"Cartoon History of the United States" by Larry Gonick, like all the cartoon history series, is an absolutely excellent quick high-level overview.

Other people mentioned "A People's History of the United States." Honestly, I would recommend it. It's not really "anti-American," per se, but it's definitely anti-government. Anti-government is extremely American, in terms of our culture. Also, a lot of the history of this country is painful, ugly, or crooked, and while the book does present one specific perspective on it, which honestly just might not be relevant or interesting to someone from outside, it's a pretty vital perspective. Also "Lies my Teacher Told Me."

Personally, I very much like deep dives into the living color detail of particular times in history. "Team of Rivals" gives an excellent picture of the flavor of the culture and government at the time of the civil war. "Patriots" is for the Vietnam War. Likewise "Carrying the Fire" for the space program, "Liar's Poker" for Wall Street and the new financial world, and "Playing with Fire" for the politics of the 1960s. For the early 20th century, WW2, and and the revolution, I honestly can't think of ones that suit in the same way, but that's what I would do if I really wanted to get a deeper look and understand it more, and some random samples of particular points.

Hope this is useful.

Edit: Also, the Hardcore History podcast with Dan Carlin. I haven't listened to all that much, but what I tried was great.