Need recommendation for Non fiction History books please. Does anyone read History for pleasure ?
Does anyone read History for pleasure ? Need recommendation for Non fiction History books please.
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Killers of the Flower Moon David Grann
New book. Taught me History I had no idea about.
This was an amazing book
Loved it
I started reading The Future is History by Masha Gessen, about Russia from the 80s onward, told from the viewpoints of Russians from different economic backgrounds and it’s fascinating.
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What time period & area of the world are you interested in?
Ancient , medieval to modern. Anything. Just not fiction or like a text book. But mostly different perspective to new findings.
Radium girls, Burial rites, American lightening
@Ruby Who wrote Radium Girls and Burial Rites. There are several books with those names. I would like to look them up and give them a read.
I will check, burial rites is by Kent
Radium girls by Moore and burial rites by hannah kent
Interesting read that touches on a huge amount of periods and easily opens up parts of history you may be more interested in.
Constantly. I can recommend all books by David McCullough, ALison Weir, Ron Chernow.
Carl Sandburg’s abridged biography of Lincoln was really good. The unabridged is 3 vol I think.
My husband reads Civil War books than we go to the battlefield and he tells me all about it.
I raid the gift shops at the Battlefield Parks when we visit. There’s always something new coming out and the battle sites are a great source for books.
Any book by @Barbara Tuchman
Please don’t be offended. I’m tremendously amused by the term “non-fiction history.” With Fake News as a new cliche, I wonder if there is such a thing as non-fiction history. Every writer has a bias. These biases are formed partially on the culture and era in which the writer lived.
True. But a good historian will use and present all information. Many do not.
I totally get you Rosalie Blowe. For Eg : an Indian movie was released called ‘Mohenjodaro’ , basic facts was used to weave the writer’s own story about a man who lived and saved the people of Mohenjodaro. I call this fiction. Like Dan Brown’s Davinci Code.
I think she means she doesn’t want the genre historical fiction.
Unfortunately we can only live life as it is perceived through our own senses and processed through our own brains. Thus my reality is different than yours even if we are in the same room listening to a lecture. I can tell you with certainty that my reality is also much, much different than my ex-husband’s lol. We are all guilty of bias no matter how unintentional. The best thing to do is to read as many accounts as possible relating to a historical subject that interests you. That way you can winnow out the chaff to get to the kernels of ‘truth’ such as it is.
I thought she meant non-fiction or history.
Red Notice by Bill Browder and Boys in the Boat by Brown
The Boys in the Boat is wonderful!
The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett.. AMAZING! ?
I enjoyed this book and am plowing through the third book in this trilogy — Column of Fire. However, this is historical fiction, not history.
Oh sorry, I got my fiction and non-fiction mixed up!! Hehe! I have the second book of the trilogy, is it worth the read? Have heard its not as good as the first?!
@Angela I just find finished it and loved it
Quite a fan of Churchill – an excellent writer, particularly his earlier books. i thoroughly enjoy things about the history and structure of Europe. NOrman Davies’ histiry of Europe was fascinating, as were accounts of the Vienna and Paris peace conferences after the Napoleonic and FIraq World Wars.
I do sometimes
1491:New Revelations Of The Anericas Before Columbus & 1493:Uncovering The New World Columbus Created. Both by Charles Mann. Then throw in 1492:The Year Our World Began by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.
Mists of Avalon. I love that it tells the King Arthur story from the women’s side and from a different perspective.
That is fiction, though. I loved it too but it is quite different than reading nonfiction.
Plus King Arthur is a fictional character.
I am so very sorry. I do not know how this got here. I was responding to the post regarding “your favorite book”
I do that kind of thing all the time!?
@Marla Oops! Lol! Good choice though!
@Barbara and @Amy Thanks you guys!
Everything David McCullough.
Love David McCullough and Ron Chernov.
Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America. John Keegan.
