My old man is into history books, but the only history texts I've read are the hardcore academic stuff and the sci-fi type alternate history novels. He'd be into a more readable, dramatized style. He really liked 1776 , for example. So I'm trying to troubleshoot an XMAS present. As far as places/eras go, I'd hazard a guess that he'd be most interested in the early US, Scottish & Irish (any era), WWII, Ottoman Empire, and maybe some Chinese and Japanese WWII to present.
Any recs sincerely appreciated.
Good layperson history books?
Good layperson history books?
The freaks are rising through the floor.
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Top 20 Doujin Shmups of ALL TIME.
Recommended XBLIG shmups.
Top 20 Doujin Shmups of ALL TIME.
Re: Good layperson history books?
Instead of trying to rack my brain any longer to come up with a reading list, I'll just mention a few books. I think the main thing is to vet books. There's nothing within A World Lot Only By Fire, or Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead" to clue in the gullible or just unwary that they are terrible as histories (the first is terrible by mistake, and the second by design - because it's fiction, though a credulous reader might view it as straight history at first glance).
Stuff by Barbara Tuchman tends to have a relatively high pagecount but is still quite good and definitely readable. You can get a lot of of these even without reading them cover to cover, so don't feel put upon. Some of it might be a little bit outdated. (I've finished The Guns of August long ago, and read a bit of Through a Distant Mirror and The March of Folly.) Guns of August is probably the one "must-read" book in the list.
William Manchester's "A World Lit Only By Fire" is much newer - it got a lot of attention, is highly entertaining, but is terrible as history.
A couple others come to mind:
"Is Paris Burning?" is, as far as I know, still a really highly-respected and well-researched journalistic-style page turner about the struggle of Parisians to liberate themselves from Nazi occupation. Good and with a quite broad sweep of the various parties involved.
"Stranger to the Ground" is the last book I've read - it's not at all a typical "history" book, and the author can't really make the claim to speak for everybody in his profession. But it's a very nice encapsulation of the mindset, technology, preoccupations and quite a bit of the hopes and dreams of Cold War-era pilots. Nice to read something with such imaginative and unashamedly free prose once in a while.
Actually, on that count, you can sometimes find good primary sources in the most seemingly unlikely places. "Five T'ang Poets" is great not only as fiction, but occasionally as a bit of history. If your focus is on history you're probably better off looking for a collection of straight translations, though, of the one poet in the collection who has a strong reputation as a chronicler of that era (forget the name, can look it up quickly if wanted, though).
Stuff by Barbara Tuchman tends to have a relatively high pagecount but is still quite good and definitely readable. You can get a lot of of these even without reading them cover to cover, so don't feel put upon. Some of it might be a little bit outdated. (I've finished The Guns of August long ago, and read a bit of Through a Distant Mirror and The March of Folly.) Guns of August is probably the one "must-read" book in the list.
William Manchester's "A World Lit Only By Fire" is much newer - it got a lot of attention, is highly entertaining, but is terrible as history.
A couple others come to mind:
"Is Paris Burning?" is, as far as I know, still a really highly-respected and well-researched journalistic-style page turner about the struggle of Parisians to liberate themselves from Nazi occupation. Good and with a quite broad sweep of the various parties involved.
"Stranger to the Ground" is the last book I've read - it's not at all a typical "history" book, and the author can't really make the claim to speak for everybody in his profession. But it's a very nice encapsulation of the mindset, technology, preoccupations and quite a bit of the hopes and dreams of Cold War-era pilots. Nice to read something with such imaginative and unashamedly free prose once in a while.
Actually, on that count, you can sometimes find good primary sources in the most seemingly unlikely places. "Five T'ang Poets" is great not only as fiction, but occasionally as a bit of history. If your focus is on history you're probably better off looking for a collection of straight translations, though, of the one poet in the collection who has a strong reputation as a chronicler of that era (forget the name, can look it up quickly if wanted, though).
Re: Good layperson history books?
I think the Romance of Three Kingdoms is just what you're looking for. He might enjoy that.
I bought these two books ages ago. I never got around to reading them but it's one of the best books you can find about the subject:
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 1
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 2
There's also an abridged volume if you prefer that:
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel (One Volume)
I bought these two books ages ago. I never got around to reading them but it's one of the best books you can find about the subject:
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 1
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 2
There's also an abridged volume if you prefer that:
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel (One Volume)
Re: Good layperson history books?
Reading more closely, here's a couple good recent books about American history that get closer to what you want:
David McCullough's biography of John Adams is great.
From Doris Kearns Goodwin, "The Bully Pulpit" should be good.
There's also David Herbert Donald's "Lincoln." Highly recommended, and comes with some surprising revelations about the man who thought he knew himself from the very beginning.
Of the other stuff I've mentioned above, I'd say that Is Paris Burning? and The Guns of August are still very readable.
Ottoman Empire stuff is interesting, don't know much about that though - a somewhat rare, but not expensive, book which gets into that area is (Supreme Court Justice) William O. Douglas' "Strange Lands and Friendly Peoples." Very interesting stuff, kind of fits between travelogue, and history, and some prescient prescriptives for US policy in the Middle East / Near East that of course went mostly ignored.
If there is one, someday I'd like to read a history of the U.S. "expedition" into Russia during the Russian Civil War.
David McCullough's biography of John Adams is great.
From Doris Kearns Goodwin, "The Bully Pulpit" should be good.
There's also David Herbert Donald's "Lincoln." Highly recommended, and comes with some surprising revelations about the man who thought he knew himself from the very beginning.
Of the other stuff I've mentioned above, I'd say that Is Paris Burning? and The Guns of August are still very readable.
Ottoman Empire stuff is interesting, don't know much about that though - a somewhat rare, but not expensive, book which gets into that area is (Supreme Court Justice) William O. Douglas' "Strange Lands and Friendly Peoples." Very interesting stuff, kind of fits between travelogue, and history, and some prescient prescriptives for US policy in the Middle East / Near East that of course went mostly ignored.
If there is one, someday I'd like to read a history of the U.S. "expedition" into Russia during the Russian Civil War.
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Obiwanshinobi
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Re: Good layperson history books?
Anything by Jaan Kross. Also, Red Orm.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
The way out is cut off
Re: Good layperson history books?
War Nerd by Gary Brecher contains a good amount of (mostly recent) history. It is a collection of articles that generally offer a crudely entertaining perspective on lesser known events. A lot of his stuff is published and freely accessible on the web, BTW. For instance: (not sure if this is one that appears in the book) http://exiledonline.com/paraguay-a-brie ... l-suicide/