History Recommendations?

The post below brings up an issue (non-comedic) that I think is worthy of some discussion. Lord knows this is hardly the first time it has been done.

I love history, though hardly a professional, History is perhaps the most approachable of all social sciences for the enthusiastic amatuer. For me I've always loved the forgotten underdogs of history (be they William Jennings Bryan, Jean Juares what have you) or the simply unappreciated.

It seems strange to say that George Washington of all people is unappreciated, but he has been ill-served by time and hagiography to the point where he is less flesh and blood than calcified monument. But the "real" George Washington was more than just "the father of his country" or "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen". Rather, in Washington we see such greatness that the blemishes should be examined and he can withstand them.

Washington for example, would he able to communicate with the present, would almost surely say he regretted slavery then, and certainly regrets the lack of effort the founders took on the issue for political expediency. Washington came to detest it and was the only Southern founder to actually put his feelings into practice when he freed slaves both at the time his presidency ended at upon his death, and then upon his wife's death. He would, however, also agree that this was not enough and he made a mistake.

There are periods that I am more familiar with than others. I'm fairly comfortable with my grasp of my own nation's history (though I can always be better), but here are some books that come to mind that I have loved concerning it...chronologically:

Here are some, off the top Historians (I'll limit it to American, though you need not) and Books that I heartily recommend, just a few, hardly exhaustive at all, and it is limited ONLY to books I've read.

-- Joseph Ellis's book on Washington is terrific, as is Thomas Flexners.
-- Read anything by Forrest MacDonald, perhaps the most entertaining writer there is on Revolutionary History.
-- Richard Hofstadter's, The American Political Tradition remains a terrific work
-- David McCullough's, John Adams is a terrific book.

Moving along in American History:

-- Read all the Robert Remini you can get your hands on, be it: his works on Andrew Jackson (especially the 3-Volume Biography)
-- Merrill Peterson's "The Great Triumvirate" (bio of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun)
-- Arthur Schlesinger's "The Age of Jackson" remains a great work.

Civil War

-- There are a great number of Lincoln bios, but Donald Herbert Donald's is the best.
-- Gore Vidal's Lincoln is IMO his best written and most accurate historical work.

Late 19th Century:

-- Campbell & Steele's, The Human Tradition in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
-- Devil in the White City, by Erik Larsen
-- Roy Morris, Fraud of the Century : Rutherford B. Hayes, Samuel Tilden, and the Stolen Election of 1876

Reform Age:

-- Edmund Morris' two Roosevelt Books (so far), The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex (hard to believe same guy wrote awful Reagan Bio)
-- Robert Cherney's William Jennings Bryan bio, "The Righteous Cause"
-- J. Anthony Lucas' "Big Trouble"

WWI Era:

-- Margaret McMillian's "Paris 1919 : Six Months That Changed the World"
-- John Judis, The Folly of Empire : What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson

Well, that's enough, I'll just lop off the next 80 years...except to say...

-- James McGregor Burns, Roosevelt, The Lion and the Fox, wonderful
-- Robert Caro's "LBJ" series is phenomenal
-- Merrill Miller's "Ike the Soldier" is terrific
-- Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound (Props to commenter Mary for reminding me)
-- Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters
So many others, but time presses.

Your thoughts and recommendations?