The “best” one is probably *Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway* by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. It reflects quality research, quality narrative, quality editing, quality printing, quality illustrations, quality paper and quality binding. It really is a masterpiece!
​
Others that are close runners up are:
*Burma: The Longest War 1941-45* by Louis Allen.
*The Making of the Atomic Bomb* by Richard Rhodes.
*Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle* by Richard Frank.
*The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire,1936-1945* by John Toland.
TheIrishElbow on
The Unwomanly Face of War.
Sweaty_Sheepherder27 on
I quite like an odd read, or one that takes a different perspective on things, so here are a few:
The Secret Life of Buildings by Edward Hollis is a good read, charting the history for several buildings and changes to them over time. It’s an eye opening read, and will help you change your perspective on buildings.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky. I found this in a charity shop and bought it on the strength of the title. Fascinating, and it really feeds into the social history of the people who relied on the catch, both the fishermen and the people who ate them.
On Roads by Joe Moran. This book focuses on the development of motorways in the UK, how and why they were built, the infrastructure that goes with it, and those who built them. It doesn’t sound promising, but it’s a very interesting read, very engaging.
reddituser1357 on
The guns of August by Tuchmann
TigerKingofQueens98 on
Masters and Commanders by Andrew Roberts. Thoroughly researched and fantastic prose. Goes into detail over the working relationships of Roosevelt, Churchill, Brooke, and Marshall from 1940-1945
Royal_Basil_1915 on
Erik Larson has great history/true crime books. His most popular is *Devil in the White City* about HH Holmes and the World’s Fair in Chicago, but I also really liked *Dead Wake* about the Lusitania.
*Cherokee Women* by Theda Purdue is really good, it’s about gender norms and power dynamics within Cherokee society and how colonization changed their perceptions of gender and the power women had within their society.
*Confederate Reckoning* by Stephanie McCurry dispels some of the myths surrounding the Civil War and the Southern populace – most people did not want to secede, but only white, land owning men counted as citizens. It also goes into how rich and poor white women were treated very differently by both armies, and how the wives of soldiers kind of forced the government to help them by staging food riots across the South. On the other hand, the Confederate government was beginning to realize that being a loose confederation of states that valued state power over federal made it super fucking hard to fight a war, and was beginning to think about actually freeing enslaved Black people if they agreed to fight. McCurry’s ideas about political power really influenced my master’s thesis.
*Dispossessed Lives* by Marisa Fuentes is about enslaved women in Barbados, and what their lives might have been like. Fuentes talks about exactly *why* we don’t have a ton of history books from the perspective of enslaved people – because we don’t have anything written by them. By working off gaps in archives, newspapers, and carefully reading white accounts, Fuentes works to describe the experiences of enslaved Black women.
SkyOfFallingWater on
Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price
LiorahLights on
Fiction? Masters of Rome by Colleen McCulloch, her research was incredible.
Personal-Entry3196 on
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
D-Day by Stephen Ambrose
The Battle of Kursk by Glantz & House
I also second The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Edit: formatting
West_Fun3247 on
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. An analysis of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
teahousenerd on
I like microhistory. Salt and Cod both are great books.
The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857 William Dalrymple is interesting. I am Indian and it was a good read
14 Comments
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
The Dawn of Everything
The “best” one is probably *Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway* by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. It reflects quality research, quality narrative, quality editing, quality printing, quality illustrations, quality paper and quality binding. It really is a masterpiece!
​
Others that are close runners up are:
*Burma: The Longest War 1941-45* by Louis Allen.
*The Making of the Atomic Bomb* by Richard Rhodes.
*Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle* by Richard Frank.
*The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire,1936-1945* by John Toland.
The Unwomanly Face of War.
I quite like an odd read, or one that takes a different perspective on things, so here are a few:
The Secret Life of Buildings by Edward Hollis is a good read, charting the history for several buildings and changes to them over time. It’s an eye opening read, and will help you change your perspective on buildings.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky. I found this in a charity shop and bought it on the strength of the title. Fascinating, and it really feeds into the social history of the people who relied on the catch, both the fishermen and the people who ate them.
On Roads by Joe Moran. This book focuses on the development of motorways in the UK, how and why they were built, the infrastructure that goes with it, and those who built them. It doesn’t sound promising, but it’s a very interesting read, very engaging.
The guns of August by Tuchmann
Masters and Commanders by Andrew Roberts. Thoroughly researched and fantastic prose. Goes into detail over the working relationships of Roosevelt, Churchill, Brooke, and Marshall from 1940-1945
Erik Larson has great history/true crime books. His most popular is *Devil in the White City* about HH Holmes and the World’s Fair in Chicago, but I also really liked *Dead Wake* about the Lusitania.
*Cherokee Women* by Theda Purdue is really good, it’s about gender norms and power dynamics within Cherokee society and how colonization changed their perceptions of gender and the power women had within their society.
*Confederate Reckoning* by Stephanie McCurry dispels some of the myths surrounding the Civil War and the Southern populace – most people did not want to secede, but only white, land owning men counted as citizens. It also goes into how rich and poor white women were treated very differently by both armies, and how the wives of soldiers kind of forced the government to help them by staging food riots across the South. On the other hand, the Confederate government was beginning to realize that being a loose confederation of states that valued state power over federal made it super fucking hard to fight a war, and was beginning to think about actually freeing enslaved Black people if they agreed to fight. McCurry’s ideas about political power really influenced my master’s thesis.
*Dispossessed Lives* by Marisa Fuentes is about enslaved women in Barbados, and what their lives might have been like. Fuentes talks about exactly *why* we don’t have a ton of history books from the perspective of enslaved people – because we don’t have anything written by them. By working off gaps in archives, newspapers, and carefully reading white accounts, Fuentes works to describe the experiences of enslaved Black women.
Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price
Fiction? Masters of Rome by Colleen McCulloch, her research was incredible.
King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
D-Day by Stephen Ambrose
The Battle of Kursk by Glantz & House
I also second The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
Edit: formatting
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. An analysis of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
I like microhistory. Salt and Cod both are great books.
The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857 William Dalrymple is interesting. I am Indian and it was a good read
Radium Girls