I do love history and non- fiction preferred
I’m reading Stephen Nissenbaum’s “The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America’s Most Cherished Holiday.” It was a Pulitzer finalist, and is at once rigorous and accessible. (The introduction discusses the author’s rather touching fascination with Christmas as an Orthodox Jewish child growing up in America.)
immortal life of henrietta lacks
I find The Swerve fascinating.
Paris1919 Six Months that Changed the World.
Barbara Tuckman
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough and The Boys in the Boat.
Both were excellent.
Empire of the Summer Moon, 1776, Killers of the Flower Moon, Killer Angels
Is Empire of the Summer Moon, the one about the Comanche and Quanah Parker? I read it and loved it, but I can’t keep the title straight.
@Anita Yes.
I read Empire of the Summer Moon, too. Great book.
yes
I read WW2 History a lot and military history. Some good ones are Unbroken, Enemy at the Gates, The Fall of Japan, The Generals (by Thomas Ricks)
Eric Larson, David McCullough, Ron Chernow
Thomas Cahill’s Hinges of History are fascinating. I own them all.
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson—about the great migration
On my list of best books of 2017 for sure!
Yes, yes, yes. I loved it. But pretty intense in places.
I liked Stealing Lincoln’s Body. You learn a lot about the early days of counterfeiting in the US. I also liked The Kennedy Detail. It is written by a former Secret Service agent assigned to the Kennedy family. The Bureau was pretty good. It deals with the formation of the FBI
The WP and Atlantic mag chose this as the best book of 2017: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31170723-behave?ac=1&from_search=true
This has been nominated for every award a history/memoir book can win: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31848282-i-was-told-to-come-alone?from_search=true
Bill O’Reilly’s Books are very good. He was a history teacher before he was on Fox News. I’ve learned a lot from his books
Six Frigates. Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. Excellent and very different books on US Naval history.
Also Bonk, Stiff and Spook by Mary Roach. The books are factual but told with humor as well as information.
I recommend the Naturalist, a Theodore Roosevelt’s biography concerned with his passion for the natural world.
This was one of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time and with the new movie coming out soon it is a timely read. Don’t be fooled by the YA designation. 90% of the readers are adults who continually yell out – How come I never knew this?!?! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23310694-most-dangerous
This brand new one has been getting rave reviews from everyone: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34684622-leonardo-da-vinci?ac=1&from_search=true
Also Letters from Vietnam. It is very powerful to read the actual letters sent by soldiers fighting in Vietnam, some of whom did not come home alive. Ok, that was my last suggestion. I will shut up now.
Thank you for all suggestions!! But if you have more pls do type in.
David McCullough
Hue:1968, it is about Vietnam
I’m reading Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. I’ve heard great things about his other books too.
Loved his book about whaling, From the Heart of the Sea.
The Great Hunger
Ireland 1845-1849
By: Cecil Woodham-Smith
I loved reading about Lewis Hayden. He was an abolitionist who crossed paths with Frederick Douglass, but didn’t get the notoriety. He escaped slavery and his story is really interesting. It’s hard to find info on him on the internet, but I was fortunate to find his biography when I researched him for a project.
Anything by John Julius Norwich or Anthony beevor
If you like medieval/Tudor history, Alison Weir, Tracy Borman, and Nicola Tallis are good. The best historical biography I read last year was Young, Damned and Fair about Katherine Howard (5th wife of Henry VIII) by Gareth Russell. It’s terrific!
I love Tudors !!
I read a lot of history
A Distant Mirror or The Gun of August by Barbara Tuchman.
I have a MA in History so suffice to say I have read it for work and pleasure. Some recent ones I have really enjoyed are: Radium Girls, Killers of the Flower Moon, and History of the World in 6 cups.
If you like American history, I’m currently reading The Story of American Freedom by Eric Foner for the second time. It explores how Americans ideals of freedom and liberty have changed over the years. Very good.
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. It’s about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
In my tbr pile.
