I've been enjoying fantasy and hard scifi the last few years, but some reads, particularly God Emperor of Dune, have actually made me hungry for real, impactful, and most importantly factual stories of historical events. I'd love to learn the details and stories of major figures and events without feeling like I'm trying to slog through a textbook. Really not too picky about the topics, but I'll add that I'm in the USA and would love some recommendations that might put perspective on current events.
Thanks ahead of time!
by nonPizzaLftBef
13 Comments
Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell (who usually writes fiction).
If This Is a Man by Primo Levi. It’s a memoir on holocaust but is quite relevant even now
Time TRavellers Guide to medieval England Ian Mortimer
Do you have any field of history that you’re particularly interested in?
I recommend The Civil War by Shelby Foote. it is huge, 3 volumes and almost 1,000 pages each. The good news is it reads like a novel, will not bore you, and you will learn a great deal. He is from the south but is non judgemental, telling both sides of the story. As soon as I finished reading it, I read it again.
American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Hidden Crisis by Adam Hochschild
Erik Larson, pick anything but In the Garden of Beasts, centered on the family of the US ambassador in Germany during Hitler’s rise has some echoes of current dynamics.
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell.
The book covers his experience of travelling to Spain to fight in the civil war. These events were a major part of the catalyst for him to write his two best known books, Animal Farm and 1984.
Tamerlane Sword of Islam
I just read “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson. It’s about the Great Migration from 1914-1970 of southern blacks moving north during Jim Crow. I love it because she follows three individuals and their journeys, it’s non fiction, historical, sociological and very informative. I learned so much
Try the Voice of Human Justice by George Jordac.
This book and the personality discussed in it are way underrepresented.
Operation Mincemeat or Agent Zigzag by Ben McIntyre
Following that, if you enjoy those almost all of Ben McIntyres reading list is excellent. He writes narrative non fiction about wartime espionage.
Many of them have been turned into tv shows and films.
Antony Beevor’s books on WW2 are amazing starting with The Second World War (Stalingrad, Berlin are excellent, too)