Favorite History Books

[Vir0n]

I'm always looking for good history books. What are some of your favorite history book and why? I'm not looking for a list of the most scholarly or influential books, just books people really enjoyed reading.

I recently read Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer. The author is a journalist and the book is intended for a wide general audience. While some complain that the book has a liberal bias, I found it to be simply a fun and thought provoking read. Another good one along the same theme is The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks. Good stuff.

[Belisarius]

I like books that challenge the accepted norm or consensus view. Some can be so "out there" as to be worthless, but are entertaining reads nevertheless.
I'm currently reading "Through German eyes: The British and the Somme 1916" by Christopher Duffy, which examines the German perspective of their British enemy based on interogation reports of "just captured" prisoners. Very enlightening

[Commander]

I'm still working on 1776 by David McCullough

[Vir0n]

I'm still working on 1776 by David McCullough

That's one of my recent favorites. I thought it was very well written and quite enjoyable.

[MrStoff1989]

A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn.

[Vir0n]

A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn.

Another one of my favorites. This was the first book that really challenged much of what I learned about American history in school.

[MrStoff1989]

Yea, it made me feel so unknowledgeable, then i read it and gained it back.

[Mridula]

A really good one - about India - Discovery of India, by Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister.
Worth a read, he puts a lot of things into perspective and makes Indian history so much easier to understand

[Dr Realism]

My all time favorites are "Rise And Fall Of The Great Powers" and "Rise and Fall of The Third Reich."

[Nikd]

The History of the Byzantine state - Ostrogorsky

[Nick]

The Hanging Tree by Vic Gattrell

[Cunedda]

-Napoleon Bonaparte by Alan Schom. Ive read this book four times. Truly a good read if you are a fan of the Emperor of the French!

-Europe - A History by Norman Davies.
I have read this 1200 page laviathin three times already.

-The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan talks about the bloody war between Sparta and Athens for the domination of ancient Greece.

-Blenheim by Charles Spencer, looks into one of the greatest English victories over the unstoppable French during the reign of Louis XIV.

-Plus anything by Tom Holland - "Rubicon", Which is about the final century of the Roman Republic and "Persian Fire" which is about the Greeco-Persian War.

Plus I have been tring to get around and read 1776, it looks like a good book.

[Lee Cookies Oswald]

some of my favorite history books are "stalingrad" and "The Fall of Berlin" both by antony beevor.

[gashead]

there was one i read but i cant remember its name. it was quite old something like

the rise and fall of nazi germany ?

fantastic read

[Cunedda]

there was one i read but i cant remember its name. it was quite old something like

the rise and fall of nazi germany ?

fantastic read

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich?

[gashead]

there was one i read but i cant remember its name. it was quite old something like

the rise and fall of nazi germany ?

fantastic read

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich?

yea thats it :D

[state-of-the-art]

My AP World History textbook.
I was hoping I could get some book suggestions.

[Lucius]

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

[state-of-the-art]

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Yesssss!
My history teacher showed us a video based on that book.
I was so stoaked on it.
I've been meaning to get it.
Novel idea that geography and the resources associated with it had been solely responsible for Eurasian hegemony, rather than intellect and moral superiority.

[Lord_Cronus]

I've actually taken a break from history books for a change. I finally got a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guid to the Galaxy with all five books in one and I basically have to force myself to stop reading so I can go to class, or sleep for that matter. Believe it or not, if I remember right, I've only managed to read one book cover to cover. And that was George Orwell's Animal Farm. This will more than likely be the second, and longest mind you. I have a shelf fool of books, but they are mainly for references on different events, it'd take me half a year to get throught them all, that's why I don't read them all the way through.

[state-of-the-art]

Animal Farm? I heard that was good. It's required reading for freshman's this year.

[Lord_Cronus]

It is good. I think I'm going to pick up a copy to keep around here.

[heikstheo]

I recently decided to try to see if I could read Adolph Hitler's _Mein Kampf_, just to see if it would provide the key to understanding Hitler's psychology. I couldn't keep reading (it just made me sick) after seeing how disgustingly easily Hitler fell for all the anti-Semitic propoganda that was so prevalent when he was a young man in Weimar Germany.

