History is Not Boring discussion

Tell me...what the very best non-fiction book you've read. You know, the one that is so good that it reads like a novel?

How can you tell that the author is staying honest to the sources and not taking short-cuts? Any examples of books where it felt like she or he was playing to loose?

Holly
http://wondersandmarvels.blogspot.com

To me, James McPherson's 'Battle Cry of Freedom' was as engaging as most novels I read.

Im not sure you would qualify this book as history since its an autobiography.

The Autobiography of Katharine Graham.

I knew she was the owner of the Washington Post, but didnt know much about her. I overheard someone on Charlie Rose saying it was a wonderful book.

The book ended being a virtual who's who of American politics, art and business. Written by a woman who thought her role in life was to be an ornament on her husband's arm; she suddenly found herself running a company and famously telling President Johnson to "shut up!"

Her skirmashes with Johnson ended up looking like a dress rehearsal for the main event with President Nixon and a little side story called Watergate.

I usually go to bed at 11:PM and read for half an hour before turing out the light. This is the only book that let the dawn find me still reading when the sun came up. I kept saying, "just a few more pages, just a few more pages"........

I am really quite fond of David McCullough. I have yet to read anything of his that I haven't liked, and usually liked a great deal.

Which Christopher Hibbert do you like?

Holly
http://wondersandmarvels.blogspot.com

I like Erik Larson's books. He combines an innovation in culture or technology with a parallel crime story. In The Devil in White City, it was the Chicago World's Fair and a serial killer; in Thunderstruck it was the wireless telegraph and a notorious murder.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was one of the best non-fiction books i've ever read. Not especially cheerful, mind you, but an excellent book all the same. Cod, byt Mark Kurlansky was pretty good, and i also highly recommend anything by Barbara Tuchman.

You know, I've never read anything by Barbara Tuchman. I'll have to give it one of them a shot. What make her work special?

Holly
http://wondersandmarvels.blogspot.com

I too think Barbara Tuchman is a wonderful author that writes engaging history. Her work is special because it is historically accurate yet written with clarity and stimulating prose. "The Guns of August" is an especially good work by Tuchman that details the lead up to and the first month of World War I. She relies on her historical research but writes with the human condition in mind.

Jabbott pretty much got it.

Barbara Tuchman was wonderful; she got the facts, presented the context well, and kept her writing focused on both why people in power did whatever they did and how it affected others. "The March of Folly" is one of her best - it was written as a reflection on the Vietnam war; I can only wonder what she'd be writing about the current situation if she was still alive.

The best reads-like-a-novel history I've read lately is "The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry. He chronicles the flu pandemic that overlapped the end of World War I - it is an intense story, which he tells in terms of both the doctors and other scientists working to stop the pandemic and the people and social institutions experiencing it day-to-day. Powerful and scary.

David McCullough comes to mind especially "1776." But I would give the honor to "Paris 1919" by Margaret MacMillen.

'The Italian Boy' by Sarah Wise. Kind of a London version of Burke and Hare (I can never resist stories of anatomists and resurrectiosists, for some reason..). It is true crime on one level,(the title refers to the case that led to the legislation that effectively eventually ended body-snatching) however the sad lives of the poor in 1830's London is vividly portrayed. It is gory in bits (who knew there was a market for recently extracted teeth for dentures?!) but I found it thoroughly engaging.

That was a fairly recent read. Perenial favourites for me are either of Prof Glob's books, Leslie Alcock's "Arthur's Britain" and James Deetz's "Small Things Forgotten". Those are all related to archaeology, though, so not sure a history forum is the place for them.

Oh yes, I forgot Barbara Tuchman. Excellent writer about history.

The Guns of August and A Distant Mirror are my favorites of her writing - Guns of August is about the start of World War I (and I believe it won the Pulitzer in history back in the day), while Distant Mirror is about the 14th century (mostly France).

I also enjoyed The Proud Tower, which is about Europe and America in the years just before 1914, and The Zimmermann Telegram, about how the U.S. got pulled into the Great War.

Never read March of Folly or her book about Stillwell in China.

Allan W. Eckert wrote "The Frontersman" a series of books on the history of the settling of Ohio (Then called the North West territories) from the view of the white settlers. He later wrote another series of books on the same history but this time from the perspective of the Native Americans. Both series are well researched and read like novels.

I'd recommend almost any of the Civil War books by Peter Cozzens, like This Terrible Sound and The Shipwreck of their Hope. Much better, and more engaging emotionally, reading than the Killer Angels.

One of the better narrative history books I've read has been Rubicon by Tom Holland, about the final years of the Roman Republic. Stalingrad by Antony Beevor (about... the battle of Stalingrad)is another recommendation I'd give in the narrative history genre.

1776 too, of course, but that's already been mentioned.

What I like about Tuchman is that she writes her history of a time/events and lays it out where there are parallels to other times

I understand She used the title A DISTANT MIRROR ...
because She thought that time in history was similar to the times when She wrote the book -

so I guess she wanted the reader to see that when reading the book the reader was looking in a mirror for the times of the reader.

Just a thought
it seems to me our makeup as human beings hasn't changed that much over the millenia

When a historian writes about a specific
time/series of events etc really good history shows how the people being written about are really like us only living at another time.

So that maybe we can learn something so as not to repeat their same mistakes/choices as far as the same course of action that our predecessors did or didn't make/choose according to how successful/unsuccessful they were.

What do all of You think of this description of what good history is?

Tom Holland's Persian Fire, on the Persian wars, is also good.

No one's mentioned WG Sebald's 'The Rings of Saturn' A must read for history buffs.

A lot of great authors have been mentioned here.

