Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here are two such titles, suggested by Max Rudin, president and publisher of Library of America:

• The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Day, June 6, 1944 by Cornelius Ryan and The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. “I keep thinking about [these] two books by journalists-turned-narrative-historians who used interviews with hundreds of individual participants to tell stories that have both intimacy and epic sweep,” says Rudin. “They are quite different, but both have as themes the personal qualities that impel people to make/participate in world-historical events. They’re both beautifully written and staged, and they’ve both taught me a lot about the possibilities of history writing.”

Each year, the Grateful American™ Foundation, through its Book Prize, honors excellence in children’s historical nonfiction and fiction focused on the people and events that have shaped the U.S. since its birth. To learn more about the prize, click here.

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