The best I’ve read: : Nicholas and Alexandra – Robert Massie; John Adams – David McCullough; The Glory and the Dream and The Death of a President – William Manchester; Isaac’s Storm – Erik Larson (Sp?) and The Making of the Atomic Bomb – Richard Rhodes (Rhodes’ Pulitzer winning book is a tough go unless you’re a nuclear physicist, but fascinating and more than worth the effort) Also, I want to add that I’ve learned a tremendous amount of history from fiction.
Richard Rhodes memoir of growing up in poverty with a monstrous step mother,A Hole in the World,is really good.
I certainly will look into that, and thank you!
David McCullough is excellent. I loved this audiobook!
That David McCullough title is The Johnstown Flood for those visually impaired using a text to audio device.
King Leopold’s Ghost,Bury the Chains, or anything else by Adam Hochschild
Barbara Tuchman, especially The Proud Tower. It’s just fabulous.
The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan.
Colossus …the great degeneration by nial ferguson ,Red plenty by francis sufford,A History of Persia by p.m sykes ,The Angel by uri bar joseph ,Disobeying Hitler by randal hansen, Dear Leader by jang jin sung ,Return of a king…city of djinns ….white mughals ..kohinoor by William dalrymple
I have read William Dalrymple books !!
The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.
Try Bernard Cornwell “Waterloo”
Simon Winchester (The Map that Changed the World, The Professor & the Madman, The Man Who Loved China). Double Cross by Ben Macintyre.
yes. All quiet on the western front. Ten days that shook the world.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel (a great one), but I love Ten Days!
me too… great books.
Dee Brown’s “Burt My Heart At Wounded Knee”
I do!
Weir,Kearns Goodwin, Gabraith, McCollum,Fraiser, Roosevelts, tell my a type and l can suggest something.
Currently reading this. As much about the history of where the Roman Empire went wrong as it is about the subject of the book.
The History of Islam by Tariq Ali
The Future of the Past by Alexander Stille
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Robin Hood:The Unknown Templar by John Paul Davis, Our Mothers’ War by Emily Yellin, Servants Hall by Margaret Powell, Seizing the Enigma by David Kahn, The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser, Five Families by Selwyn Raab, The Forger’s Spell by Edward Dolnick.
Erik Larsen books, Team of Rivals by Godwin (about Lincoln), Walking with the Wind by John Lewis (civil rights movement in the 60’s)…
The Lady in Gold; Monument Men; In Cold Blood; The Diary of Anne Frank….I also like well written biographies.
Yes. Some of my favourites are Life in a Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies, Medieval Women by Eileen Power, Tudor Women by Alison Plowden, The Tudor Housewife by Alison Sim, Henry VIII, King and Court by Alison Weir, Elizabeth the Queen by Alison Weir, Women All On Fire, the Women of the English Civil War by Alison Plowden, The Escape of Charles II by Richard Ollard, Charles II by Antoina Fraser, The French Revolution as Seen by Madame Tussaud, Witness Extraordinary by Pauline Chapman, Perilous Question by Antonia Fraser, Liberty’s Dawn, a People’s History of the Industrial Revolution by Emma Griffith, Queen Victoria Was Amused by Alan Hardy.
Please can u email this my address is rajeshcp1 @:https://gmail.com/
Just copy paste it yourself. Or save the whole thing and see when ever you want.
That’s a big list ! Thank you so much Louise Culmer for taking the effort to type it. The title already seem to lure me.
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
Salt: a world history by Mark Kurlansky
1491: The Americas before Columbus by Charles C Mann
The Shadow of the Great Game by Narenda Singh Sarila
Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution by Simon Schama
The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilisation by Brian M Fagan
Thank you !!
I just finished Playing With Fire about the 1968 presidential election.
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
Twelve years a slave
The immortal life of Henrietta Lack is very good and all true.
This is newer history, I read it years back when it came out, I still think about it often!
