HISTORY 306: The United States Since 1945 (Summer 2020) : Secondary Sources

Library databases are generally the best places to look for high-quality, peer-reviewed sources. The content is created by scholars and the library has paid for you to have access to this research. 

• JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive

  JSTOR is a full-text journal database which provides access to more than 1,200 titles in many subjects. Coverage begins with volume one of each title and continues to within 3 to 5 years of the most current issue, depending on the title. The "moving wall" represents the time period between the last issue available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal; it is specified by publishers in their license agreements with JSTOR. In the Advanced Search, use Journal Filter to limit your search to journals in a subject area (e.g., History).

The following sources are good quality and on the open web - meaning anyone can access them with no charge. While there is a lot of good content out there for free, there is also a lot that is questionable or just plain false. That's why, especially when using open web sources, you should always carefully evaluate your information sources. 

• Process: a blog for American history

  the blog of the Organization of American Historians, The Journal of American History, and The American Historian—strives to engage professional historians and general readers in a better understanding of U.S. history.
   
• The American Yawp

  A free, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.

Do you need a very concise overview of part of American History? Try this:
American History: a Very Short Introduction
by Paul S. Boyer

Find other "very short introductions" in the UW-Madison Libraries catalog.

Journal of American History

Published four times a year by the Organization of American Historians (OAH), the JAH is the leading scholarly publication and the journal of record in American history. Issues from 1964-2018 are available through library databases. Most recent one year is not available online in full text. For these issues, access them in print at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.