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Books like Unfamiliar Fishes
A witty, conversational road trip through the dark, messy, and often absurd history of American imperialism in the Pacific. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Unfamiliar Fishes.
- intellectually stimulating
- breezy but sobering
- cynical
- 01
How to Hide an Empire
Daniel Immerwahr
A paradigm-shifting journey that redraws the map of American history, turning familiar narratives inside out.
- 02
The wordy shipmates
Sarah Vowell
A witty, irreverent road trip through seventeenth-century New England that connects the eccentricities of the Puritans to modern American political dysfunction.
- 03
Assassination vacation
Sarah Vowell
A delightfully morbid and deeply nerdy road trip through the weirdest, darkest corners of American history.
- 04
A voyage long and strange
Tony Horwitz · 2008
A witty, boots-on-the-ground road trip through the forgotten, messy, and often absurd century of American history before the Pilgrims arrived.
- 05
Hawai
James A. Michener · 1972
A sweeping, multi-generational epic that immerses you in the geological and human history of an island paradise, tracing the beautiful and tragic collisions of cultures over centuries.
- 06
The 1619 Project
Nikole Hannah-Jones
An unflinching, paradigm-shifting reckoning with the roots of American society that demands you look history squarely in the eye.
- 07
Day of Empire
Amy Chua
A sweeping, macro-historical lens on the mechanics of global dominance and the surprising role of tolerance in building empires.
- 08
Minor Feelings
Cathy Park Hong
A razor-sharp, deeply vulnerable dissection of the dissonance between American optimism and the reality of marginalized existence.
- 09
A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn
A paradigm-shifting journey through American history that amplifies the voices of the oppressed and challenges everything you were taught in school.
- 10
Mayflower
Nathaniel Philbrick
A spellbinding, electrifying re-examination of a foundational myth that balances heroism with profound historical tragedy.
- 11
Overthrow
Stephen Kinzer
A shadowy, narrative-driven exploration of political conspiracies and the sobering realities of international intervention.
- 12
Wager
David Grann
A harrowing descent into maritime hell where the veneer of civilization rots away faster than the ship's timbers.