[state-of-the-art]

I recently decided to try to see if I could read Adolph Hitler's _Mein Kampf_, just to see if it would provide the key to understanding Hitler's psychology. I couldn't keep reading (it just made me sick) after seeing how disgustingly easily Hitler fell for all the anti-Semitic propoganda that was so prevalent when he was a young man in Weimar Germany.

Oh my goodness, yeah. My history teacher gave us an excerpt to read and answer questions from Mein Kampf, i read it just this morning and it seriously pained me. I read the part where he talked about how the subjugation of "inferior" peoples only made it possible to improve mankind, and how Jewish people "destroyed" culture by their self-preservation and therefore must be destroyed as well. Oh geeez. It was horrible, and to think you tried out the whole thing. I couldn't even handle the excerpt.

[state-of-the-art]

ps- Some book suggestions would do me some good.
I really appreciate it.

[PADDYBOY]

Oh my goodness, yeah. My history teacher gave us an excerpt to read and answer questions from Mein Kampf, i read it just this morning and it seriously pained me. I read the part where he talked about how the subjugation of "inferior" peoples only made it possible to improve mankind, and how Jewish people "destroyed" culture by their self-preservation and therefore must be destroyed as well. Oh geeez. It was horrible, and to think you tried out the whole thing. I couldn't even handle the excerpt.


Alpha males are tough-stuff

[state-of-the-art]

Alpha males are tough-stuff

ahah, yeah. i mean i could handle it, but i don't exactly prefer reading about that sort of thing. it fills me with hate, a feeling i don't prefer to have, either.

[PADDYBOY]

ahah, yeah. i mean i could handle it, but i don't exactly prefer reading about that sort of thing. it fills me with hate, a feeling i don't prefer to have, either.


Just kidding, I laughed at your post ;)

[Jubelu]

I think I read many, among of them I can generally divide into two catagories:

+ Analytical Style: These books try to exploit many views from different angle and give you wide vision on one or more particular historical events or period

+ Narrative Style: Usually these books give you wide information but more narrow scopes than the first category. It is likely that they support their main idea through quotes, or even whole documents of characters, eye-witnesses who lived at the time of those mentioned events or periods. I personally they are best for past through AP exam in USA :D , while the first category is for essay :D (I have never taken them, but did surf through)

My favourite one is: America: A narrative history, Essays on American Colonial History, Soviet Union: Half of century of Communist regime, 1815: The fate of Europe (E-book), ...:D

[Edgewaters]

My favourite history book of all time is Bernal Diaz' firsthand account of his campaigning, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico.

[Lucius]

The Penguin Atlas series by Colin McEvedy (Ancient, Medieval, Modern, Recent, North America) is a very good overview. No details, no bibliography, but very good for what it is.

McEvedy's prose is straightforward and clear.

[heikstheo]

ps- Some book suggestions would do me some good.
I really appreciate it.What area of history do you like the best? Define it as narrowly as possible.

[Melisende]

My favourite history book and my first history book, is a second hand 1960 book "Castles and Battles".

Still got it, still love it - still got the "old book" smell.

[FIRE STORM]

The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan

[southernlady]

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley and Ron Powers
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
Faith of My Fathers by John McCain
The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson
A Vietnam Experience: Ten Years of Reflection by James Stockdale
Truman by David McCullough

Liz

[jimmowatt]

I think my favourite if defined in terms of a ripping good yarn is 'Rubicon' by Tom Holland. It sums up Caesars moment when he crosses the Rubicon quite brilliantly and the whole story just keeps propelling you onwards.
Also, Churchill's 'History of the English Speaking Peoples' is extremely readable. It's not an absolutely complete history but it does give a fine overview of British history and is a delightfully pleasant read.

[cherchezlafemme]

I can read and re-read The Uncle of Europe: The Social and Diplomatic Life of Edward VII by Gordon Brook-Shepherd.

[Lucius]

Millennium, and Civilizations, both by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

[leftovers]

My favourite history book of all time is Bernal Diaz' firsthand account of his campaigning, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico.

That was quite a good book, though I read the Penguin's classic version under the title of "The Conquest of New Spain." Not sure what, if any, differences there are between the two versions.

