I agree with Ken Burns docs if you just want straight facts and timelines.

If you want to read about a snippet of early US...I recommend reading about the Salem witch trials. It really explains a lot about the US. Has to do with greed, mass hysteria and religion. I personally found visiting there to be more educational, but there are many books about it and docs.

But before you read that, I recommend Fantasyland How America went Haywire a 500 hundred year history. It's really a thesis, but I think very interesting and personally I believe it explains a lot about why America is the way it is today.