Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here are three such titles, suggested by David Bruce Smith, founder of the Grateful American™ Foundation:

• The Winds of War: A Novel by Herman Wouk. This sweeping narrative — along with its sequel, War and Remembrance — chronicles the trauma, glory, and sacrifice experienced by one American family during and after WWII.
• The Joy Luck Club: A Novel by Amy Tan. The author’s warm, witty debut tells the story of four Chinese immigrant women and their complex, sometimes fraught relationships with their American-born daughters.
• Watergate: A Novel by Thomas Mallon. Although set in the 1970s, this darkly comic, fictionalized account of the Nixon debacle — and some of the major and minor players caught up in it — feels positively timely.

Each year, the Grateful American™ Foundation, through its Book Prize, honors excellence in children’s historical nonfiction and fiction focused on the people and events that have shaped the U.S. since its birth. This year’s recipient is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor for The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor. To learn more about the prize or to nominate a title for 2020, click here.