[Melisende]

Runciman's "Crusades"

[Ranke]

Hi Melisende,
I am currently reading Christopher Tyerman's God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Have you read it? Would be good to compare with Runciman.
John

[Melisende]

John - we are reading the same book!!!! I am on page 430.

Comparison with Runciman - so far, based solely on what I have read of Tyerman, Runciman seemed more focused on the Crusades in the Holy Land, whilst Tyerman has undertaken a mammoth task by encompassing all Crusades, wherever they may have occurred.

What are your thoughts so far on Tyerman??

[Ranke]

Hi there,
I find it a dense read, one that requires careful attention. This is actually my second attempt, and must confess that I'm not confident that I will finish it. Its documentation of the militancy and violence of Christianity seems quite relevant in today's climate of fear. I am not a medievalist and have not read Runciman, but I am interested in medieval Jewry, hence my interest in the Crusades. I am making much better progress with Robert Chazan's The Jews of Medieval Western Christiandom, even if it doesn't seem to be as well written.
Cheers,
John

[Melisende]

Thank goodness - I thought it was just me!

Its taken me three weeks to get this far - and I think it will take even longer to finish. I've had to go back and re-read a few times.

To be honest, Runciman got it right by putting his "history" into three volumes - I think one giant volume is rather ambitious and there are times when I get a little lost in the rhetoric.

Read Runciman if you can - its more straight forward.

[Pantagruel]

Melisende and Ranke,

I've read a few general histories of the Crusades, namely those by J. Riley-Smith, Hans Eberhard Mayer and Thomas Madden. Have you guys read any of these, and if so do you think the Runciman and Tyerman volumes are worth my time?

[Melisende]

I am biased towards Runciman - he was my first real introduction into the Crusades - many claim that some of his work is outdated but that's just the natural progression of historical studies, in my lowly opinion.

I have read Asbridge and Philips (the two new darlings of the crusades) - both are good; Madden also; Riley-Smith and Edbury are must reads, and David Nicol (sp - Nicholl) is also a decent read (though more military / warfare than history). I have yet to get my hands on Mayer.

I am still plodding through Tyerman (up to the Fourth Crusade) - but will eventually finish it.

Where possible, I try to read anything and everything written on the Crusades - it helps you to form your own overall view. Sometimes, little bits are left out or added.

I believe there is a fairly decent history on the Crusades online by one Skip Knox (I will endeavour to find a link for it).

If you are unsure, try and locate a copy via a library - most should carry Runciman - my version of Tyerman is "borrowed" and up for "renewal" in a week. If I really enjoy a book, I'll buy it - but where possible I borrow - saves a lot of money if you really hate the book or if its a dud (and my bookcases are already weighted down with too many unread tomes).

[Pantagruel]

I have read Asbridge and Philips (the two new darlings of the crusades) - both are good; Madden also; Riley-Smith and Edbury are must reads, and David Nicol (sp - Nicholl) is also a decent read (though more military / warfare than history). I have yet to get my hands on Mayer.

Do you have the name of the Nicol book? Military history fascinates me.

I'm going through some of my stuff on the Enlightenment and the French Revolution right now; maybe after that I'll take a look at Runciman.

[Melisende]

Helps if I spell his name correctly - David Nicolle ...

"God's Warriors: Knights Templar, Saracens, and the Battle for Jerusalem" (I liked)
"Saladin and Saracens:Armies of the Middle East 1100 - 1300" (haven't read)
"The Crusades" (I thought was good)
"The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles" - with Christopher Gravett (I like)
"The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman Conquest of Byzantium" (I thought was good)


He has written a stack of other books encompassing other military era and battles, etc.

[Pantagruel]

Thanks for the info Melisende, I looked him up on amazon and it seems that he has a couple of new books on the military history of the Crusades (both published last year). In case you're interested, the titles are as follows:

Crusader Warfare: Byzantium, Western Europe and the Struggle for the Holy Land 1050-1300 AD

Crusader Warfare: Muslims, Mongols and the Struggle Against the Crusades 1050-1300 AD

[Melisende]

Pantagruel,

Many thanks for the update on the new titles.

[InfestedPortrait]

My personal favorites are both by Charles A. Cerami Young Patriots and Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's. Both books are fantastic, if you're interested in Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson.

