Historical Books - Non-Fiction

[Rosemary]

Samuel Pepys - a great 'self portrait' and observations about life in the 1660's. The Restoration, Dutch War, the Great Plague and the Fire of London. It gives an indepth account of how people lived during those years, including Pepys 'fondness' for women and also King Charles, his many affairs and affairs of state!

From Roman Britain to Norman England by P.H.Sawyer. Many interesting and usual facts about the lives of the people at that time. From traditions, clothes, houses, food and the various invasions of Britain.

 

[Werthead]

The Nine Hundred Days by Harrison E. Salisbury is the best book on WWII I've read. It's an account of the Siege of Leningrad (which is usually overlooked in favour of the drive on Moscow and the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk) and takes in the military and civilian viewpoints, swapping between them as necessary. The book really shows what deprivations human beings can endure and still survive (surviving on one or two grams of bread per day, for example) and also shows some ingenious military tactics at work (parking warships in the middle of the city as mobile artillery platforms; driving ten-ton tanks over a frozen lake to outflank the Germans).

 

[Clansman]

How about some recent history. I am about finished Shake Hands With the Devil, which is the autobiography of Gen. Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian general who commanded the small band of UN peacekeepers in Rwanda. Undermanned and under armed beyond hope, and without orders beyond defending themselves, Dallaire watched helplessly as over half a million people were slaughtered in a month.

Very shocking and striking book, and it pulls no punches on the failure of the West and the UN to step in and do something. Curious that white Albanians could be protected in Kosovo, but black Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda could not.

It has taken me a while to read this book, because it makes me so damn mad. And it has been happening again in Darfur, and our western governments again are doing nothing. I guess the rationale is, as long as they don't hurt us...

Excellent book with an easy style, and recently made into a film which I have yet to see. I recommend it.

 

[2DaveWixon]

only historical I ever got into was Carry on Mr. Bowditch. biography of 18th century American Mathemetician. haven't found a copy in 20 years though.

OMG! I'd totally forgotten that one, despite having read it over and over again when I was a kid... Wow! Thank you for putting that back into my mind. (I'll confess: one reason I like it was because there was a very minor character with my last name -- that impresses a young teen, I assure you!)

Dave Wixon

 

[Lew Rockwell Fan]

Give me some other good historical books. . . . I'm a fan of American history, from the finding (not founding) all the way through the Civil War.

Past Imperfect by Peter Hoffer
If you don't read anything else on my list read this. It is about the trade of historiography ITSELF, which is a darn good thing to read about before reading its product.

These are in chronological order by subject matter:

Hamilton's Curse by Thomas DiLorenzo

The Presidency of James Buchanan by E. Smith
(this whole series is great - one for each administration - Univ of Kansas Press)

Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men by Jeffrey Hummel

The Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo

Lincoln Unmasked by Thomas DiLorenzo

The Economics of the Civil War by Mark Thornton

------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it for the period of your maximum interest. The following are still US focused, but are post-bellum, still in chronological order by subject matter:

The Myth of the Robber Barons by Burton Folsom

Churchill, Hitler, and an Unnecessary War by Patrick Buchanan
(as much for the WW I material as the WW II)

On WW I, I'll also second Clovis' recommendation:
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

Day of Deceit by Robert Stinnett

Other Losses by James Bacque
(a lot of my-country-right-or-wrong types pan this, but stuff coming out of the old Soviet archives seems to support it)

The Dark Side of Camelot by Seymour Hersh

The Attack on the Liberty by James Scott

OK, that gets us throught the LBJ admin. I'm still too POed at Nixon (RIH) to read a book about him without throwing it at the wall, so I'll stop there. Most of the above are at least somewhat contrarian to the most common perceptions of what "everybody knows" but it is all pretty soundly documented and think we need a lot more re-examination of what "everybody knows" much of which is fossilised propoganda, wishful thinking, or jingoistic self flattery.

only historical I ever got into was Carry on Mr. Bowditch. biography of 18th century American Mathemetician. haven't found a copy in 20 years though.

20 years ago you were how old? You don't have to answer that. But that's actually a children's novel that is semi-biographical, not what OP is asking for. A descendant of Bowditch's navigation text was still in use not so long ago and was refered to casually as just "Bowditch". I have actually studied it.