Hello There, Guest! (LoginRegister)

Post Reply 
Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Author Message
JerryJeff Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,469
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation: 218
I Root For:
Location:
Post: #21
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
I just started one that looks to be promising. It's called "The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright. It recently came out as a mini series on Hulu. It's about the events that led to the creation of Al Qaeda and eventually 9/11. It starts in the 1930's and chronicles it's way forward. Pretty fascinating IMO.
02-19-2018 12:27 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
tanqtonic Offline
Hall of Famer
*

Posts: 19,112
Joined: Nov 2016
Reputation: 775
I Root For: rice
Location:
Post: #22
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
On a lighter note, has anyone read the Flashman series? Think of a history book with a comedic character placed at very interesting crossroads of history from the 1830s to the late 1880s.

The author (Fraser) had been a scholarly author of history with no sales. He then thought of dropping the cowardly Harry Flashman into British and world events (retreat from Afghanistan to India, Chinese uprising, rise of Bismark and the modern German state, Custer and Little Big Horn, charge of the Light Brigade) with a healthy dollop of very serious factual backgrounds to each event.
02-19-2018 02:20 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Lord Stanley Offline
L'Étoile du Nord
*

Posts: 19,103
Joined: Feb 2005
Reputation: 994
I Root For: NIU
Location: Cold. So cold......
Post: #23
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Just ordered this book:

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

Quote:Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death.

https://www.amazon.com/Island-Lost-Shipw...B001DA9J4O

Shipwrecked / castaways stories are by far and away my favorite non-fiction.
02-20-2018 01:43 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Lush Offline
go to hell and get a job
*

Posts: 16,204
Joined: May 2004
Reputation: 395
I Root For: the user
Location: sovereign ludditia
Post: #24
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
(02-20-2018 01:43 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Just ordered this book:

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

Quote:Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death.

https://www.amazon.com/Island-Lost-Shipw...B001DA9J4O

Shipwrecked / castaways stories are by far and away my favorite non-fiction.

i've wanted to get into shackleton but after reading the novel solomon gursky was here, i'd be really interested in the early arctic explorers. henry hudson would be a great read
02-20-2018 02:09 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Owl 69/70/75 Online
Just an old rugby coach
*

Posts: 80,655
Joined: Sep 2005
Reputation: 3192
I Root For: RiceBathChelsea
Location: Montgomery, TX

DonatorsNew Orleans Bowl
Post: #25
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Peter Zeihan, THE ACCIDENTAL SUPER POWER and THE ABSENT SUPER POWER.

Interestingly, was turned onto Zeihan by a left wing friend who is the only person ever to defriend me on Facebook. Did it because of TDS.
02-20-2018 05:13 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
AdoptedMonarch Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 7,448
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 1943
I Root For: Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, Va.
Post: #26
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
(02-20-2018 01:43 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Just ordered this book:

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

Quote:Auckland Island is a godforsaken place in the middle of the Southern Ocean, 285 miles south of New Zealand. With year-round freezing rain and howling winds, it is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death.

https://www.amazon.com/Island-Lost-Shipw...B001DA9J4O

Shipwrecked / castaways stories are by far and away my favorite non-fiction.

In which case you've probably already read -- but if you haven't, I highly recommend -- "Batavia's Graveyard" by Mike Dash.

It recounts the shipwreck of a large merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company on the remote islands west of Australia. It turned into a bloodbath.
02-21-2018 06:46 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Lord Stanley Offline
L'Étoile du Nord
*

Posts: 19,103
Joined: Feb 2005
Reputation: 994
I Root For: NIU
Location: Cold. So cold......
Post: #27
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
(02-21-2018 06:46 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  In which case you've probably already read -- but if you haven't, I highly recommend -- "Batavia's Graveyard" by Mike Dash.

It recounts the shipwreck of a large merchant ship of the Dutch East India Company on the remote islands west of Australia. It turned into a bloodbath.

I'll put it on the list! I am familiar with story, it's one of the few real castaway shipwrecks marooned people examples in history. True castaways are surprisingly rare, oddly enough.
02-21-2018 10:12 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
JerryJeff Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,469
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation: 218
I Root For:
Location:
Post: #28
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Started one recently that is a good read. It's called "The Road to Jonestown". It's about Jim Jones and the event's that lead to the Jonestown massacre. It's by Jeff Guinn, who also wrote a really good book about Charles Manson.
05-08-2018 02:57 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
AdoptedMonarch Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 7,448
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 1943
I Root For: Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, Va.
Post: #29
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Qualified recommendation: "Toms River" by Dan Fagin.

This book takes the reader on a tour of historic-through-current efforts to explain cancer clusters, and whether they can be tied to chemical pollutants in the air, water or workplace or instead will just be written off as random chance. It is thorough and avoids being alarmist.

I say that this recommendation is qualified because "Toms River" dives very deeply into scientific and statistical discussions. For someone without a firm grasp of these concepts (like me), it at points can become a difficult read. But it ultimately was worth the effort.
(This post was last modified: 10-25-2018 08:36 AM by AdoptedMonarch.)
10-25-2018 07:14 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Lord Stanley Offline
L'Étoile du Nord
*

Posts: 19,103
Joined: Feb 2005
Reputation: 994
I Root For: NIU
Location: Cold. So cold......
Post: #30
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Some recent reads:

Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America
Quote:Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was one of the first Europeans to explore the vast lands of America. Setting off with expedition led by Pánfilo de Narváez in 1527, Cabeza de Vaca was one of only four to return alive. Over an eight-year period he and his companions travelled into the unexplored interior of what is now known as the Caribbean, the United States and Mexico.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/152010...UTF8&psc=1

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
Quote:This widely acclaimed biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader, and Russian tsar.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140007...UTF8&psc=1
10-25-2018 07:35 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
arkstfan Away
Sorry folks
*

Posts: 25,818
Joined: Feb 2004
Reputation: 967
I Root For: Fresh Starts
Location:
Post: #31
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Just started on
Paul Brown: The Man Who Invented Modern Football

Looks like it is going to be good.
10-25-2018 02:15 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
JerryJeff Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,469
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation: 218
I Root For:
Location:
Post: #32
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Reading a book now called "Indianapolis". It's a detailed look at the events leading up to, and following the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during the waning days of WWII. Even includes the Japanese version of events. Incredibly well written. It reads like a novel, hard to put down. Written by two women (Struck me as unusual for a WWII book, but I guess I'm showing my sexist side) named Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic.