[avon]

My favourites:
Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Stalin: At the Court of the Red Tsar'.
Malcolm X, 'Autobiography'. This man is so difficult to work out; you like him, then you don't; you respect him, then you don't; then you admire the straight-forward simplicity of his argument and the sheer depth of his courage.
Victor Klemperer, 'Diaries'. Again, his humanity is on every page.

[historian]

Have to agree about Victor Klemperer, Diaries the bombing of Dresden apparently saved his life or we would not have such a detailed account of both forms of dictatorship.

Something everyone should read.

[Princesse Borghèse]

I love all books of the historians Mr.Decaux and Mr.Castelot.

[Trajan]

The Tuetonic Knights-by William Urban,possibly the best book on the Northern Crusades,he has written a book medieval mercenaries that I cant wait to dig into.

[RedBanjo]

I have a small list:

A People's Tragedy, by Orlando Figes
Berlin The Downfall 1945, by Beevor
Arnhem 1944, by William Buckingham

Does anyone have any recommendations for books on Ancient history?? I seem to favour modern history for some reason :p

[Kris]

I'm always looking for good history books. What are some of your favorite history book and why? I'm not looking for a list of the most scholarly or influential books, just books people really enjoyed reading.

I recently read Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer. The author is a journalist and the book is intended for a wide general audience. While some complain that the book has a liberal bias, I found it to be simply a fun and thought provoking read. Another good one along the same theme is The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks. Good stuff.

I enjoyed Overthrow immensely. I'd recommend All the Shah's Men, which is Kinzer's book on Operation Ajax, the operation which deposed Iran's Mohammad Mossadeq.

Anyway, I have quiet a few favorites so I'm not going to be able to detail them, unless someone asks about any in particular.

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes

The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by Anthony Beevor

Mussolini: A Biography by Jasper Ridley

Nixon & Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek

Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon-Sebag Monefiore

The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens

Young Stalin by Simon-Sebag Montefiore

[laura]

I enjoyed Overthrow immensely. I'd recommend All the Shah's Men, which is Kinzer's book on Operation Ajax, the operation which deposed Iran's Mohammad Mossadeq.

Anyway, I have quiet a few favorites so I'm not going to be able to detail them, unless someone asks about any in particular.

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes

The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by Anthony Beevor

Mussolini: A Biography by Jasper Ridley

Nixon & Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek

Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon-Sebag Monefiore

The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens

Young Stalin by Simon-Sebag Montefiore

you have good taste.:) have you read any of these?:

Stalin by Isaac Deutscher

Mussolini by RJB Bosworth

The Last Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky

Death of a Generation by somebody Jones (can't remember forename!)

[Kris]

you have good taste.:) have you read any of these?:

Stalin by Isaac Deutscher

Mussolini by RJB Bosworth

The Last Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky

Death of a Generation by somebody Jones (can't remember forename!)

Thanks!

Unfortunately I haven't read any of these but I do own The Last Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky and have Isaac Deutscher's series of biographies of Trotsky.

[avon]

I've read Isaac Deutscher's Stalin but not the 3 volume biography of Trotsky. Bosworth's bio/study of Mussolini is probably the best one I've read of the Duce. :)

[smellincoffee]

A few of my personal favourites:
- Good Life in Hard Times: San Francisco's Twenties and Thirties, Jerry Flamm
- A World Lit Only By Fire, William Manchester
- Only Yesterday: an Informal History of the 1920s, Frederick Lewis-Allen.
- The Influence of Air Power Upon History, Walter Boyne

[Mad Hatter]

Good topic, I have so many favorites, it would blow up the board. :)

My particular choice:

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex) by Stefan Aust
It’s about the “ Red Army Faction” or “RAF”- terrorists, and it chronicles the characters and actions of the group and conciliates background knowledge.

Englands Königinnen (Queens of England) by Marita A. Panzer
Absorbing and enthralling although it presents the facts.

