Hi everybody ! I am a student at university, next year I'm looking to do a master in either American (USA) history or in British (+colinies/commonwealth nations). The masters I want to apply to require that before applying I need to have a subject of research or at least a broad idea of what interest me (in order to choose a subject). Obviously the subject I will choose must be interesting, precise and not too studied already (or with a new point of view).
So, I am looking for books, historical manuals and historical sources to help me choose a subject. I'd want to focus on the colonial era for the British Empire and do not have any preferences about American history.
Any help is welcome and if you have any questions about what I'm looking for pleas ask ! Thanks in advance for your helps.
If you're interested in the history of imperialism in general (including British colonialism), I'd recommend Eric Hobsbawm's famous trilogy on the "long 19th-century," The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, and The Age of Empire. His book on the "short 20th-century," The Age of Extremes, is also one of the definitive books on the topic (i.e. a general history of the world from 1914-1991).
As for American history (aside from the extensive mentions of it in the above books), the Oxford History of the United States (a multi-volume series by a number of high-profile historians) is a good place to start. Here's a list of volumes, broken down by the period they cover. Of course, you must also be aware of the potential bias at play; for instance, the rise of American capitalism (covered in the series by Daniel Walker Howe) is shown from a positive, pro-capitalist perspective, while other historians (such as Sellers and Wilentz) take a more skeptical (some would say populist) approach. This was laid out pretty well in an earlier post on this sub by u/Cosmic_Charlie.