Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Jon Parrish Peede, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities:

Home Country by Ernie Pyle. “This book is a collection of [Pyle’s] stunning newspaper columns as he traveled America from 1935-1940, published after he was killed in action in World War II,” says Peede. “It’s better than Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, in my opinion.”

Patriotic Picks is a monthly feature in partnership with the Washington Independent Review of Books.