An der Hand meiner Schwester. Zwei Mädchen im Kriegszerstörten Deutschland (Little Girl lost) by Bärbel Probert-Wright
In 1945, seven-year-old Barbie and her sister Eva were trapped, terrified, in war-torn Germany. With their father missing, and hundreds of miles from their mother, news of the approaching army left them confronted with an impossible choice: to face invasion, or to flee on foot. Eva, aged 19, was determined to find her mother. For Barbie, 12 years younger, the journey was to be more perilous but, spurred on by her sister’s courage and her desperate desire to be reunited with her mother, she joined Eva on a journey no child should ever have to endure. Over three hundred miles across a country ravaged by a terrible war, they encountered unimaginable hardship, extraordinary courage and overwhelming generosity. Against all the odds, they survived. But neither sister came out of the journey unscathed.
This book doesn't provide you with politics or a story of the war with details of events, it shows another point of view.

Bis zur letzten Stunde (Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary) by Traudl Junge + Melissa Müller
The movie "The Downfall" is based in large part on this memoirs.

Die preußischen Königinnen (The Queens of Prussia) by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer

Die Deutschen Kaiserinnen 1871-1918 (The empresses of Germany 1871-1918) by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer

Der Nürnberger Prozeß (The Nuremberg Trial) by Joe J. Heydecker + Johannes Leeb

Die Frauen der Nazis I-III (The women of the Nazis I-III) by Anna Maria Siegmund

Denn Du trägst meinen Namen. Das schwere Erbe der prominenten Nazi-Kinder. (My Father's Keeper: Children of Nazi Leaders-An Intimate History of Damage and Denial) by Norbert Lebert + Stephan Lebert

Apollo 11. Der erste Flug zum Mond (Apollo 11. The first flight to the moon) by Helmut Dette

Die ersten Deutschen. Über das rätselhafte Volk der Germanen. (The first Germans. About the mysterious folk of the Teutons) by Siegfried Fischer-Fabian

Die Kreuzzüge (The crusades) by Peter Thorau

[KevinRuan]

A global history: from prehistory to the 21st century

Maybe outdated?:D

I found it some years ago, and have read it many times.
(It's....eh, not in English...)

[Son of Cathal]

"The Great War" by Les Carlyon. Follows Australia's involvement on the Western Front but also comments on the political situation in Australia as well as what was happening elsewhere that affected the war. I recommend it to everybody

[Pedro]

Varsi's - Lives of the Painters.
Canaday's - Lives of the Painters.
Hauser - Historia Social de la Litertura y el Arte
Richardson - Life of Picasso (3 vols. more to come.) Will in time be one of the great biographies of all time. Right up there with Boswell's Johnson. Literature and scholarship combined.
Lucie-Smith - Latin American Art
Miller - Art of Mesoamerica
Miller - Art of the Andes

[Pantagruel]

Varsi's - Lives of the Painters.
Canaday's - Lives of the Painters.
Hauser - Historia Social de la Litertura y el Arte
Richardson - Life of Picasso (3 vols. more to come.) Will in time be one of the great biographies of all time. Right up there with Boswell's Johnson. Literature and scholarship combined.
Lucie-Smith - Latin American Art
Miller - Art of Mesoamerica
Miller - Art of the Andes

I'm sensing a theme here, can't quite put my finger on it...

[avon]

I'm sensing a theme here, can't quite put my finger on it...

... best just brushing it off!!


Other favourites would include Voltaire A History of Charles XII (a delight to read) and Howard Zinn A People's History of the United States.

[Pedro]

I'm sensing a theme here, can't quite put my finger on it...
:D:D:D

[Rosicrucian]

Off the top of my head (and in no particular order):

'A short history of nearly everything' by Bill Bryson.

'Big Bang' by Simon Singh.

'The Ancestor's Tale - A pilgrimage to the dawn of life' by Richard Dawkins.

[Michel Ney]

My favourite history books are Hobsbawm's age of the revolutions, age of the empires and age of the capital*. Plus Thucidides' history of the Pelloponisian war.
*I'm not sure about the titles as I've read their greek translations.

[Gary]

My favourite history book is The Common Stream. By Rowland Parker, 1975. I would not think that any one hear has heard of it, Parker was an amateur historian who from 1946 lived in the Cambridgeshire village of Foxton and he decided to write a history of the village from earliest times up to the First World War. The common stream denotes the small river that runs through the village, which was why the village was built where it is, and the common stream of humanity that flowed threw the village over the centuries. There are no famous names in the book, no battles, and only the barest references to wars and the counties great and good. It is about the little people of England and how they lived their lives and how their lives changed over the centuries. It’s my favourite history book becourse it was the book that made me aware of the very rich social history of the British Isles.

