The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown. The strength of the women who endured the Donner Party trek to California is incredible.
brusselsproutsfiend on
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
AlbatrossWaste9124 on
I took a long time to get around to reading it—decades, in fact. But recently, I read A.J. Baker’s *The Peregrine*, and I just couldn’t put it down. I genuinely think it’s the best natural history writing I’ve ever read and ever will.
I don’t think any other non-fiction writer on nature will ever come close to what he did with that single book. It just hits you like the impact of a peregrine, landing on its prey.
Queenofhackenwack on
james mcbride… the color of water…….
Green-Ad99 on
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
ReTecnica on
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is a book by Yuval Noah Harari
LosNava on
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
This was unputdownable. Fascinating from start to finish and I even wanted to start over as soon as I finished. I told my husband I was legitimately sad when it ended because I grew to love his character so much.
Silent-Implement3129 on
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
wolfie240687 on
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman
Maleficent_Fig19 on
I read American Warlord by Johnny Dwyer and it was quite intriguing. It talks about how the Liberian civil war began but also explores the personal lives of the guy who caused the war as well as his son. I don’t remember whether I was able to put it down or not to be frank but I remember being able to read through it and this was big for me because I don’t really read non-fiction.
If you want to learn more about how American involvement affected the development of the Liberian civil war, this book is for you
Due-Scheme-6532 on
**Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home Missing Hikers on the Pacific Coast Trail** by Andrea Lankford.
**Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout** by Philip Connors
**Trailed: One Womans Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders** by Kathryn Miles.
dmancrn on
Undaunted courage by Stephan Ambrose. About Lewis and Clark
Stonecutter on
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
Wozar on
The future eaters. It made me want to live for 10,000 years so I could see the world in geological time.
Realistic-Salt5017 on
I Am a Hitman by Anonymous.
Devoured in two days, and actually enjoyed immensely
Trustworthyracoon on
**Buried in the Sky:The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day**
by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan
Great book. Hard to put down. These types of stories are usually about the “climbers” and not the Sherpas, which is unfortunate. This book rectifies that.
mmratic on
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf.
dudeman5790 on
Two obvious ones that are recommended here a lot that I absolutely agree with are:
{{Say Nothing by Patrick Radeon Keefe}}
{{Flowers of the Killer Moon by David Grann}}
Krakauer is of course always a hit but those are kind of obvious and a little more nature writingesque than history, but damned if Into thin air/the wild didn’t get me. Also under the banner of heaven is one of his that’s more strictly historical.
Also recently read {{Soul full of Coal Dust by Chris Hamby}} and it was phenomenal. I’d say it’s political, historical, and also has a core human narrative.
{{Isaac’s storm by Erik Larsen}} hits too. Apparently other stuff of his is well done also, this is just the only one I’ve read.
Someone will inevitably recommend the radium girls by Kate Moore. Don’t fall for it. Most haphazardly thrown together historical nonfiction I’ve ever read. It just happened to penetrate pop culture enough to get a bunch of hype around it, but it sorely needed an editor. There are better accounts of the story than hers out there.
SkyOfFallingWater on
Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
19 Comments
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride by Daniel James Brown. The strength of the women who endured the Donner Party trek to California is incredible.
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
I took a long time to get around to reading it—decades, in fact. But recently, I read A.J. Baker’s *The Peregrine*, and I just couldn’t put it down. I genuinely think it’s the best natural history writing I’ve ever read and ever will.
I don’t think any other non-fiction writer on nature will ever come close to what he did with that single book. It just hits you like the impact of a peregrine, landing on its prey.
james mcbride… the color of water…….
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is a book by Yuval Noah Harari
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
This was unputdownable. Fascinating from start to finish and I even wanted to start over as soon as I finished. I told my husband I was legitimately sad when it ended because I grew to love his character so much.
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman
I read American Warlord by Johnny Dwyer and it was quite intriguing. It talks about how the Liberian civil war began but also explores the personal lives of the guy who caused the war as well as his son. I don’t remember whether I was able to put it down or not to be frank but I remember being able to read through it and this was big for me because I don’t really read non-fiction.
If you want to learn more about how American involvement affected the development of the Liberian civil war, this book is for you
**Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home Missing Hikers on the Pacific Coast Trail** by Andrea Lankford.
**Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout** by Philip Connors
**Trailed: One Womans Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders** by Kathryn Miles.
Undaunted courage by Stephan Ambrose. About Lewis and Clark
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
The future eaters. It made me want to live for 10,000 years so I could see the world in geological time.
I Am a Hitman by Anonymous.
Devoured in two days, and actually enjoyed immensely
**Buried in the Sky:The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day**
by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan
Great book. Hard to put down. These types of stories are usually about the “climbers” and not the Sherpas, which is unfortunate. This book rectifies that.
The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf.
Two obvious ones that are recommended here a lot that I absolutely agree with are:
{{Say Nothing by Patrick Radeon Keefe}}
{{Flowers of the Killer Moon by David Grann}}
Krakauer is of course always a hit but those are kind of obvious and a little more nature writingesque than history, but damned if Into thin air/the wild didn’t get me. Also under the banner of heaven is one of his that’s more strictly historical.
Also recently read {{Soul full of Coal Dust by Chris Hamby}} and it was phenomenal. I’d say it’s political, historical, and also has a core human narrative.
{{Isaac’s storm by Erik Larsen}} hits too. Apparently other stuff of his is well done also, this is just the only one I’ve read.
Someone will inevitably recommend the radium girls by Kate Moore. Don’t fall for it. Most haphazardly thrown together historical nonfiction I’ve ever read. It just happened to penetrate pop culture enough to get a bunch of hype around it, but it sorely needed an editor. There are better accounts of the story than hers out there.
Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman