What are you reading?

[Jerome]

I just started The Journals of Lewis and Clark
I finished Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage a couple of weeks ago, and it piqued my interest.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

I thought Undaunted Courage was a very good read.

[Mimi V]

i'm reading Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America by James R. Green and really enjoying it. it's got Chicago history and labor organization history. and, unfortunately, a whole lot in common with what's happening today not only in the US but around the world. workers have to keep fighting the same fight over and over, it seems.

[Jerome]

I also started The Clinton Wars and Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.

[Jerome]

I just finished
, about the largely forgotten Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920. I'm researching this for an end-of-the-year AP European history project. It was an excellent source of information. I highly recommend it.

[Jerome]

I just received

and

[Jerome]

Just finished The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. I enjoyed it immensely.

I'm looking for a good comprehensive book on Stalin; not a biography per se, but more a comprehensive book on his reign, police state, terror tactics, repression,etc.

[Gary]

I'm reading "Undaunted Courage," by Stephen Ambrose.
Absolutely brilliant!

I'm also reading "Kruschev," by William Taubman, and
it's a great book!

[Jim]

I just finished Will and Ariel Durant's The Age of Napoleon. The Durants' broad-brush approach makes for a great "establishing shot" of a whole era, before one zooms in using more targeted studies.

[Judith]

Rebecca Cantrell has a new book coming out in her Hannah Vogel series. This one is set in Poland and Berlin on the eve of Krystallnacht. I love the way Cantrell gets in big ideas and themes into nail-biting, exciting reading. She's a favorite of mine these days. My review of A City of Broken Glass.

[Jerome]

Gary wrote: "I'm reading "Undaunted Courage," by Stephen Ambrose.
Absolutely brilliant!

I'm also reading "Kruschev," by William Taubman, and
it's a great book!"

"Undaunted Courage" was awesome, great selection.

Just started Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. My family is German, and my dad bought a copy a while ago. I also saw a German movie about Boenhofffer last summer.

Hope this is good.

[Judith]

If you like mysteries set in the period of the lost generation, post WWI, when the world had to rebuild its sense of self (not unlike the mood today), Elizabeth Speller's books will interest you. She's especially good at rich character development as well as unconventional plots. Her second book with Laurence Bartram as a somewhat uncertain sleuth is called The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton. Here's my review.

[Jerome]

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy was great. I just ordered

Stalin by Robert service

Gulag by Anne Applebaum

and The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 by Richard Zacks.

I don't know too much about any of those topics, so I'm looking forward to reading them.

[Judith]

I just finished reading Nancy Bilyeau's The Crown. It reads like a 16th century thriller but with great character development. One Dominican sister can sure get into a lot of trouble. Maybe a good description would be a page-turner with soul. My review.

[Jerome]

I just made a trip to Gettysburg and bought a copy of James MacPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.
I gotta admit, i have only a junior-high outline/sketch-type knowledge of the Civil War (most of it from eight-grade two years ago), and wanted to boost my knowledge some.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Battle Cry of Freedom is the best single-volume history of the period that I've read.

[Robert]

I just finished Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln Presidentand just started Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris; June 6 - Aug. 5, 1944; Revised.

[Jerome]

Just finished Dick Camp's history of the Afghan war (2001-2002) and have started Norman Stone's The Atlantic and Its Enemies: A History of the Cold War.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, by Alison Weir. Starts in medias res, which is interesting.

[Jerome]

I'm looking for a good, comprehensive book on the Cold War. I thought Stone's The Atlantic and Its Enemies: A History of the Cold War was very disappointing. Anyone know any better works?

[Bryn]

Pam wrote: "I am reading Salt: A World History; Next up is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World."

Ah, I've read both of them, Salt was pretty interesting (I was given that, or I wouldn't have tried it) and I like Jack Weatherford's books.

I'm about to start Women of the Conquest Dynasties: Gender and Identity in Liao and Jin China, fairly newly out and no blurb. I had to 'look inside the book' on Amazon. I've read about these northern women who led armies but I don't think there's been a book dedicated to them before.

[Jerome]

Just started All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, about the joint 1953 CIA-MI6 coup against the dictator of Iran.

[Jerry]

Jerome wrote: "Just started All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, about the joint 1953 CIA-MI6 coup against the dictator of Iran."

Jerome, I'll be interested in how that is. I just finished The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda. Written by an FBI investigator/interrogator who worked the east African embassy bombings, the USS Cole attack and 9-11, it is an inside look at the confusing intelligence management of Washington. Very readable once you get past trying to pronounce all the Muslim names.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Was disappointed in The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn; way too many "she must have knowns." More, in fact, than in Weir's biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and we know a great deal more about Anne Boleyn than we do about Eleanor.

[Reid]

Reading The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War currently. Burning through it. Certainly not lengthy but provides well balanced narrative and a lot of engaging and insightful detail about a crucial conflict. Really enjoying it!

[Reid]

Jerome wrote: "I just made a trip to Gettysburg and bought a copy of James MacPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era.
I gotta admit, i have only a junior-high outline/sketch-type knowledge of the Civi..."

I highly recommend April 1865: The Month That Saved America. I've read a great deal about our civil war and loved this book. The character sketches of Lee, Grant and Lincoln are revealing and add so much weight to the decisions they faced in the crucial final stages of the war.