Hi @Susan, I have this one too and have forgotten about it! I should read it.
@Cecilia you should, one of those that will stay with you forever!
Oooh…sounds good. I will bump it up on my list!
Wow I love all these ideas!
Killers of the Flower Moon, The immortal Life of Hennrietta Lacks
John Julius Norwich’s history of Byzantium, 3 vols or the condensed version. The 3 vols are actually easier to read. Stunning, terrible, wonderful.
Bernard Cornwell, Waterloo. Clear, exciting.
Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit. Fan-freaking-tastic. Everybody loves it.
Charles C. Mann, 1491 and 1492. The Americas before Columbus and the world after him.
Oh, I forgot about Seabiscuit. Loved that book.
I enjoyed the book Cod. He also wrote Salt. also good. Fascinating
Oh my goodness, I love this thread! I just finished The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. Fascinating! I also recently read The Great Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet. Loved it! Also I LOVED Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President and Boys in the Boat. And anything and everything by Erik Larson.
Terrific list, @Courtney!!
Yes, these all sound terrific. ? ?
Non fiction history book is the only kind
I’m in the middle of Midnight Furies right now. Learning about India and Pakistan, the issue of Kashmir, and so on. This is focused pretty tightly on independence and partition, ethnic cleansing, and how polarizing that became for world, even today!
Just mercy
Just Mercy gave me a whole new understanding of just how awful our justice system is for the black community. I would recommend this book to anyone who is concerned with social justice. The author is Bryan Stevenson.
I like WWII, especially those about the breaking of Nazi Engima Code. Alan Turing.
I love reading history, especially Byzantine and Ottoman stuff.
I’d recommend “Osman’s Dream – The History of the Ottoman Empire” by Caroline Finnel, Basic Books, 2007. Great view of the House of Osman from the first Sultan of a semi-nomadic state through the conquest of Constantinople and all the way to the abdication of the last ruler. Fascinating read, and it leads you down interesting paths for further research.
Yes, read it after Norwich’s Byzantium. (The more things change . . . )
Devil in the White City
Chicago’s World Fair and a serial killer.
Molokai is about the leprosy colonies
What’s your interest area? Historian here.
Hello Jonie , political , social and religious changes. Architecture marvels intrigue me. More so different perspectives and reasons on the rulers and their administration and personal choices.
Amateur here! I will read anything about the Irish Famine 1845-50 and Irish history in general. Also the Tudors and 16th century Europe as I studied that period for A level and have retained the interest. But I read quite widely and my current book is The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
@Vidhya John Adams, several authors have done good books on him. And Thomas Jefferson–a fascinating political theorist and intellectual. Or old school (really old school) Edmund S. Morgan The Puritan Mind. Stephen Ambrose wrote big, absorbing books on a number of topics. Any book on Mary Queen of Scots is fascinating because her life story reads like a novel.
And it may seem like a strange recommendation, but Eric Larsen Devil in the White City. I skipped over the serial killer part but was fascinated by the detail on the building and planning of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1894, including the giant Ferris Wheel. Actually anything by Eric Larsen is pretty good.
Howard Zinn – A People’s History if the United States. I loved it!
The Religion of man – Rabindranath tagore.. ??
Anything by Karen Armstrong, who writes about major religions, the bible, bios of the Buddha and Muhammad (pbuh), the subversiveness of religions in opposition to state violence (Fields of Blood). Smart as a whip, lucid, a great teacher.
Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition. Hard going. But so brilliant. My favorite line in a book ever: “The only power we have over the past is the power to forgive it.” I picked it up from a grad architecture student roomie. It was required reading for her A class on The City.
Love history. Too many to list, but the Guns of August is very good. I also just read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I saw that David McCullough’s 1776 is on sale on Amazon. All of his books are wonderful. I also enjoy all of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s books, especially Team of Rivals and No Other Time.
Moneyball by Michael Lewis. It shows just how hard it is to change entrenched thinking.