I read and loved Robert Caro’s books and just finished and enjoyed “Empire of Pain” by Patrick Radden Keefe (someone here recommended it). I’m looking for more books like that.
Depending on what you want to read, I can recommend a few:
-3 volume bio of Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
-G-Man: J Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage
-The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon Reed
-Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution by Eric Foner
-Wounded Knee by Heather Cox Richardson
-Watergate: A New History by Garrett Graff
-Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
-The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
-If you want to know more about Germany before/during WWII and how that history compares to today since so many people make the comparison, I found Richard J Evans’ 3 volume history of the Third Reich absolutely fascinating (you’re still going to hate them—you’ll just know A LOT more about what happened on and off the battlefield): The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War.
hmmwhatsoverhere on
*The capital order* by Clara Mattei
*The Jakarta method* by Vincent Bevins
BernardFerguson1944 on
*A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century* by Barbara Tuchman.
*The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire,1936-1945* by John Toland.
*Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire* by Richard B Frank.
*Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus* by Samuel Eliot Morison.
*Peter the Great: His Life and World* by Robert K. Massie.
*Jefferson the Virginian* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson and the Rights of Man* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801–1805* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805–1809* by Dumas Malone.
*The Sage of Monticello* by Dumas Malone.
*John Adams* by David McCullough.
*Huey P. Long* by T. Harry Williams.
*Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography* by John Toland.
*The Making of the Atomic Bomb* by Richard Rhodes.
*The Reason Why: The Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade* by Cecil Woodham-Smith.
*Impending Crisis* by David Potter.
*Battle Cry of Freedom* by James M. McPherson.
*The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916* by Sir Alistair Horne.
dirkdastardly on
John M. Barry’s books are fantastic. I particularly recommend Rising Tide, about the 1927 Mississippi River Flood and its enduring impact on the country—it’s wonderful for its detailed look at both the effects it had on people like poor sharecroppers and the broader political landscape.
I also loved The Great Influenza, which is about the WWI flu epidemic that killed millions around the world. I gave it to my mother-in-law, who taught in a medical school, and she loved it.
jeepjinx on
This is the very definition of James Michener’s books.
Jaded247365 on
A couple that seemed very detailed –
Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin – Joseph Kelly
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge – David McCullough (probably any of McCullough’s books)
9 Comments
Maybe The Brethren by Bob Woodward.
Depending on what you want to read, I can recommend a few:
-3 volume bio of Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
-G-Man: J Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage
-The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon Reed
-Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution by Eric Foner
-Wounded Knee by Heather Cox Richardson
-Watergate: A New History by Garrett Graff
-Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
-The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
-If you want to know more about Germany before/during WWII and how that history compares to today since so many people make the comparison, I found Richard J Evans’ 3 volume history of the Third Reich absolutely fascinating (you’re still going to hate them—you’ll just know A LOT more about what happened on and off the battlefield): The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War.
*The capital order* by Clara Mattei
*The Jakarta method* by Vincent Bevins
*A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century* by Barbara Tuchman.
*The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire,1936-1945* by John Toland.
*Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire* by Richard B Frank.
*Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus* by Samuel Eliot Morison.
*Peter the Great: His Life and World* by Robert K. Massie.
*Jefferson the Virginian* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson and the Rights of Man* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801–1805* by Dumas Malone.
*Jefferson the President: Second Term, 1805–1809* by Dumas Malone.
*The Sage of Monticello* by Dumas Malone.
*John Adams* by David McCullough.
*Huey P. Long* by T. Harry Williams.
*Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography* by John Toland.
*The Making of the Atomic Bomb* by Richard Rhodes.
*The Reason Why: The Story of the Fatal Charge of the Light Brigade* by Cecil Woodham-Smith.
*Impending Crisis* by David Potter.
*Battle Cry of Freedom* by James M. McPherson.
*The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916* by Sir Alistair Horne.
John M. Barry’s books are fantastic. I particularly recommend Rising Tide, about the 1927 Mississippi River Flood and its enduring impact on the country—it’s wonderful for its detailed look at both the effects it had on people like poor sharecroppers and the broader political landscape.
I also loved The Great Influenza, which is about the WWI flu epidemic that killed millions around the world. I gave it to my mother-in-law, who taught in a medical school, and she loved it.
This is the very definition of James Michener’s books.
A couple that seemed very detailed –
Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin – Joseph Kelly
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge – David McCullough (probably any of McCullough’s books)
Midnight in Chernobyl is a great one!
Thank you everybody, these should keep me busy.