Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
Royal_Basil_1915 on
Erik Larson’s books, particularly *Devil in the White City.* There’s also *In Cold Blood* by Truman Capote.
*The Indifferent Stars Above* is supposed to be very good, it’s about the Donner Party.
cljnewbie2019 on
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
bhbhbhhh on
The Fall of Paris by Alistair Horne was the first history book for adults I read and is still maybe the best
cljnewbie2019 on
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
by S.C. Gwynne
BernardFerguson1944 on
*1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West* by Roger Crowley.
*The Great Siege: Malta 1565* by Ernle Bradford.
*The Galleys at Lepanto* by Jack Beeching.
*The Armada* by Garrett Mattingly.
*Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus* by Samuel Eliot Morison.
*Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History* by S. C. Gwynne.
BossRaeg on
Anything by Ross King, John Julius Norwich, Simon Schama, John Man, and John Keay
*Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane* by Andrew Graham-Dixon
*Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best* by Neal Bascomb
*Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East* by Amanda H. Podany
*The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness* by John Waller
NotAnEmergency22 on
Shake Hands With the Devil by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire. Dallaire was the force commander for UNAMIR during the Rwandan Genocide and the book is his experience during his time there.
julieputty on
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre. It’s gripping.
paladin7429 on
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History is the best book I read last year. I learned a ton of things from that book.
After posting this, I saw several others also recommended it. My favorite topics in it were the evolution of the Colt six-gun; the state of evolution of the Comanche tribe; the personal evolution of Quannah Parker from war chief to rich rancher and his relationship with Ranald Mackenzie; how the Comanches stopped the Spanish Empire’s expansion in to present-day America; how the Comanche’s horsemanship affected the American army.
IncapableKakistocrat on
*One Minute to Midnight* by Michael Dobbs – it’s about the Cuban Missile Crisis, reads more like a Tom Clancy novel than a history book
Not exactly thrilling per se, but definitely a page turner – *Skunk Works* by Ben Rich. Ben Rich is the guy who was in charge of Lockheed’s Skunk Works division when they made the F-117 stealth fighter. The book is about his time at Skunk Works and the projects he worked on including the U-2, SR-71, and F-117.
11 Comments
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
Erik Larson’s books, particularly *Devil in the White City.* There’s also *In Cold Blood* by Truman Capote.
*The Indifferent Stars Above* is supposed to be very good, it’s about the Donner Party.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
The Fall of Paris by Alistair Horne was the first history book for adults I read and is still maybe the best
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
by S.C. Gwynne
*1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West* by Roger Crowley.
*The Great Siege: Malta 1565* by Ernle Bradford.
*The Galleys at Lepanto* by Jack Beeching.
*The Armada* by Garrett Mattingly.
*Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus* by Samuel Eliot Morison.
*Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History* by S. C. Gwynne.
Anything by Ross King, John Julius Norwich, Simon Schama, John Man, and John Keay
*Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane* by Andrew Graham-Dixon
*Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best* by Neal Bascomb
*Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East* by Amanda H. Podany
*The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness* by John Waller
Shake Hands With the Devil by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire. Dallaire was the force commander for UNAMIR during the Rwandan Genocide and the book is his experience during his time there.
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre. It’s gripping.
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History is the best book I read last year. I learned a ton of things from that book.
After posting this, I saw several others also recommended it. My favorite topics in it were the evolution of the Colt six-gun; the state of evolution of the Comanche tribe; the personal evolution of Quannah Parker from war chief to rich rancher and his relationship with Ranald Mackenzie; how the Comanches stopped the Spanish Empire’s expansion in to present-day America; how the Comanche’s horsemanship affected the American army.
*One Minute to Midnight* by Michael Dobbs – it’s about the Cuban Missile Crisis, reads more like a Tom Clancy novel than a history book
Not exactly thrilling per se, but definitely a page turner – *Skunk Works* by Ben Rich. Ben Rich is the guy who was in charge of Lockheed’s Skunk Works division when they made the F-117 stealth fighter. The book is about his time at Skunk Works and the projects he worked on including the U-2, SR-71, and F-117.