[avon]

My favourite history books are Hobsbawm's age of the revolutions, age of the empires and age of the capital*. Plus Thucidides' history of the Pelloponisian war.
*I'm not sure about the titles as I've read their greek translations.

Have you read Hobsbaum's Age of Extremes ??

[Michel Ney]

Have you read Hobsbaum's Age of Extremes ??

Not yet,but I'm definitelly going to, even though I 've heard it's a little bit hard.
Have you read it?

[avon]

Not yet,but I'm definitelly going to, even though I 've heard it's a little bit hard.
Have you read it?

Yes, it's not too bad a read. If you like a good strong account from the left, its definitely the book of choice. Hobsbawm argues somewhere along the line that the twentieth-century world in which democratic capitalism has won is actually at the precipice of a profound crisis and then carries on to attribute that crisis entirely and predicably to the crimes and excesses of capitalism. Bear this in mind and the account is worthy of its numerous accolades. :)

[Michel Ney]

Hobsbawm argues somewhere along the line that the twentieth-century world in which democratic capitalism has won is actually at the precipice of a profound crisis and then carries on to attribute that crisis entirely and predicably to the crimes and excesses of capitalism. Bear this in mind and the account is worthy of its numerous accolades. :)

That's an idea originally developped by Marx and Engels at the "Manifest of the Comunist Party"(I read it after the Age of Revolutions). I think Hobsbawm was a Marxist, but had some different opinions from the other Marxists of his era.

[avon]

That's an idea originally developped by Marx and Engels at the "Manifest of the Comunist Party"(I read it after the Age of Revolutions). I think Hobsbawm was a Marxist, but had some different opinions from the other Marxists of his era.


A Marxist indeed. Different perspective from Marx and Engels, like almost all Marxists, certainly.

:)

[VM1138]

There are so many good ones. A few of my favorites:

1776 by David McCulloch: I think this should be recommended to anyone who is just starting to get into history. It flows extremely well and reads almost like a novel, yet the facts are all there and McCulloch really recreates the environment the Founders lived in. My favorite all-time history book.

Cicero by Anthony Everitt: Another well written work that flows. Cicero is one of the most fascinating characters in Ancient history.

Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson: Greatest work on the Civil War I've ever read.

Man, there are just so many...

[tjadams]

I think I've answered this, somewhere, but, not matter, its about books:
In no order of rank:

Santa Anna of Mexico by Will Fowler
Napoleon-The Path to Power by Philip Dwyer
The Road to Monticello-The Life & Mind of Thomas Jefferson by Kevin J. Haynes
John Adams by David McCullough

[Pedro]

... the twentieth-century world in which democratic capitalism has won is actually at the precipice of a profound crisis and then carries on ...... crisis entirely and predictably to the crimes and excesses of capitalism.

Isn't that how books are sold, by predicting the eminent end of the world? This is new??



Have not read the guy so I'm working in the dark here.

[ttanner]

The Few - Alex Kershaw - The story of the hand full of Americans who flew in the Battle of Britain.
1776 - David McCullough - A great intro into the War for Independence!
Fighting the Flying Circus - Edward Rickenbacker - His Memoirs of flying in WW1.

[avon]

Isn't that how books are sold, by predicting the eminent end of the world? This is new??



Have not read the guy so I'm working in the dark here.

You've never read Hobsbawm ?? Your not necessarily missing that much - don't rush out to the bookstore!!

[Sandberg]

The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden was a very good read. The historical innacuracies are commented at the end of the book by the author, so you won't walk away with any misconceptions regarding what actually happened to Julius Cæsar during his early years.

[Pedro]

You've never read Hobsbawm ?? Your not necessarily missing that much - don't rush out to the bookstore!!

I'll wait for the free e-book.

[Centre]

Iron Coffins by Herbert Werner and Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer are both excellent books. Growing up in America, I got used to always hearing about World War II from the American point of view, so it was a nice change of pace to read some Germans' war accounts.

