Books, primary documents, declassified archives, and further reading for anyone serious about the documented record of American history.
Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman
The foundational text on how mass media in democratic societies serves the interests of dominant elites. Introduces the propaganda model — a framework for analyzing media output that remains essential reading.
Howard Zinn
American history told from the perspective of those who were conquered, enslaved, exploited, and suppressed. Draws on primary sources to document the gap between official history and lived experience.
Richard Rothstein
A meticulously documented account of how federal, state, and local governments deliberately imposed residential segregation across America. Sourced entirely from government records and court documents.
John Perkins
A firsthand account of how the U.S. used economic coercion, debt, and covert operations to extend its influence over developing nations — corroborated by declassified documents and subsequent reporting.
Michelle Alexander
Documents how mass incarceration functions as a system of racialized social control, tracing the legislative and judicial decisions that built the modern carceral state.
Smedley D. Butler
Written by one of the most decorated Marines in U.S. history, this short book documents how American military interventions served the financial interests of corporations — from the author's own direct experience.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Declassified FBI documents detailing the Counterintelligence Program — a covert operation to surveil, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt domestic political organizations, including civil rights groups, socialist parties, and antiwar movements.
U.S. Department of Defense
The classified history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Revealed systematic deception of the public and Congress about the war's progress and prospects.
U.S. Senate Select Committee
Congressional investigation into intelligence agency abuses — including CIA assassination plots, NSA mass surveillance, and FBI domestic operations. The most comprehensive public accounting of U.S. intelligence activities ever published.
National Security Council
The classified policy document that defined Cold War strategy and justified a massive expansion of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Declassified in 1975. Reveals the internal logic of permanent war footing.
U.S. Government
The official repository of U.S. federal records — including declassified intelligence documents, congressional records, presidential papers, and census data. The primary source for documented American history.
John Greenewald Jr.
The largest privately held collection of declassified U.S. government documents, obtained through FOIA requests. Over 2.1 million pages covering intelligence, military, and government operations.
ProPublica
Investigative journalism datasets — including government spending, congressional voting records, nonprofit filings, and criminal justice data. All datasets are downloadable and documented.
James W. Loewen
An examination of twelve leading high school history textbooks, documenting the systematic omissions, distortions, and hero-worship that define American history education.
Naomi Klein
Documents how economic shock therapy — the rapid imposition of free-market policies — has been applied in the aftermath of disasters, coups, and crises, often with U.S. backing.
Dee Brown
The history of the systematic destruction of Native American peoples and cultures in the American West, told through eyewitness accounts, council records, and firsthand testimony.
This list is not exhaustive. If you know of a primary source, declassified document, or well-sourced book that belongs here, we want to hear about it. We review all submissions and add sources that meet our standards.
We do not add sources based on ideological alignment. We add sources based on evidentiary quality, primary sourcing, and relevance to documented American history.
Submission Standards
Every article in this archive is grounded in sources like these. Read the documented record.