History is Not Boring discussion
What are you reading?
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Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady
(last edited Oct 20, 2013 04:07PM)
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Oct 20, 2013 04:07PM
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Lynn wrote: "A Thousand Lives about Jim Jones"Holy cow, I remember that guy. Scary stuff. Who wrote it? Everyone drank the koolaid, right? So is it someone who knew him before the cult began?
I just finished Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers. The author gives great insight of the Mexican war and the Indian raids but I feel he glossed over a couple of important law enforcement cases.I started
Tom Horn: Blood on the Moon: Dark History of the Murderous Cattle Detective.
I have just started Consider the Fork: How Technology Transforms the Way We Cook and Eat . It is about the history of kitchen equipment .
Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 was a pretty good read, as was Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution. This led me to pick up The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, which was great as well. The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848 was quite interesting, as was An Artist in Treason: The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson and the The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power and Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War
And those were the highlights of my reading for the past few months.
Just noticed the spate of Vietnam war books being read. I recently finished Tim O'Brien's THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, which blew me away. Don't know why I didn't read it when it came out. Really good. The war for sure--makes me think straight nonfiction cannot encompass or evoke war. Reminds me of Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE.
I just finished
by Allen W. EckertI really enjoyed it. A slice of history that I really have not studied much.
Marian wrote: "A biography of General Douglas MacArthur "American Caesar" by William Manchester. It is very well-written and quotes from both supporters & detractors, but its tone is neutral. Right now, MadArth..."Just picked up the paperback of this books at a library sale and have placed on my 2014 list along with "Crusade in Europe" by Dwight D Eisenhower.
Military history was my interest as a young lad and that is where I am heading for this year. It's going to be tough as I have accumulated over 3,000 military titles concerning World War II and a couple thousand titles on other wars. Presenting reading "Iwo" by Richard Wheeler.
Anthony wrote: "Military history was my interest as a young lad and that is where I am heading for this year. It's going to be tough as I have accumulated over 3,000 military titles concerning World War II and a c..."Consider, if your interests branch back this far & you haven't read it yet, The Centennial series on the American Civil War, by Bruce Catton. I am finishing up the last volume; fantastic work. Also, have you read Omar Bradley's memoir of WWII?
Good choices Donna, though I am not familiar with Catton's Centennial series. On the subject of biographies/autobiographies my dance card is full. In fact I have "Crusader in Europe" memoir by Dwight D Eisenhower sitting in the wings with Patton's "War as I Knew It", right behind. Some others are "Command of Honor: Gen. Lucian Truscott in WW II" by H.Paul Jeffers and the one I have put off due to it's size "Beetle: The Life of General Bedell Smith" by D.K.R. Crosswell. Trust me I did not forget the Soldier's General. My first choice would be "A General' Life" but also would not forget Omar Bradley: General at War" by Jim DeFelice.
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Anthony wrote: "Good choices Donna, though I am not familiar with Catton's Centennial series. On the subject of biographies/autobiographies my dance card is full. In fact I have "Crusader in Europe" memoir by Dwig..."Bradley may have written more than one book about WWII. A Soldier's Life is the title I was referring to, and the trilogy is the one Susanna just mentioned. The first volume discusses the nominating conventions, which would ordinarily never interest me, but these were very interesting times, and they partially explain a lot of what happens while the war is in progress. The latter two volumes deal with the war itself. I would have thought one of the latter two in the trilogy would have been the Pulitzer winner, so I guess life is just odd. Maybe The Coming Fury won because it of its unique coverage of material new to the public. But all are good.
I began a biography of Patton, but decided I didn't like the guy as much as I thought I did, and so I abandoned it.
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Among the history books I'm now reading are ---1) A World on Fire: An Epic History of Two Nations Divided by Dr.Amanda Foreman
2) A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge by Charles B. MacDonald
3) True Compass: A Memoir by Senator Edward M. Kennedy
4) The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy by Larry J. Sabato
5) Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T. E. Lawrence
6) Corporal Hitler and the Great War 1914-1918: The List Regiment by John Frank Williams
7) Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed
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Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Just finished The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act, very good, and The Monuments Men Allied Heroes Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt ...I just read (listened to) The Monuments Men last week. I had to go out and instantly purchase the companion book, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis. I can't wait to start it, but have to finish some library books, first!
I finished A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain, which is a very good general history book for the period.
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Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I liked The Monuments Men, but I think I prefer The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War, which is less about the lives of the Mo..."Had you seen the film of Monuments Men? I just watched it last night an I'm intrigued to follow up. I read The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War years ago, but I confess watching the film that details of the stories hadn't stayed with me.
On a different topic, I'm re-reading The Innocents Abroad. It was Twain's best-selling book in his own lifetime. Do people still read it today? I'm curious if it has a following at all.
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I just finished reading Twelve Years a Slave and am now nearing the end of Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II.
Hey L.F i just finished twelve years a slave too! How did you like it?
and if you're interested in world war 2 storys you could read : Unbroken a true story of courage and survival.. i read it two weeks ago :)
Jojo wrote: "Hey L.F i just finished twelve years a slave too! How did you like it?"I found it to be a compelling read. I had recently watched the movie, so reading the book just enhanced what was portrayed on the screen. The language usage in the book was quite poetic in many ways, which I found refreshing, even if the storyline was hard to bear at times.
Oh yeah, I just purchased "Unbroken" as well! Anxious to read it.
Currently, I'm reading Little Women. Well, it's sort of a re-read. Funny story about that...I originally read Little Women, found it amazing, so I made my family watch the movie. About halfway through, Meg got married, and I said, "Wait...this wasn't in the book." The whole rest of the movie wasn't in the book. Come to find out, I only had the first half of the book in the first place. :P So now I'm going to finally finish Little Women!