The book that really turned me onto historical nonfiction was In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. I ignored my husband, my children, and my friends while reading it and stayed up late and woke early to finish the book. I found this book to be captivating, suspenseful, and heartbreaking. It is a detailed account of the whaleship Essex, its crew, and the Nantucket whaling industry of the early 1800s. In the South Pacific in 1820, the Essex was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale. The crew took refuge in three small boats and struggled to survive until they were rescued three months later. What happened to the Essex was the basis for Melville’s Moby Dick.

Not sure I'd say it was the best I'd read, but "1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West" by Roger Crowley reads a lot like "Lord of the Rings" (though shorter).

For anyone interested in East African history, I would recommend "The Lunatic Express" by Miller and also "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo" by Patterson. Miller is obviously more thorough, but Patterson knows how to tell a good story.

Jared Diamond whose "Guns, Germs & Steel" won a Pulitzer. He also wrote "Collapse," about societies that have failed & why.
Gore Vidal's histories are also accurate & entertaining. His biographies, especially "Burr" the story of Aaron Burr who shot Alexander Hamilton & his "Lincoln" are very good.
,

In the Heart of the Sea The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. One of the most enjoyable historical novels I've ever read. He re-tells the story of the whale ship Essex. He uses two different sources and kind of combines them into a very well written book that make you feel that you are finally getting the real story of what happen out there during this tragedy.

I wasn't a fan, but 109 East Palace reads like a novel.

Also by John M. Barry: Rising Tide, about the 1927 Mississippi flood.

Just finished David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood, which was excellent.

I'd recommend "Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America" by Giles Milton. Fascinating account of the early American colonies that reads like a novel. The author's voice is great and, at times, quite humorous.

Also, "Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King" by Antonia Fraser. It's a thorough look at the life of Louis XIV and his attachment to the various women in his life. Antonia Fraser's work is great, in general, but I really couldn't put this down.

Yes, I am a fan of Fraser's too, and also really enjoyed Love and Louis XIV The Women in the Life of the Sun King when I read it ... last year? I do wish she had spent more time on "the affair of the poisons," though, as I'm still a bit confused by the whole incident.

Susanna wrote: "Yes, I am a fan of Fraser's too, and also really enjoyed Love and Louis XIV The Women in the Life of the Sun King when I read it ... last year? I do wish she had spent more time on "..."

If you want a really good novel about the Affaire des Poisons, read "The Oracle Glass" by Judith Merkle Riley. She's one of the best historical fiction novelists out there, and does a fantastic job of telling the story.

As far as non-fiction that reads like fiction - two WWII books spring to mind. "Ghost Soldiers" which is about the prison break raid from Cabanatuan, and "Goodbye, Darkness" by WIlliam Manchester, which is a memoir of the war in the pacific by an ex-Marine who survived most of its major battles. Both thrilling, gripping reads.

Anything by Alison Weir is also excellent. She did the Tudors before they got trendy.

I just started reading The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. Now I'm curious about the Boer Wars. Can anybody recommend a good "history that reads like a novel" book?

Well I've just come away with a bunch of new "to-read" books. I need to read Barbara Tuchmann.
I've read "The Heart of the Sea," too, (Justin's pick) and it was indeed a thrill. Very well written.
I recently finished "Manhunt," a book about chasing down John Wilkes Booth, and it read like a novel. I will say the prose went purply and exaggerated in some places, but it was enjoyable and informative. Like I never knew the first woman executed in America was considered a Lincoln assassination collaborator.

Anything by Charles Nicholl

For history that reads like a novel, I would choose Ballad of the Whiskey Robber A True Story of Bank Heists Ice Hockey Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling Moonlighting Detectives and Broken Hearts (whew, that's a title name) and Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America. In reading both it was hard to believe that this stuff was not fiction.

Read Fraser's Marie Antoinette The Journey very recently, and that one is also excellent.

Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell. She visits the sites of the assassinations of U.S. presidents and writes about the incidents. Informative, funny, insightful, very well written.

Glenn, have you read anything by Mary Roach such as Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Unabridged ? Sarah Vowell sounds like she might have a similar style. If so, I'd like to read her books. Roach is a favorite of mine. I loved her column in Reader's Digest.

Jim wrote: "Glenn, have you read anything by Mary Roach such as Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Unabridged ? Sarah Vowell sounds like she might have a si..."

Roach's Stiff sounds like it might be the same kind of thing. I haven't read it, but it's now on my list. Thanks.

I'm reading The Virtues of War (I think that's the title) by Somebody Pressman. it's about Alexander the Great. Still not sure whether I'll bother reading the whole thing. It's historical fiction in an interesting voice.

On French mediaeval history:


The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis
Montaillou by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Marco wrote: "Goodbye to All That"

I agree! Also the following dealing with The Great War:

Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis about his exploits as a pilot
The Curse of The Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917 by Laura M. MacDonald
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, mostly about her life as a VAD
The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Diana Cooper, formerly Lady Diana Manners, about her life as an aristocrat and VAD - quite a contrast to "Testament of Youth"
FANNY Goes to War by Pat Beauchamp, about her time in France and Belgium with the FANY Corps
Ghosts Have Warm Hands by Will Bird

And for a fascinating look at England before the First World War - The Perfect Summer: England 1911 Just Before the Storm by Juliet Nicolson

"Ghost Soldiers" - Hampton Sides, "Seabiscuit" by Lauren Hillenbrand - what a portrait of Depression era America! "The Endurance" by Caroline Alexander - I had never even heard of explorer Ernest Shackleton before reading this book, which details the most exciting and preposterous Arctic disaster and triumph ever endured.

The Burning of Bridget Cleary A True Story has a more theoretical intro chapter but after that is an engrossing story.