If you'll be allowed to fit in labor history, look into Rosalie Sorrells' piece "Aunt Molly Jackson Defines Folk Music Once and for All". I'm at work, so I can't tell you which CD it's on. On the same subject, look into the works of U Utah Phillips. For how war can change a soldier, and for how hard it is to live your principles afterward, look into his first CD collaboration with Ani DiFranco. For World War II, don't overlook Bill Mauldin's book Up Fron. It's the war from the enlisted man's point of view. His political cartoons from then to now (as well as other artists) can give more insight in less time to an incident than the textbook.