October 2025
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    I've compiled this list from some of my favorite popular historians, but I haven't read every book on here. Who else should I look into? I'm mostly looking into easy to read non-fiction for now, but I may compile a list of good historical fiction as well (Jeff Shaara is my go-to for that, but I don't know many others).

    Obviously we wouldn't choose each and every book on here, but I'd like a pool of options for the group to vote on.

    Nathaniel Philbrick

    • Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

    • Bunker Hill: a City, a Siege, a Revolution The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

    • Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution

    • Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy

    • In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown

    Candice Millard

    • River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey

    • Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

    David Grann

    • Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the Birth of the FBI

    • The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Maybe? It’s not really connected to US history, but it was such a great story!)

    Erik Larson

    • The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

    • In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

    • Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

    • The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (again, not directly US-related, but moreso than The Wager I guess)

    • The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

    David McCullough

    • Biographies (TRoosevelt, JAdams, Truman)

    • 1776

    • The Wright Brothers

    • The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

    by Brutus-1787

    2 Comments

    1. Brutus-1787 on

      Argh! How could I have left out Doris Kearns Goodwin and Ron Chernow! Consider them on the list as well.

    2. MightyHerkDriver on

      Ian Toll’s Pacific War trilogy. Excellent audiobooks as well if you care about that.

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