[diddyriddick]

I recently decided to try to see if I could read Adolph Hitler's _Mein Kampf_, just to see if it would provide the key to understanding Hitler's psychology. I couldn't keep reading (it just made me sick) after seeing how disgustingly easily Hitler fell for all the anti-Semitic propoganda that was so prevalent when he was a young man in Weimar Germany.

Not to mention that his prose was as bad as his painting.

[diddyriddick]

Hmmm....So many books, so little time! But here are a few...

1. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich-William Shirer. First serious history book I read. Still great, even if a little bit biased.

2. Battle Cry of Freedom-James McPherson. Still the single best volume on the American Civil War, IMHO.

3. From Sea to Shining Sea: From the War of 1812 to the Mexican War, the Saga of America's Expansion-Robert Leckie. Nicely fills in the Gaps between the AR and the ACW.

4. The Annals of America. Not sure that Reference works were included here, but nothing in my library is better used.

[Alex]

I'm quite liking Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor, although I'm not that far through it. They might be fiction but I also love Bernard Cornwell's books, the Starbuck Chronicles in particular.

[Waleis]

I'd have to say that my favorite historical book is In Stahlgewittern (Storm of Steel) by Ernst Junger. Ernst Junger fought for the entirety of WWI and was seriously wounded multiple times. His firsthand account of trench warfare is...shocking

[garzan37]

A Voyage Long and Strange
Blue Latitudes- Tony Horowitz

I really like these two becuase the author just doesnt tell you what happened and when he actually goes and travels to historical places and compares and contrasts historical with current conditions.

[Gallic Gun]

Lies my Teacher Told Me


You have to take everything it says with a grain of salt, but recognize that it is very different than what were taught in schools. It certainly had me look at things from a different perspective and help me make a more educated opinion, if there is such a thing, haha.

[red4tribe]

Here are my favorites;

1776-David McCullough
Alexander Hamilton-Ron Chernow
Champlain's Dream-David Hackett Fischer
The Perils of Peace-Thomas Fleming
American Lion-Jon Meacham

[Thyra]

Anything written by Barbara Tuchman. Right now I'm reading "Stilwell and the American Experiance in China"

[larkin]

World Lit By Fire by William Manchester
History of the 11th 12th and 13th century European History and unlike other books from this period, it's not boring.

[sundance]

I have quite a few. A few are:
1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History
Personal Memoirs of US Grant
1776
The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg

[Jar_42MDP]

I have quite a few, heres some of them:
Pearl Harbor "The Verdict of History" by Gordon W. Prange

At Dawn We Slept by Gordon W. Prange

Dec 7 1941 by Gordon W. Prange

Miracle at Midway by Gordon W. Prange

A Civil War Narrative (3 volume set) by Shelby Foote

Civil War trilogy "The Coming Fury", "Terrible Swift Sword", "Never call Retreat" by Bruce Catton

To Lose A Battle "France 1940" by AListair Horne

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer

With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge

Fiasco "The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks

Not a Good Day to Die "The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda by Sean Nayler

All of the above books are excellent reading. Well written and researched.

p.s. Ive read "To lose a battle" 3 times and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" twice

I also read "Miracle at Midway" 4 times .....lol what I can say

But serioulsy if anyone really wants to know how we "almost blew it" in Irag you should read FIASCO by
Thomas E. Ricks, its one hellva book and Ricks doesnt pull any punches when it comes to naming the
individuals who had there heads up there collective A__,s. Trust me on this one its worth reading.

[Jar_42MDP]

I recently decided to try to see if I could read Adolph Hitler's _Mein Kampf_, just to see if it would provide the key to understanding Hitler's psychology. I couldn't keep reading (it just made me sick) after seeing how disgustingly easily Hitler fell for all the anti-Semitic propoganda that was so prevalent when he was a young man in Weimar Germany.

I read it once about 20 years ago. The book definitely matches the man.
Its a shame that people in a position of responsibility didnt read it and
take him seriously back in the 20, s and 30,s. He spelled out his version
of a new germany for all to see....one of those big "what if,s".

[Cicero]

My all time favorites are "Rise And Fall Of The Great Powers" and "Rise and Fall of The Third Reich."


