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
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Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
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Bunker Hill: a City, a Siege, a Revolution The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn
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Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution
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Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy
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In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown
Candice Millard
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River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
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Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
David Grann
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Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the Birth of the FBI
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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
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The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
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In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
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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)
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The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
David McCullough
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Biographies (TRoosevelt, JAdams, Truman)
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1776
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The Wright Brothers
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The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
by Brutus-1787
2 Comments
Argh! How could I have left out Doris Kearns Goodwin and Ron Chernow! Consider them on the list as well.
Ian Toll’s Pacific War trilogy. Excellent audiobooks as well if you care about that.