The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto

The pilgrims on the Mayflower weren't the only Europeans to colonize America.  This book tells the story of the Dutch Immigrants who made New Amsterdam, now New York, right from the start, a multi-cultural center of commerce, full of fast-talking rights-minded citizens.  Though much of this story is only recently unearthed, based on an ongoing translation, still underway, of 12,000 pages of records of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, it should still be on the shortlist of essential books for anyone who wants to understand U.S. History.  For your money, you'll be introduced to some new founding fathers, like Adriaen van der Donck, and learn the origin of cookies.  What could be more American than that?