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Most Interesting Historical Non-fiction?

Posted on 5/17/11 at 12:54 pm
Posted by audodger
Member since Jun 2010
7077 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 12:54 pm
Recently, I have become very interested in history, but know very little of it. I want to start reading historical non-fiction, but I don't know where to start. Any ideas?
This post was edited on 5/21/17 at 4:08 pm
Posted by etm512
Mandeville, LA
Member since Aug 2005
20753 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 12:57 pm to
Great WWII books about our boys in the trenches:

Band of Brothers
Flags of Our Fathers
Flyboys
Posted by fouldeliverer
Lannisport
Member since Nov 2008
13538 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 12:59 pm to
Posted by keakdasneak
Member since Dec 2006
7137 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 12:59 pm to
Timely suggestion: Rising Tide
Posted by jose canseco
Houston via Houma via BR via NOLA
Member since Jul 2007
5667 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:03 pm to
Depends on your interests. here are four I have recently read and they are all non-fiction


A Long Way Gone (a child soldier account of war in west africa in the mid 90's)
The Hot House (life inside Leavenworth Prison)
Merchant of Death(story of largest gun runner in the world. still at large at time of publishing)
Skydog (Duane Allman story)
This post was edited on 5/17/11 at 1:07 pm
Posted by Methuselah
On da Riva
Member since Jan 2005
23350 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:04 pm to
Undaunted Courage written by Stephen Ambrose about Merriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark was pretty good.
Posted by TigersRuleTheEarth
Laffy
Member since Jan 2007
28643 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:12 pm to


Very interesting book about the beginning of the Rev War and Washington's troops. We weren't exactly scaring the British in the slightest. This book covers the entire year of 1776 and spends a lot of time describing what some would consider America's first major victory: When Washington crossed the Delaware.

I'm not a big history fan, but this book was a great read.
This post was edited on 5/17/11 at 1:13 pm
Posted by Tiger JJ
Member since Aug 2010
545 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:13 pm to
quote:

Undaunted Courage written by Stephen Ambrose about Merriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark was pretty good.


This. It was the most gripped I've ever been by any non-fiction book.
Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
142023 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:14 pm to
Posted by Baloo
Formerly MDGeaux
Member since Sep 2003
49645 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:15 pm to
I'm a huge fan of Meet You In Hell, the story of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Also, Face of Battle might be the best book on war ever written. Read as much John Keegan as you can.
Posted by Tiger JJ
Member since Aug 2010
545 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:15 pm to
The Great Match Race
Six Frigates
Inside Delta Force
A Renegade History of the US
Posted by audodger
Member since Jun 2010
7077 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:35 pm to
You guys are awesome. Thanks!

Please, keep 'em coming. I will order several of these on Amazon tonight.
Posted by molsusports
Member since Jul 2004
36117 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:41 pm to
This is one not many people have probably read but my god it was an interesting read:

LINK

Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier's Flight from the Greatest Manhunt of World War II


Story really gets rolling when a black soldier who has been drugged out and stressed out from the war shoots an officer who tries to disarm him when he is acting in a very unstable fashion.

The guy flees into the woods and lives successfully among head hunters... even marrying the daughter of one of the tribes chiefs

Apparently a true story. Off the charts because it seemed more like historical fiction

Posted by keakdasneak
Member since Dec 2006
7137 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 1:51 pm to
Posted by rutiger
purgatory
Member since Jun 2007
21127 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 2:00 pm to
i read a great book a few year ago about the john wilkes booth manhunt. cant remember the name of the book though.

eta: title is Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
This post was edited on 5/17/11 at 2:02 pm
Posted by Tiger JJ
Member since Aug 2010
545 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 2:02 pm to
Can anyone suggest some good books on WWII and the Eastern Front? I've just finished a 4-part Dan Carline podcast on the Ostfront, and it really opened my eyes. It just is not taught in American schools hardly at all.
Posted by rutiger
purgatory
Member since Jun 2007
21127 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 2:03 pm to
quote:

Timely suggestion: Rising Tide


i read this....good book.
Posted by Stewie Griffin
Baton Rouge
Member since Feb 2005
16148 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 2:09 pm to
The Buccaneers of America - Alexander Exquemelin

A Brief History of American Sports (just the first half, the second half is pretty bad, dual-author)

Posted by Leauxgan
Brooklyn
Member since Nov 2005
17324 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 2:11 pm to
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee w/ photos by Walter Evans

quote:

The book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men grew out of an assignment the two men accepted in 1936 to produce a magazine article on the conditions among white sharecropper families in the U.S. South. It was the time of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs designed to help the poorest segments of the society. Agee and Evans spent eight weeks that summer researching their assignment, mainly among three white sharecropping families mired in desperate poverty. They returned with Evans' portfolio of stark images—of families with gaunt faces, adults and children huddled in bare shacks before dusty yards in the Depression-era nowhere of the deep south—and Agee's detailed notes.


It's a microlook at America during that time, basically three slices of life rather than panning back and looking at systematic effects. The prose is incredible. Actually it reads more like poetry.
Posted by Tiger Ryno
#WoF
Member since Feb 2007
103099 posts
Posted on 5/17/11 at 2:13 pm to
monster of florence by Doug Preston and Mario Spezi is an outstanding true crime book with a bit of a twist. Oustanding read. Probably will be made into a movie
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