How would a poet present a history of the United States? It would come close to this book: The Poets Laureate Anthology [2]. In it you'll learn what it means to be one and find verses written by the U.S. poets laureate from the last 75 years.
Links:
[1] http://hcpl.net/users/angel-hill
[2] http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&aspect=subtab13&term=poets%20laureate%20anthology%20schmidt&index=.GH#focus
[3] http://hcpl.net/taxonomy/term/34
[4] http://hcpl.net/category/tags/poetry
[5] http://hcpl.net/category/tags/united-states