What is the best history book you have read?

fredleander

fredleander

Joined May 2013
336 Posts | 0+
Sweden
The book I remember best from my younger days was Was Pierre Closterman's on the WW2 air war (not his "Le Grand Cirque" - which I also read many times). It was there I first learnt about the fighting in the Philippines, always over-shadowed by Pearl Harbour - the pure one-night stand. The fight in The Philippines went on for five months.

He wrote about the faulty P-40 machine guns, lack of cooling liquids (the guys in the States didn't think they needed "anti-freeze" there), no oxygen generators or warning systems. This has followed me into the recent years when I found Bartsch's "Doomed at the Start", telling the whole story of that epic defense.

Fred
 
Shtajerc

Shtajerc

Joined Jul 2014
6,743 Posts | 472+
Lower Styria, Slovenia
My favourite is a biography about Rudolf Maister (the guy in my avatar pic). It's been written and published in Yugoslavia, yet it doesn't show the agenda of the time like some other history books of that era. It gives a lot of information and insight, it is also critical and adresses a lot of the more delicate matters from his life. Not praising and not bashing the person in question but evaluating his actions and those of others. A very pleasent read.
 
rvsakhadeo

rvsakhadeo

Joined Sep 2012
10,148 Posts | 703+
India
Last edited:
I wish I could have read ' The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire ' by Edward Gibbon. But if wishes were horses beggars would ride them !
But I rate very highly ' The Guns of August ' by Barbara Tuchman and the ' Rise and Fall of the third Reich ' by William Shirer.
I wish you could have included Historical Fiction in the category of Historical Books here. There are many outstanding books in that branch of history.
 
David Vagamundo

David Vagamundo

Joined Jan 2010
4,467 Posts | 239+
Atlanta, Georgia USA
rvsakhadeo said:
I wish I could have read ' The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire ' by Edward Gibbon. But if wishes were horses beggars would ride them !
But I rate very highly ' The Guns of August ' by Barbara Tuchman and the ' Rise and Fall of the third Reich ' by William Shirer.
I wish you could have included Historical Fiction in the category of Historical Books here. There are many outstanding books in that branch of history.
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I too liked Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I read Guns of August while I was in high school and have forgotten most of it. Right now, I'm reading Sleepwalkers which covers the outbreak of WWI, but goes back further in time.

You still can read Gibbon. There are a lot of people on this forum (primarily specialists in the area) who don't like him, but if you like your history as literature, he's very good. Just stick to the facts he gives and take his interpretations with caution.
 
rvsakhadeo

rvsakhadeo

Joined Sep 2012
10,148 Posts | 703+
India
David Vagamundo said:
I too liked Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I read Guns of August while I was in high school and have forgotten most of it. Right now, I'm reading Sleepwalkers which covers the outbreak of WWI, but goes back further in time.

You still can read Gibbon. There are a lot of people on this forum (primarily specialists in the area) who don't like him, but if you like your history as literature, he's very good. Just stick to the facts he gives and take his interpretations with caution.
Click to expand...
Also spectacular is the ' The Gathering Storm ' by Winston Churchill. You are taken by the collar of your shirt into those evil days just before WW II and and can literally hear the thunder storm rumbling across Europe.
And a WW I story told superbly by Alan Moorehead ' Gallipoli '. You cannot put the book down till you come to the last superb page.
 
P

peccavi

Joined Mar 2015
2,204 Posts | 602+
Yorkshire
rvsakhadeo said:
Also spectacular is the ' The Gathering Storm ' by Winston Churchill. You are taken by the collar of your shirt into those evil days just before WW II and and can literally hear the thunder storm rumbling across Europe.
And a WW I story told superbly by Alan Moorehead ' Gallipoli '. You cannot put the book down till you come to the last superb page.
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I agree with all your choices RV but if you have not already done so you should add African Trilogy to your list - Moorehead's personal experience of WW2 in North Africa, Persia and the Middle East as a newspaper correspondent, rather similar to Shirer really. I read it again a few years and it impressed me just as much as the first time 50 years ago.
 
rvsakhadeo

rvsakhadeo

Joined Sep 2012
10,148 Posts | 703+
India
I have ' The African Trilogy ' with me and I have read it and reread it. It is a very good Chronicle of the desert war in WW II.
I forgot to mention ' Seven Pillars of Wisdom ' by T.E.Lawrence ( Lawrence of Arabia ), a superb piece of writing on the guerrilla war waged by Lawrence and the Arabs against the Turks in WW I. I have read it a couple of times but I don't have it.
 
Marshall Ney

Marshall Ney

Joined Oct 2017
196 Posts | 85+
South Australia
Seems like a great thread, I'd like to revive it and put in my own contribution/

Anything by Tom Holland (the Cambridge scholar), especially Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic. Incredibly entertaining, enjoyable and a great summary which really captures the spirit of the age in very readable modern language.

I also really enjoy "personal histories" like those of Richard Fidler and Simon Winder, though they are half history/half travel stories they really help you get immersed in a period. I also find Winder's books quite hilarious and brilliantly entertaining.
 
DrStrangelove987

DrStrangelove987

Joined Sep 2019
45 Posts | 20+
Canada
Menshevik said:
I loved Roberts' Napoleon. But I have to say, I'm trying to read and get thru Iron Kingdom, and it is a chore.... very tedious so far.
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It definitely can be a chore, but I assure you, its worth it, its full of excellent information I was never aware of. I noticed once you get about 100-150 pages in, its get more interesting, so a little easier to get through aha
 
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A

Arminius

Joined Nov 2014
3,564 Posts | 1,525+
Birmingham, UK
I recently read, and greatly enjoyed, Robert Massie's Castles of Steel. Very thorough, i liked the way he gives so much background to the Anglo-German naval war, which subsequently greatly enhanced my understanding of the tactical and technical nuances of the Battle of Jutland
 
MG1962a

MG1962a

Joined Mar 2019
3,592 Posts | 2,048+
Kansas
Arminius said:
I recently read, and greatly enjoyed, Robert Massie's Castles of Steel. Very thorough, i liked the way he gives so much background to the Anglo-German naval war, which subsequently greatly enhanced my understanding of the tactical and technical nuances of the Battle of Jutland
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That is an extremely well regarded book on the topic!!!!
 
Steel of Fury

Steel of Fury

Joined Sep 2015
635 Posts | 121+
The Eastern Hinterlands
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Hard to choose but if I were to pick one it would be Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative. Best and most substantially written series on history. Three volumes and it reads like one. After reading them one feels like one doesn't have to read on the subject again.
 
A

Arminius

Joined Nov 2014
3,564 Posts | 1,525+
Birmingham, UK
MG1962a said:
That is an extremely well regarded book on the topic!!!!
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I thought it was excellent; I'm not well-versed in WW1 naval war or the pre-war buildup, so the huge amount of background was very useful. I was going to pick up his book on the Dreadnought era but wondered if some of the ground had been covered in Castles of Steel .
 
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