How the Other Half Lives. Jacob Riis
Business and Finance:
The Visible Hand:The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Alfred Chandler (1992)
Frederick Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management. Donald Nelson (1980)
Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist. Nick Salvatore (1982)
Samuel Gompers and Organized Labor in America. Harold C. Livsay (1993)
Race:
The Strange Career of Jim Crow. C. Vann Woodward. (1955)
Politics and War:
The Search for Order, 1877-1920. Robert Wiebe. (1967)
Rise to Globalism. Stephen Ambrose.
Gender:
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
Urbanization and Immigration:
The Uprooted. Oscar Handlin. 1955.
Guarding the Golden Door. Roger Daniels
A Different Mirror. Ronald Takaki.
Biography/Autobiography:
Martin Luther King
Malcolm X
Marilyn Monroe
Cesar Chavez
Professions:
This list is obviously a work in progress. Let me know if you have an idea that's not listed here. Good luck and happy reading!