The quoted text below is the jacket description.

Quote:Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, days after delivering the components of the atomic bomb from California to the Pacific Islands in the most highly classified naval mission of the war, USS Indianapolis is sailing alone in the center of the Philippine Sea when she is struck by two Japanese torpedoes. The ship is instantly transformed into a fiery cauldron and sinks within minutes. Some 300 men go down with the ship. Nearly 900 make it into the water alive. For the next five nights and four days, almost three hundred miles from the nearest land, the men battle injuries, sharks, dehydration, insanity, and eventually each other. Only 316 will survive.

For the better part of a century, the story of USS Indianapolis has been understood as a sinking tale. The reality, however, is far more complicated—and compelling. Now, for the first time, thanks to a decade of original research and interviews with 107 survivors and eyewit­nesses, Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic tell the complete story of the ship, her crew, and their final mission to save one of their own.

It begins in 1932, when Indianapolis is christened and launched as a ship of state for President Franklin Roosevelt. After Pearl Harbor, Indianapolis leads the charge to the Pacific Islands, notching an unbroken string of victories in an uncharted theater of war. Then, under orders from President Harry Truman, the ship takes aboard a superspy and embarks on her final world-changing mission: delivering the core of the atomic bomb to the Pacific for the strike on Hiroshima. Vincent and Vladic provide a visceral, moment-by-moment account of the disaster that unfolds days later after the Japanese torpedo attack, from the chaos on board the sinking ship to the first moments of shock as the crew plunge into the remote waters of the Philippine Sea, to the long days and nights during which terror and hunger morph into delusion and desperation, and the men must band together to survive.

Then, for the first time, the authors go beyond the men’s rescue to chronicle Indianapolis’s extraordinary final mission: the survivors’ fifty-year fight for justice on behalf of their skipper, Captain Charles McVay III, who is wrongly court-martialed for the sinking. What follows is a captivating courtroom drama that weaves through generations of American presidents, from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, and forever entwines the lives of three captains—McVay, whose life and career are never the same after the scandal; Mochitsura Hashimoto, the Japanese sub commander who sinks Indianapolis but later joins the battle to exonerate McVay; and William Toti, the captain of the modern-day submarine Indianapolis, who helps the survivors fight to vindicate their captain.

A sweeping saga of survival, sacrifice, justice, and love, Indianapolis stands as both groundbreaking naval history and spellbinding narrative—and brings the ship and her heroic crew back to full, vivid, unforgettable life. It is the definitive account of one of the most remarkable episodes in American history.
(This post was last modified: 12-17-2018 04:35 PM by JerryJeff.)
12-17-2018 04:32 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
AdoptedMonarch Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 7,448
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 1943
I Root For: Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, Va.
Post: #33
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Finished over the holidays "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Univ. of Jerusalem professor Yuval Noah Harari.

It is well written and very interesting, albeit from an author with a surprisingly low opinion of humanity.
01-01-2019 06:42 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
AdoptedMonarch Offline
Heisman
*

Posts: 7,448
Joined: May 2012
Reputation: 1943
I Root For: Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, Va.
Post: #34
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
"Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides (the same author as "Hellhound on his Trail").

The first 100-or-so pages are choppy, as he sets the stage for the Bataan Death March and imprisonment of allied soldiers left behind in the Philippines, but then it gains speed and becomes a riveting story.
02-15-2019 07:23 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
NIU007 Offline
Legend
*

Posts: 34,240
Joined: Sep 2004
Reputation: 315
I Root For: NIU, MAC
Location: Naperville, IL
Post: #35
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
Winged Warfare by Billy Bishop (WWI ace). It was part of a 2-book package that included "Winged Peace" about his attempts to have an aviation company after WWI - but I didn't find that book as interesting.

Thought I might have mentioned this one already but maybe it was a different thread: "Shattered Sword" - about the Battle of Midway and activities leading up to it, told from the Japanese side.
(This post was last modified: 02-15-2019 09:10 AM by NIU007.)
02-15-2019 09:03 AM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
JerryJeff Offline
All American
*

Posts: 3,469
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation: 218
I Root For:
Location:
Post: #36
RE: Recommendations for interesting non-fiction history books
(02-15-2019 07:23 AM)AdoptedMonarch Wrote:  "Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides (the same author as "Hellhound on his Trail").

The first 100-or-so pages are choppy, as he sets the stage for the Bataan Death March and imprisonment of allied soldiers left behind in the Philippines, but then it gains speed and becomes a riveting story.

The only book of his I didn't like was the one about Kit Carson. He is a Memphis boy to boot!
02-15-2019 03:43 PM
Find all posts by this user Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 




User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


Copyright © 2002-2024 Collegiate Sports Nation Bulletin Board System (CSNbbs), All Rights Reserved.
CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.
This site monetizes links. FTC Disclosure.
We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To learn more about this behavioral advertising practice or to opt-out of this type of advertising, you can visit http://www.networkadvertising.org.
Powered By MyBB, © 2002-2024 MyBB Group.