I second those two and can recommend Collapse of the Third Republic- an inquiry into the fall of france in 1940 by Shirer about the fall of France in 6 weeks in 1940. I bought a copy in a second hand book store while on vacation and started to read it immediately. I am embarrassed to say that I was so engrossed in the story that I would try and read while driving my auto… not too smart!
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518H6CKFT6L._SL500_AA240_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0306805626/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books)

[Cicero]

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Yes, his Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

[Cicero]

I enjoyed Overthrow immensely. I'd recommend All the Shah's Men, which is Kinzer's book on Operation Ajax, the operation which deposed Iran's Mohammad Mossadeq.

Anyway, I have quiet a few favorites so I'm not going to be able to detail them, unless someone asks about any in particular.

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes

The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 by Anthony Beevor

Mussolini: A Biography by Jasper Ridley

Nixon & Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek

Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon-Sebag Monefiore

The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens

Young Stalin by Simon-Sebag Montefiore

Yes, All the Shah's Men Goes a long way to explaining why the US is so unpolular in Iran. Mossadeq was a fascinating character that I would like to learn more about.

[Cicero]

There are so many good ones. A few of my favorites:

1776 by David McCulloch: I think this should be recommended to anyone who is just starting to get into history. It flows extremely well and reads almost like a novel, yet the facts are all there and McCulloch really recreates the environment the Founders lived in. My favorite all-time history book.

Cicero by Anthony Everitt: Another well written work that flows. Cicero is one of the most fascinating characters in Ancient history.

Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson: Greatest work on the Civil War I've ever read.

Man, there are just so many...

Yes, the Cicero book and Imperium got me interested in my Avatar Cicero.

McCulloch's books are good.

[Cicero]

I think I've answered this, somewhere, but, not matter, its about books:
In no order of rank:

Santa Anna of Mexico by Will Fowler
Napoleon-The Path to Power by Philip Dwyer
The Road to Monticello-The Life & Mind of Thomas Jefferson by Kevin J. Haynes
John Adams by David McCullough


I will have to read the Santa Anna of Mexico book as I find him fascinating!

Sorry for so many disjointed posts, this thread just got my blood up!

[Cicero]

Anything written by Barbara Tuchman. Right now I'm reading "Stilwell and the American Experiance in China"


Ditto. I enjoyed all of her books. My first history-book-for-fun was The Guns of August. August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn was good covering the Eastern front in detail ( it had a lot of historical fiction it though).

[hem dazon 90]

there is a book im reading right now about caesar it is preety good so far

[Isoroku295]

United States Army: A Complete History >: D

[Kuon]

Favourite history book of the mo' is: The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Millennium-Revolutionary-Millenarians-Anarchists/dp/0712656642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261856979&sr=1-1) by Norman Cohn.
Stunning book. Really impressed me.

[gekkouhime]

Rafael Sabatini's "Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition", James Reston's "Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moor"got me addicted to the Spanish Inquisition (thus I chose it a my topic for my thesis). Other than that, Trevor's "The Spear of Destiny" though I've read that it contains errors.

[OUmillenium]

Many of these already mentioned.

My main focus is on US History right now and my favorites are...

A People's History of the U.S. - Howard Zinn - He's a socialist and offers a more liberal and truthful view of history IMO (I'm pretty conservative by the way)
Founding Brothers - Joseph J. Ellis
1776 - David McCullough
His Excellency - Joseph J. Ellis

Trying to finish Guns, Germs, and Steel but it has bogged down a bit.

[NewModelSoldier]

I liked Guns, Germs and Steel enough, but his worship of New Guineans gets somewhat annoying after awhile. After reading the Third Chimpanzee where Mr. Diamond goes on about the mixed blessings of agriculture (whilst naming none of its advantages) he launches into a rambling tirade about how agriculture invented racism, sexism, and class strife, so I have stopped reading anything by him. His adulation of indigenous hunter-gatherers clouds a great attempt at objectivism.

[corrocamino]

"Neighbors and Strangers", a historical overview/analysis of international relations, by William R. Polk (descended from President Polk) is interesting.

WRP has a website, with interesting and stimulating non-PC commentaries on current events:

http://www.williampolk.com/html/articles_2009.html