I just finished The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America the story about the founding of the Forest Service, the establishment of national forests and the origins of the conservation movement. The story is told by centering on the devastating fire in 1910 that burned through the Idaho panhandle.
Just finished two interesting books. Louisa Catherine The Other Mrs. Adams by Margery M. Heffron. It's about John Quincy Adams wife. I've read several books about John Adams and his wife Abigail Smith Adams. Louisa was an interesting personality and I felt I got to know both her and JQA through the many letters they wrote to each other. I think historians and genealogists will suffer from the decline of letters in future researches. The other book was The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan. This is a book for my book club and is about the Dust Bowl during the 1930s. Wonderful book and very thought provoking given the current drought in part of the USA, farm policy and the withering away of rural America and farming communities.
The other book I recently finished was The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. I thought it was very timely given the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo. I'm going to try and read as many books about WW1, both fiction and non-fiction over the next few years. Now I'm reading The Meaning of Names by Karen Gettert Shoemaker. Its a fiction book about a German-American immigrant farm family in Nebraska in 1917. The book talks about prejudice against anyone appearing "German", the influenza pandemic and the immigrant experience. I'm about halfway through it and can't wait to finish.
Terence wrote: "I'm prepping for a quasi-marathon of American history:Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln
[book:Disunion..."
Terrence, have you read "How to Build A Dinosaur" by Jack Horner? He explores the possibility of reverse engineering a dinosaur from a chicken. I've always been fascinated by paleontology, recently got to hear Paul Sereno at a National Geographic Lecture series in Kansas City...wonderful and intersting, he's a great speaker.
I am currently reading Princess of the Midnight Ball! It is not a characterized as a historical novel, but it is set in early-nineteenth-century Germany.
Carrie wrote: "The other book I recently finished was The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. I thought it was very timely given the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife..."Carrie, I suggest to try and include in your reading list 'The First World War' by Hew Strachan. It is a superb overview of every theatre of a very complicated period of history. My father was a British Intelligence Officer at Haig's HQ, and my uncle was killed in 1916 at the Somme. All their cousins fought for Germany, as their parents originated form Germany, so for them it was like a civil war.
Carrie wrote: "The other book I recently finished was The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. I thought it was very timely given the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife..."Carrie, an excellent book to start your journey on the turmoil of the First World War. This book is on e of my favorites not just on content but writing style.
Another title, somewhat off the beaten path, is the "Great War in Africa, 1914-1918 by Byron Farwell.
I'm reading The Heathen School about a time in American history when Protestant ministers had a plan to bring youth (mainly boys) from around the world and from Native American reservations, turn them into Christians, and send them back to their homelands to become missionaries.
Over vacation I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Pearl. The Witch of Blackbird Pond made me want to learn more about the late 1600's. I know The Pearl is a classic, but I didn't enjoy it as much.
Camryn wrote: "The Book Theif and Shadow And Bone"I read The Book Thief recently as well. What did you think? I thought it was a little too choppy for my tastes. I like long, flowing sentences and as few breaks in the text as possible. This had neither. The historical perspective was very interesting, thought. Rarely is something written from the side of the Nazis in WW2. (At least, nothing I've seen).
Joshua wrote: "I'm reading Imperium by Robert Harris. It's about Cicero, and where I am up to, it has just covered the trial against Verres. It's written as a novel, written by one of Cicero's slaves many years a..."I read his book, "Pompeii," and absolutely LOVED it! If you haven't read that one yet, I would suggest you read it next. It's a great book!
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Recently finished the mammoth and brilliant A World On Fire. Also April 1865-The Month That Saved America. Then came Before The Frost (Wallander). Now beginning an Asa Larsson with The Bloody Shirt on reading list.
Emily wrote: "Rarely is something written from the side of the Nazis in WW2. (At least, nothing I've seen)."Maybe not in English (by Americans, the British...) but I am sure there are plenty of books in German (and in other languages).
currently reading "from bloody shirt to full dinner pail: the transformation of politics and governance in the gilded age" by charles w. calhounyay for long bus rides
Tytti wrote:Maybe not in English (by Americans, the British...) but I am sure there are plenty of b..."
That's true. Curse us Americans for being "monolingual barbarians," as one of my high school teachers was fond of saying.
Emily wrote: "That's true. Curse us Americans for being "monolingual barbarians," as one of my high school teachers was fond of saying."And it's not even that. I have heard that in Britain/USA(?) (was it) only about 3 % of the published books have been translated from other languages, and many won't even read translated books, I've noticed. For someone who has read them ever since I was a child that sounds weird. I don't have that many books but even among those there are translations from maybe about ten languages: English, Russian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Estonian. ETA: Oh, Danish and Japanese, too, and Polish and Afrikaans. That makes it 14. And they are all in a language spoken by only 5 million people.
And for a novel from "the side of the Nazis in WW2", I'd recommend The Unknown Soldier, though that particular book probably suffers from the translation, and Germans get only some mentions because it's not about them. A Time to Love and a Time to Die by Erich Maria Remarque is probably good, too. Hmm, they both seem to have been written in 1954.
My book 'Downfall in Downing Street', originally published twenty years ago as Downfall, takes a good hard look at the secretive workings of the mysterious British Establishment, which is so easy to talk about, yet harder to define. Set in the early nineteen-nineties, the narrative has withstood the test of time and transfers very well into the current political drama, within a format which was very much ahead of mainstream at the time it first appeared. This is a compelling read which will entertain as well as inform. I urge you to read it. Because it is a re-issue it is very reasonably priced, either Kindle or paperback from Amazon. You will not be disappointed! Health warning: the sex might be rather graphic for some readers.
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