Originally Posted by
Eldee5
Black Earth, The Holocaust as History and Warning, by Timothy D. Snyder. Very depressing but excellent.
or,
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard. Great synopsis of American immigration since the 1600s, American regional subcultures, and some of the reasons why we fight.
I'll second the American Nations book. Even pre-1965 Immigration reform, the amount of extremely diverse cultures that were/still are in the US are distinct and interesting. Definitely "why we fight", indeed.
(It's like Albion's Seed, only you don't have to take a year off to read it. )
For the depressing: "The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming" David Wallace-Wells. Want to know why a whole generation of kids feels like all hope is lost, read this book.