Oregon Trail; for the origins of the wagon route west, try Laton McCartney's Across the Great Divide.

Having written for numerous magazines, author Hampton Sides burst onto the book scene in 2001 with the award-winning, bestselling Ghost Soldiers. In 2006 he published this two-fold examination of America's westward expansion during the era of Manifest Destiny and the efforts of the Navajo people to resist subjugation and decimation. At the center of Blood and Thunder is frontiersman Kit Carson, who despite taking two Native American wives still participated in the war against the Navajo. Combining "Larry McMurtry's lyricism with the historian's attachment to facts" (Publishers Weekly), Sides' book will appeal to those interested in learning more about this difficult era of U.S. history.