A True History of the United States: Indigenous Genocide, Racialized Slavery, Hyper-Capitalism, Militarist Imperialism and Other Overlooked Aspects of American Exceptionalism

Daniel A. Sjursen

Jun 2021 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Daniel A. Sjursen

About this audiobook

“Thought-provoking—a must read for [everyone] seeking a firm grasp of accurate American history." —Kirkus (starred review)

Brilliant, readable, and raw. Maj. (ret.) Danny Sjursen, who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at West Point, delivers a true epic and the perfect companion to Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.

Sjursen shifts the lens and challenges readers to think critically and to apply common sense to their understanding of our nation's past—and present—so we can view history as never before.

A True History of the United States was inspired by a course that Sjursen taught to cadets at West Point, his alma mater. With chapter titles such as "Patriots or Insurgents?" and "The Decade That Roared and Wept", A True History is accurate with respect to the facts and intellectually honest in its presentation and analysis.

Essential reading for every American with a conscience.

Meticulously researched, Sjursen provides a more complete sense of history and encourages readers to view our country objectively.

Sjursen’s powerful storytelling reveals balanced portraits of key figures and the role they played.

"Sjursen exposes the dominant historical narrative as at best myth, and at times a lie . . . He brings out from the shadows those who struggled, often at the cost of their own lives, for equality and justice. Their stories, so often ignored or trivialized, give us examples of who we should emulate and who we must become." —Chris Hedges, author of Empire of Illusion and America: The Farewell Tour

Ratings and reviews

A refreshing, seemingly neutral and honest appraisal of key political and wartime events around the conquest and formulation of the United States and recent history.

Great book

About the author

Daniel A. Sjursen recently retired from the US Army where he had reached the rank of major and served as a history instructor at West Point, his alma mater. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is the author of Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge and Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War. Follow him on Twitter at @SkepticalVet and listen to his podcast "Fortress on a Hill," co-hosted with fellow vet Chris "Henri" Henrikson.