funnily enough, Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer. What a fascinating character.

Another great book (though perhaps not for kids) is the Gothic Enterprise, about how and why medieval cathedrals got built. I didn't expect much when I started it but there's an insight on every page - brings huge chunks of history together and brings the period to life. Example -- paper wasn't in common use until the 13th century, but the stonemasons managed to design and build over generations without it.

The problem with history class (well, any HS class really) and textbooks is the amount of information that needs to be covered over the course of a year. A teacher taking time out of the class to read a novel is an excellent idea but it comes with content consequences. If the entire HS calendar year were allowed to limit the content to just, for example, WWII, then the information would be presented differently in both class and in literature.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

April 1865 by Jay Winik
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
John Adams by David McCullough
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough
American Lion:Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham

churchills letters - winstone and clementine

sumption 100 year war vol 1 - this guy is a supreme court justice and writes these for fun

Ropers letters - https://www.amazon.com/...ywords=roper+letters

anything by ben macintyre

https://www.amazon.com/...481831352&sr=1-1

letters are interesting - they are of their time - its different now, but 146 characters were not an option so they are an interesting reflection on a time when communication was both more considered and extensive

plus - I'm not sure who winstons "kardashians" were

I'm a big fan of McCullough's, those two you listed are my favorites of his. 1776 is a nice compliment to John Adams.


I'll add to the list Hamilton by Ron Chernow and No Ordinary Time from Doris Kearns Goodwin - very detailed look at FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt during his Presidency, especially the war years.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

All the Ambrose and McCullough books are good.

For a great read on a soldiers life in WWII I'd recommend Here is Your War and Brave Men by Ernie Pyle.

Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn


Best and the brightest


The Origin of Species


The Last Lion Box Set: Winston Spencer Churchill, 1874 - 1965 [Book]

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

2nd the Last Lion

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Another vote for The Wright Brothers. Also, Dead Wake which is about the sinking of the Lusitania. Both books came out in the last year or two.

"The First World War" by Martin Gilbert is an excellent primer on WW1.

"All the Devils are Here" is a fascinating book about the 2008 financial meltdown.

"Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin is a great book about Lincoln.

"The Civil War" trilogy by Shelby Foote is an absolutely epic look at the Civil War.

"Gettysburg" by Noah Trudeau is excellent. His book on Sherman's March to the Sea wasn't as good, IMO.

"Parkland" by Vincent Bugliosi is a very detailed look at JFK's assasination, and is very well done.

I'll also second "April, 1865" by Jay Winik, although he had a second book about an earlier era that I didn't like as much, and never finished.

Just starting "Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War" by Max Hastings; so far, so good, although I think he's a bit too agenda driven in blaming Germany for the start of WWI.

"No True Glory" by Bing West is an excellent book on the battle for Fallujah.

"Days of Fire: The Bush and Cheney White House" is a really good, objective view of the Bush years by a NYT reporter.

"A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn" is excellent.

"The Looming Tower" is a really good book about the lead up to 9-11.

"The Outpost" by Jake Trapper is really good about a remote outpost (OP Keating) in Afghanistan that almost gets overrun by the Taliban.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Not books but podcasts. I enjoy listening to "Hardcore History" by Dan Carlin on long rides and on the wind trainer.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror. Guns of August is also really good, but very different subject (14th century versus the lead up to WWI).

Killer Angels

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Part of my AP US History and AP Gov classes were reading books over the summer. That's one way to do it.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Just finishing up "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome." Lots of detail but brisk pace and really enjoyable to read.

Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West

https://www.amazon.com/...erican/dp/1400031109

Love history books:

McCollough:
Wright Brothers, 1776, Mornings on Horseback

Nathaniel Philbrick:

The Last Stand: Custer Sitting Bull and the Battle of Little Big Horn

Bunker Hill: A City A Siege and A revolution

Others:
Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to The Mountain Men

+1 on McCullough.

The Path Between the Seas, about the building of the Panama Canal is pretty old, but quite good

That's a novel. Sorry but it's not classifed as history. Michael Shaara's writing style is to give a perspective from the characters but he never interviewed the characters or used their writings. He makes it up as he thinks it might have happened. Makes for good storytelling.

Your taste is impeccable.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."