[Jerome]

Just started The Great Terror: A Reassessment, about Stalin's purges. Great so far.

[Jerome]

"The Great Terror" was an enjoyable read. Now I'm starting When Hell Froze Over: The Secret War Between the U.S. and Russia at the Top of the World, about the ill-fated Allied military intervention in Soviet Russia during the Revolution. I'm surprised at how little comprehensive works there are on this.

[Jerome]

"When Hell Froze Over" was enjoyable. Now I'm starting The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950-1953. The massive size of this brick (1,136 pages) thrilled me.

[Michael Gawlinski]

I just finished Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family

[Donna]

I just started reading UNBROKEN A WW II STORY OF SURVIVAL, RESiLIENCE, AND REDEMPTION WRITTEN by
LAURA HILENBRAND ( SHE ALSO WROTE Seabiscuit)

[Jerome]

I am waiting for

by Max Boot

John Prados

by Stephen Kinzer

[Jerome]

Just started by Fred Burton

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, by Stephen Greenblatt.

[Jerome]

Burton's book wasn't bad. Now I've started by Bill O'Reilly

[Jerome]

O'Reilly's book was OK.

Now I've started by Robert W. Merry

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, by Stephen Greenblatt. Very interesting.

[Jerome]

Just started The End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa by Frederick C. Leiner

[Donna]

It's almost that time again. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I recommend reading

THANKSGIVING :The Pilgrim's First Year in America.
by Glenn Alan Cheney.

[Jerome]

On that note, Donna, i would also recommend Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick

[B. P.]

The history book that I am reading right now is Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty.

[B. P.]

Bethany wrote: " I'm also on the hunt for great titles about medical history for the non-medical-specialist."

I guess I would recommend The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which everyone seems to like. I've not read it myself. Yet.

[Ioana]

Bethany,
Have you read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures? Great book, you will love it.

[Ken]

Just finished The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. What an undertaking just to read all 1150 pages with copious footnotes. For someone who is interested in the topic and/or WW2, I'd have to say its a must read. Anyone else, I dare ya to get through it.

Using captured German documents and testimony from the Nuremberg trials, this work traces the history of Germany and Hitler's rise and fall from 1918 on. This gives the reader kind of an 'inside' look at the Nazis and their intrigues within the inner circle as well as impressions from foreign diplomats and emissaries. Talk about a cult of personality.

Some of the best stuff is from Mussolini's son in law (executed for conspiracy against his father in law) where he describes how vulgar Herman Goering was. He describes him at a dinner party with fancy rings on each finger and how HG constantly talks about them. He is also wearing a full length fur coat in Rome described as 'the kind worn by an automobile driver of 1906 or a high-priced prostitute going to the opera.'

Not for everyone but if you like history, pick it up. You can find good hardcover editions for about $5.

[Susan]

Three good ones going right now - Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy & The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace - thinking the Jefferson book by Jon Meachum might be in the running along with Caro's last in his 4 volume series on Lyndon Johnson (The Passage of Power) for the bio P. Prize 2012. Maybe we need to have our own GR group vote for what should be the winner this yr in bio category.

[Susan]

Ken wrote: "Just finished The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. What an undertaking just to read all 1150 pages with copious footnotes. For someone who is interested in the topic a..."
Congrats on finishing Rise & Fall - that's maybe one of the more common books that folks have picked up and never finished just due to the daunting lenght! I can recall when I finished it, I was kind of numb and unsure what I should delve into next - one of the few times I did not have a strong contender for my next to read list. You reminded me of a good one I read bout looted goodies some of the allied forces picked up from the German cache during post war occupation. It's one of those who-done-it kind of real life mysteries in history that come up not often enough for me. I have to see if I can figure out what the title was on that book and add it to my read list.

[Susan]

Jerome wrote: "I just started The Journals of Lewis and Clark
I finished Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage a couple of weeks ago, and it piqued my interest." I find I still have been impacted by Undaunted Courage despite I read it when it was first published. Quite a wonderful read. I miss having new books and live interviews from Mr. Ambrose. He was a very colorful figure. Not often that every good history writer translates well to the TV media as he did.

[Susan]

Donna wrote: "I just started reading UNBROKEN A WW II STORY OF SURVIVAL, RESiLIENCE, AND REDEMPTION WRITTEN by
( SHE ALSO WROTE Seabiscuit)"
I really enjoyed Unbroken by Laura Hilenbrand. I grew up in Torrance, CA where Louis Zamperini was from (not why I picked up the book - did not even know that tie in until I got going with the book.

[Susan]

Bethany wrote: "Thanks for the suggestions, guys! Added to my to-read shelf for my next library haul."

I cannot find the first post where you asked for recommendations for books on medical history for non-medical folks - but I wanted to add my recommendations also for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (but I am a scientist so I really ate that one up). Another I have recommended about medical history for non-medical folks is a great read called Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach - have not had anyone tell me they did not find it a good read. Always think if I had written a book for my PhD, Stiff would have been the kind of book I would have wanted to write.

[Susan]

Jerome wrote: "I just finished
, about the largely forgotten Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920. I'm researchin..."
OK Jerome - or anyone else who catches this post, how do I drop the book cover picture into my posts here in groups? You guys have me wanting to do that vs. leave links. Thanks!