What better time to talk about patriotism and what it's like to be an American than Independence Day? And no matter how you feel about events going on in the country right now, you know deep down you have love and a pride in the idea of America, what it is, and what it could be with some work. Here are books that epitomize American life throughout history, the good and the bad.

Discussed:

Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

There, There - Tommy Orange

Round House and The Sentence - Louise Erdrich

Flight - Sherman Alexie

Under the Banner of Heaven - Jon Krakauer

The Witches - Stacy Schiff

Five Days at Memorial - Sheri Fink

1776 - David McCullough

Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose

The Good Soldiers and Thank You For Your Service - David Finkel

War Dogs - Rebecca Frankel

Midnight Assassin - Skip Hollandsworth

The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule

Black Dahlia - James Ellroy

Devil in the White City - Erik Larson

I'll Be Gone In the Dark - Michelle McNamara

Missoula - Jon Krakauer

Beloved - Toni Morrison

Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys and Harlem Shuffle - Coleson Whitehead

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Hate You Give - Angie Thomas

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Twelve Years a Slave - Solomon Northup

I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika L. Sanchez

Ask a Mexican - Gustavo Arellano

The Devil's Highway - Luis Alberto Urrea

Operation Pedro Pan - Yvonne Conde

Hillbilly Elegy - JD Vance

Educated - Tara Westover

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

Malcom X, autobiography

Lost Continent and I'm a Stranger Here Myself and A Walk In the Woods - Bill Bryson

Book Woman of Troublesome Creek - Kim Michele Richardson

The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah

Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult

This Is Where It Ends - Marieke Nijkamp

Alex & Eliza - Melissa de la Cruz

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chobsky

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

The Crucible - Arthur Miller

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee