Recommended Historical Nonfiction

Peter Hopkirk's books are entertaining and informative.

My favourite is 'The Great Game'

It really does read like an adventure story, and given the subject matter, his style really works. It inspired me to write the book that's now my avatar.

The Warrior Generals by Thomas Buell. It sounds deadly but it is not. As Civil War books go, this is one is a little outside the envelope because it concentrates on generals other than Grant, Lee, Sherman and Jackson.

Thomas Costain is mostly out of print but his novels on the Plantagenet family and the Wars of the Roses are worth reading if you can find them--s6

I love historical fiction. In fact, I teach historical fiction at my kids home school/public school co-op. I agree with you that history doesn't need to be dull, and that is what I want to share with the kids. I don't suppose you want a list of great kids historical fiction though. I must make one exception. . .

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett It's about Anna Comnena of the Byzantine Empire.

Okay books for grown-ups, LOL!

Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy by Lisa See I learned more than I wanted to know about the Communist regime there. By that I don't mean it was boring, not at all. It was just really sad.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks 17th Century England

Monuments Men by Robert Edsel Okay, I haven't actually read it, but I'm planning on it. I just saw the movie and I loved it. It's about WWII.

I don't know if you are in to American History, but I've read just about everything David McCullough has ever written. It's not dry at all. I'd start with 1776. To me, it was a page-turner. So was Mornings on Horseback, about Teddy Roosevelt.

Conn Iggulden's series about Genghis Khan is pretty fun dramatized history.

Nancy Mitford, who was a writer of great wit, style and snark (and wrote several fine novels) wrote a delightful book about Louis XIV and his court, called The Sun King.

The late Barbara Tuchman wrote a lot of good history books. My favorite is A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century.

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose is a page-turner. Also, Michael Shaara's Killer Angels might suit what you are looking for.

For historical fiction in medieval England, check out Elizabeth Chadwick's books. My favorite is The Greatest Knight about William Marshal, but she's written many novels about that period in history.

As for history books that aren't dry--my favorite is Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild. It's about the British abolition movement. Such a page turner.

I really enjoyed Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley. I've also heard really amazing things about Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand although I haven't read it yet. Both are WWII era.

I know they don't have swords, but I think they're worth checking out.

I'm afraid most of my reading is in American history, but I'd love to share some of my favorites.
I will echo the recommendation for David McCullough. His writing style is lovely. He is a writer first and then a historian so the history isn't flawless, but the writing is delightful. His Teddy Roosevelt biography kind of irritated me though, so that wouldn't be my first choice.
Last Call by Daniel Okrent is a really fun treatment of prohibition. The middle part kind of dragged, but the beginning and the end were riveting political tales.
You like wars and stuff, so you should check out War without Mercy by John Dower. It's about the racial dimensions of the war in the Pacific and it is a very interesting angle. Also, it's totally depressing. Speaking of depressing, you should read Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed. Sledge was a marine in World War II, and this is his memoir, and nothing has made that conflict feel as real to me as that book did. It's. . .horrifying.
I haven't actually read it, but Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson is supposed to be THE work on the Civil War. I have read another one of his books though, and I found it to be well-written, so I feel comfortable recommending it.
Good luck. I will be following this thread carefully, since I love reading historical stuff, both fiction and otherwise, but dear goodness yes, some historians are just terrible writers.
A couple of tricks I use in vetting: journalists are typically pretty decent writers, so if you find that in the bio it's usually a good sign. Also, unlike historian prizes like the Bancroft, nominees and winners of the Pulitzer are typically reasonably well-written.

Just finished Ade Tinniswood's Pirates of Barbary. It's a real romp so if you like adventures and swordfights, it should be right up your alley. Truth really is stranger and more entertaining than fiction sometimes!

A book I just recommended to someone elsewhere on AW, which reminded me to mention it here: The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence. Setting: Arabia & Syria in WWI. It's a fantastic adventure story, PLUS a manual and theory of guerrilla warfare, PLUS a fascinating portrait of a complex & troubled individual, PLUS it explains an awful lot about exactly why the world is so messed up now, a hundred years later. PLUS Lawrence was a brilliant writer & an excellent observer, and there are passages of breathtaking beauty in almost every chapter.

It reads exactly like fiction. But it's all, sadly, true.

Lauram6123 said:

I don't know if you are in to American History, but I've read just about everything David McCullough has ever written. It's not dry at all. I'd start with 1776. To me, it was a page-turner. So was Mornings on Horseback, about Teddy Roosevelt.

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Hi! I want to 2nd anything by David McCullough--its great to see another fan here! I agree that 1776 would be a good start, although if you have the patience for length The Path Between the Seas is outstanding.

Manuel Royal said:

The late Barbara Tuchman wrote a lot of good history books. My favorite is A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century.

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Yes, I am also a great fan of Tuchman! I have read The Guns of August many times, along with most of her other work (including Distant Mirror.) If length is intimidating, perhaps start with The Zimmerman Telegram.

The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis is a classic, very readable. It has swords in it.

It has no swords in it but the classic work about the Titanic, Walter Lord's A Night to Remember is a benchmark for the kind of popular, readable, historical non-fiction you're asking about.

Patrick Collinson did a short popular history of the Reformation simply called The Reformation a few years back and it's very good. Everyone has a sword in it.

Robert Roberts' The Classic Slum about early 20th century life in Manchester is very readable, interwoven with the author's own experience. Nobody has a sword in that one, though - they'd all pawned their weapons to buy pieces of stale bread dipped in lard or something.

Frances Hill's A Delusion of Satan is the best single volume work on the Salem trials, has swords in it, and is extremely readable.

Hope this helps!

The Return of Martin Guerre is a wonderful book! My first year in grad school I took a seminar that was 100% Martin Guerre - the movie was just out, so we read Davis's book (the original movie tie-in edition, in French), but also a lot of the original documents in the case, & other items in the legal & cultural context, and we came to some slightly different interpretations of what was going on than Davis did. But it's a fascinating window onto a world we rarely see with such vividness. (For those who don't know the story, Martin Guerre was a young Basque peasant in mid-16c France who abandoned his wife & child & family & vanished completely for about 10 years. Then a man turned up who said he was Martin, & Martin's wife & uncle claimed to recognize him, & everyone settled down -- he was a much nicer & more responsible man now, & the whole community was happier without a Martin-shaped hole in it. But then... the real Martin came back. And things got messy. And litigious.)

benbenberi said:

The Return of Martin Guerre is a wonderful book!

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Indeed! Davis is an excellent writer. Our staff historian waxes lyrical about her constantly.

It was also adapted for the Hollywood screen as Sommersby if we remember correctly.


Another suggestion - The Voices of Morebath by Eamon Duffy. It's about the Reformation period in a remote English village. Doesn't read at all badly, and has swords in it.

Thomas Cahill is a wonderful writer -- Mysteries of the Middle Ages was one of my favorites.

David Herlihy's book on the Black Plague was excellent, though a bit dated now.

Ross King is also an excellent writer - Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and Brunelleschi's Dome are both highly recommended.

If you can find it, The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey -- really good tale about a girl in New Orleans who sued for her freedom from slavery.

My students have liked Devil in the White City by Erik Laarson, Unbroken and Seabiscuit by Laruen Hillenbrand, Flags of our Fathers, The Airmen and the Headhunters, The Forgotten 500 . . . all about American history, but if they can keep a college student's attention, they must be good.

Lauram6123 said:

I don't know if you are in to American History, but I've read just about everything David McCullough has ever written. It's not dry at all. I'd start with 1776. To me, it was a page-turner. So was Mornings on Horseback, about Teddy Roosevelt.

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Agreed - also his biography of John Adams.

Another good one is David Cordingly, who has written numerous books on pirate history.

If I may "reboot" this thread...

I'm very fond of Liza Picard's series of books about historical London. My very favorite is Dr. Johnson's London, followed by Elizabeth's London, Restoration London, and Victorian London.

Lots of people have read Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Good Wives, but I don't hear much about A Midwife's Tale, in which Ms. Ulrich presents the actual diary of a New England midwife (1785-1812), and then she interprets the information through the eyes of a researcher and historian.

And then there's Candice Millard's wonderful Destiny of the Republic, about President Garfield and his assassination, and the changes that came about as a result of the tragic loss of such a remarkable young man. Changes like Bell's proto x-ray and the wholesale acceptance of Dr. Lister's suggestion that washing one's hands and instruments was good if one were a physician. Seriously, US doctors rejected his protocols until Garfield died of blood poisoning from doctors sticking their dirty fingers in the wound to find the bullet. Her other book, The River of Doubt, about Theodore Roosevelt's ill-fated trip down the Amazon, is equally enjoyable, but less about US culture at the time.

I like Ian Mortimer for medieval England. Also Andrew Bridgeford whose "1066" and "1215" read very nicely indeed, while being true to what is known of social conditions in those very pivotal years.

Can't offer much in the way of advice in other periods. The 10th-14th C in England is where my soul lives.