Hello!

I am a community-college freshman who had an eye opening experience in my history class last year. I've come to terms with the fact I am absolutely my father's son and want to become an American history and sociology geek.  I only just started recreationally reading this year, so I'm not the strongest reader, and the sheer amount of literature on the topics I am interested in is quite intimidating. So my plan is to just give y'all a list of things I am interested in learning about and anyone who has a good, somewhat easy-to-read recommendation lmk! Think of this as an opportunity to flex you literary muscles lol. Also, the more contemporary the author the better

Books I already plan on reading: People's History Of The US, The New Jim Crowe, Dark Money, The Debt Trap, The Big Short, and I want to read some Rick Perlstein but can I read only Nixonland and Reaganland or should I read Invisible Bridge too?

Note: I have an admittedly shallow understanding on most political topics, but from everything I've learned I know that I am pretty far to the left/progressive/liberal side of the spectrum

PRESIDENTS:

When it comes to American History, I'm really not jazzed about much before the civil war

James Buchanan and/or Andrew Johnson: I know Lincoln is awesome, but my teachers have made it clear that the presidents that came before and after him made his life significantly harder. I want to learn about the politics that started the Civil War and how Buchanans inaction led to it, and how Andrew Johnson basically sabotaged reconstruction

JFK: There's a narrative about how he had a lot of soft power in the house parties and such in Washington, DC, I'm interested in how that influenced his politics

Tricky Dick Nixon: I wrote a paper in that history class about how Nixon's paranoia and leadership inadvertently led to Watergate, and it led me to both hate and be fascinated by the man. I will gobble up anything you have that accentuates the absurdity of Nixon and his administration

Ronald Reagan: I'm one of those Gen-Z kids who has been socialized into believing a staggering amount of the nation's current issues stem from Reagan-era conservatism, and while I know it's hyperbolic, I am definitely inclined to believe it. Would love love looooove books about how his evangelical, boot straps philosophy and politics furthered the inequality we see today

Bill Clinton: I'm less concerned with him as a politician (although I'm interested in how he navigated Reagan conservatism while being on the more "progressive" party) as I am with how his affair/womanizing scandals affected how the US views sex scandals and sex's place in media

George W. Bush/Dick Cheney: I'm inclined to believe W was a bit of a dolt who was convinced into overreacting to 9/11 and destabilizing an entire region for their own interests. The man lied about WMDs in Iraq, there has to be some dubious politicking going on there. Watched the movie Vice and was fascinated but Adam McKay always comes off as kinda pretentious

Barack Obama: I have heard narratives of Mitch McConnell's GOP not allowing ANY of Obama's policies through, which made it impossible for Obama to get a lot done on the domestic front. How true is this? What the hell is Obamacare and why did/didn't it work? Just want to understand what happened in Obama's tenure

Trump: I am fundamentally opposed to Trump as a politician and tbh as a human, but am endlessly fascinated by what his ascent represents for our country. I know it's incredibly hard to find literature on him that isn't marked with bias to the point of invalidating the work, but I really really want to learn about a few very specific things; What is the point by point timeline of his presidency, what effect did his presidency have economically and how are we still feeling that, how did his 2016 campaign change politics. Trump feels like the culmination of a lot of aspects of conservative American politics, but I want to know what it's the culmination of.

FBI and Civil Rights: Not a president obv, but from my limited knowledge, it appears to me that the FBI assassinated Fred Hampton, MLK, Malcolm X, and I'm sure more in the Civil Rights movement. That's incomprehensible to me. A book specifically about the FBI's role in the Civil Rights movement would have me locked in

SOCIAL ISSUES:

Wealth Inequality: I'm of the mindset that so much of our countries dysfunctions, in both urban and rural America, have wealth inequality at the heart. I want to know it's mechanics, where it comes from, how politics keeps people from getting things done, what are potential solutions? I would very very much like to learn about what Reaganomics aka Trickle Down Economics aka Libertarianism is and why it doesn't work.

Climate Change: Need to bite the bullet and finally understand why our planet might be doomed. What are legislative actions being taken to help? What can I do to help?

Conservatism/MAGA: I personally don't understand how an entirely political party based on keeping America the same/reverting to old traditions his healthy for America. All of this anti-trans, book banning, anti-intellectualism stuff scares me and I want to understand it. I know it comes from fear, but I need to know where that fear comes from and how I can talk to conservatives about these things. As a psych student, a psychological approach to these things would be cool too!

Gun Control: I'm so scared of school shootings. I want to understand the psyche of hardline gun defenders, how the NRA lobbies to stop gun regulation and gun violence research, and the other countries (like Australia) who have successfully administered gun control and are better off for it

College Is A Scam: Speaks for itself. Need books that explain to me how tuition debt has gotten so out of control.

Fiction

If you have any fiction recommendations that play on the absurdity of any of these things would love to hear it! Stuff like the movies Dog Day Afternoon, Network, In The Loop, or like the shows Succession and Veep are my absolute jam.

Really this post is a young man who is scared of the world I'm being raised, and even more scared of becoming entirely cynical about it. I want and need to understand these things that make my life worse and so many other people's lives unlivable. I want to be proud of my country, I know it can get better, but I just want to understand the problem on a fundamental level before anything else.