Personally, I would recommend reading as many books as possible rather than looking for one "perfect" book. And if you want to avoid any controversy at all, I wouldn't bother. You'll end up with something as boring as a high school textbook: bland, flavorless, and a complete waste of time. (Which reminds me of my favorite pet peeve as a history major: the idiotic phrase "revisionist history". If the book doesn't offer any new relevations, hence 'revising' prior thinking, what the fuck was the point of doing the research and writing the damned thing?)
That said, the only American history overview on my shelf is Zinn. But most of my history books are more limited in scope.