13 Books that Changed America

Yesterday I heard Jay Parini being interviewed on NPR about his latest book, The Promised Land: Thirteen Books that Changed America.

Here is the list of books chosen by Parini:

Of Plymouth Plantation (1620-1647) by William Bradford
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) by Hamilton, Madison and Jay
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1793)
The Journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1801-06)
Walden (1854) by Henry David Thoreau
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) by Mark Twain
The Souls of Black Folks (1903) by W.E.B. Du Bois
The Promised Land (1912) by Mary Antin
How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) by Dale Carnegie
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care (1946) by Dr. Benjamin Spock
On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac
The Feminine Mystique (1963) by Betty Friedan

I must admit that although I've heard of every book on the list, I haven't read them all in their entirety. I briefly considered reading them one by one during this new year, but that idea was soon discarded. I do think it's fun to consider what might have been included instead of these. For instance, I think the works of the muckrakers, as a group, were influential. If I had to choose one, it might be The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. What about Tom Paine's Common Sense? I would also include John Maynard Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, except that I notice the 13 listed books are all by Americans. Perhaps that's a requirement? Any ideas?