Any History Book Suggestions?

[TwilightJoy]

I feel almost embarrassed to be posting this, but I feel like I don't know enough about history. World History, US History, etc. The last history class I took was in high school and I remember about zero. Ask me who fought in the world wars or when the civil war was and I'll give you a blank stare. So, I'd like to do some reading.

I'd like a book or two that are pretty easy reads and cover a lot of ground. Any suggestions?

TIA!

[raksmama]

Hmm,
Off hand I can think of the historical novel Leo the African by Amin Maalouf.
It takes place in the late 1400s and early to mid 1500s so you learn about the time when the Moors were expelled from Spain, The Ottoman Turks took over Egypt and the Catholics and Protestants were at war in Europe.
It is very interesting and well written.


QUOTE=TwilightJoy;15038417]I feel almost embarrassed to be posting this, but I feel like I don't know enough about history. World History, US History, etc. The last history class I took was in high school and I remember about zero. Ask me who fought in the world wars or when the civil war was and I'll give you a blank stare. So, I'd like to do some reading.

I'd like a book or two that are pretty easy reads and cover a lot of ground. Any suggestions?

TIA![/QUOTE]

[californiajenn]

Lies My Teacher Told Me and People's History of the United States. I finished LMTTM a few months ago and it's a real eye opener. I've yet to read the latter recommendation but it's on my list to read.

[JessicaS]

i like this for fun

http://www.youtube.com/user/horriblehistoriesBBC




Of course, it is from the bbc so it won't really help with US history

[elanorh]

Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond) is a great "pre-history" book - he does talk about contact between cultures, so gets into actual history as well (ie, Spain and the Aztecs and Incas) -- but from a more cultural perspective. It covers all six inhabited continents, and how civilization developed in those areas - horticulture, animal husbandry, and so on. It's a good rebuttal of some of the "Manifest Destiny" theory that some follow about how Europe ended up dominating so much of the rest of the world's economy, politics, etc. This book is commonly read in Into to Anthro courses in colleges ... it's a bit meaty especially at first, but it's worth the read.

If you haven't read John Adams, it's a good history of the colonial and Revolutionary era and early years of our democracy - obviously from Adams' perspective.

A good history of the Civil War is The Killer Angels. IIRC, it's about Gettysburg. I'm NOT a war buff, I'm not into 'battle plans' etc. but it was very readable, I inhaled it in one afternoon because I couldn't put it down.

I have not read A People's History, although it's on my list. I do think it's wise to look for histories which are well-researched and less biased, because it's true that sometimes there can be a very biased tone/approach/assumption in a book even though it's historically based. A People's History covers history from a perspective seldom considered, that of the common people and working classes. Which is why it is on my list to read. And also why I suggest Guns, Germs, and Steel - if you read that, you'll be able to decode some of the assumptions you may run into in other history books. Just consider the differences between how a Crow Indian would describe the last two centuries of history, compared to how it's been described in most history texts in our schools, for instance.

[merpk]

Two of the greats that just stayed with me and taught me so much about American history:

Parting the Waters, about the Civil Rights movement and Dr. M. L. King, Jr., and In the Spirit of Crazy Horse about the history of what's been done to the Native populations in the US, told in the context of Leonard Peltier's legal struggle.

They're both really solid, fast reading, too.

Editing to add another I just remembered: A Bright Shining Lie, about the American "adventure" in Vietnam. Recommending that one in memory of my Uncle Bruce, who just passed one month ago from chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which was attributed by the VA to his exposure to agent orange in Viet Nam. My uncle went when he was called, and he survived the war then, but in the end, died from it anyway.

[Chamomile Girl]

A Different Mirror is a great US history book from an immigrant perspective.

I second Guns Grems and Steel.

I'm not a big lover of "fact" based history, so I would recommend reading primry sources and using the secondary stuff as context: examples, Locke's Two Treatises of Government, and The Declaration of Independence are more important to the American Revolution than who won what battle. For medieval stuff read Boccaccio and Beowulf.


Sadly I tried to read Leo the African but found its style pompus and irritating. But then I hate it when modern authors mimic medieval/traditional voice. Except for Tolkein...he gets a pass.

[KiwiZ]

I heartily recommend David McCullough's "John Adams", he really did his homework and I found the book transporting me to the 1700s. I learned so much, felt like I was there and I am genuinely fond of John Adams and his amazing family now. and before he was just the short grumpy guy in between Washington and Jefferson LOL! I also found out that as bad as political mudslinging is these days, it is nothing compared to what it was back then LOL

There is also the great HBO miniseries based on this book for you to look at as well, check it out!

