David McCullough’s histories are perennial best sellers for a reason, his writing skills and the abilty to bring history 'to life' has been proven over and over.  Oh, did I mention he has won two pulitzers and two National Book Awards

The current preeminent historian of the American revolution and it's immediate aftermath, Josef J. Ellis, gives us a insightful book on George Washington. 

"Battle Cry of Freedom" is simply the best single volume history of the United States Civil War. It’s a big book at over 1000 pages, but the narrative and writing style will grip your attention from the beginning.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. This book intertwines the story of the 1898 Worlds fair in Chicago and that of a serial killer, H. H. Holmes, that used the fair as a lure for young women into his apartment for rent.

Joseph Ellis, is one of the foremost scholars on the American Revolutionary period, and in this book, he chooses to examine the lives of several 'brothers' and the events that were taking place during the American Revolution and the decades immediately afterwards.