[Thalia the Muse]

John Adams is fantastic, and so is Parting the Waters. It sounds like you really want to start with a general historical overview, though, and then go into more detail once you know what interests you the most? So something like Don't Know Much About History or The Penguin History of the United States will give you a place to start for U.S. history.

I don't know of a world history survey for adults -- it would be awfully big! I'd almost want to start with an Usborne or Kingfisher World History, even though they're written for kids. They'll give you the broad outline of what happened when and why it mattered.

We actually have a great brief American history survey book, with lots of cool old photographs, sitting on the bookshelf at home -- I can picture it, but I can't remember the title! I bought it for my husband, because he was in the same dilemma as you are.

[Thalia the Muse]

OK, I got home and looked it up -- it's What Every American Should Know About American History, authors Alan Axelrod and Charles Phillips. The only photos are on the cover, though.

[hipumpkins]

Originally Posted by californiajenn

Lies My Teacher Told Me and People's History of the United States. I finished LMTTM a few months ago and it's a real eye opener. I've yet to read the latter recommendation but it's on my list to read.

I really got a lot out of Lies...
Also right now I am reading, "When everything changed" it's roots are in the women's movement but it also has a ton of history on the civil rights movement as well. ERA, NOW and so much more than I was taught

[hildare]

I second the People's History of the United States and anything else by Howard Zinn (there are some other People's History books he wrote)
& also Lies My Teacher Told Me.

Others to look at: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Lies Across America
anything by Paul Avrich (if that's up your alley)..

[Caneel]

We really enjoyed the John Adams HBO miniseries. I haven't read the book yet but it is on my list.

While none of the below are history books per se, I learned a lot about history from reading them.

Band of Brothers is a short(er) book that follows the 101st Airborne from basic training to the end of WWII (European theatre) While it is based on the unit, it covers a lot of WWII history. Again, the HBO mini-series based on the book is very good. A close friend of mine has met and spend time with many of the men profiled in the book and they all say it is true to their experiences.

I just finished The Queen Mother by William Shawcross. It is a biography but I consider it to be a history book. It covers the Queen Mother's life from pre-WWI to her death in 2004 (?) I learned a ton about WWI and European and British history from this book.

A Personal History by Katharine Grahm is one of my all time favorites. Her family had close relationships with all the US presidents starting before WWII and her biography covers some very significant historical moments in the 20th century.

[ian'smommaya]

i would like to second or third howard zinn. he also wrote a book directed at younger children, a youth's american history or something like that.

his history books are incredible and you get so much out of them.

how about paul farmers the uses of haiti or a.i.d.s. in haiti? thsoe are two great books about american history.

[Amaranth]

Anything by Tony Horwitz - he is such an incredibly funny writer, the history is not just painless, it's enjoyable.

"A Voyage Long and Strange" is about the colonization of the Americas,

"Blue Latitudes" is about Captain Cook, the 1700's, England and the Pacific

and last but not least "Confederates in the Attic" is about the Civil War - and people who still think the "War Between the States" is important today.

[TwilightJoy]

Thanks, everyone for the suggestions. I have quite a list now and am so excited! I think I'm going to start with Lies My Teacher Told Me. It's come up a lot and sounds so intriguing!

More suggestions are welcome!

[ian'smommaya]

Originally Posted by TwilightJoy

Thanks, everyone for the suggestions. I have quite a list now and am so excited! I think I'm going to start with Lies My Teacher Told Me. It's come up a lot and sounds so intriguing!

More suggestions are welcome!

that is a great book, you will learn so so much. and prolly be a little frustrated that you didnt know it earlier. i know that's how i felt.

[TEAK's Mom]

You've already gotten some great suggestions. After you read them, if you are in the mood for quirky history books, try Sarah Vowells. I particularly enjoyed Assassination Vacation about the first few presidential assassinations and The Wordy Shipmates about the puritans. If you can, try the audiobooks since Ms Vowells has an unusual, but seriously cool voice (she played Violet in The Incredibles)

[Thalia the Muse]

I loved Wordy Shipmates! I think it really helped that I read it right after I'd read Nathanial Philbrick's Mayflower, though -- she doesn't give that much historical background, she sort of assumes you know at least some of the context of Puritanism.

[ollyoxenfree]

Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan.

It's a fascinating book about the Paris Peace Conference at the end of WW1. The Allies carved up the spoils of war and set the stage for the major conflicts of the 20th century. There's a global perspective that covers a lot of non-Western European areas that became significant by the end of the century - Asia, the Middle East, the now-former Communist European countries.