Recommend me some history books

Cafe Society
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I did this back just before Covid and got some great suggestions, but that was a long time ago so I’m hoping folks have some new ideas for me.

What I don’t like: overly general surveys (“history of Ireland”, etc.), military history (I will read about the causes/effects of the war, but my mind goes blank when reading about hardware, troop movements, and battle strategy).
Also a book I can finish in a reasonable amount of time, so typically <500 pages (I work two jobs, so my reading time is fairly limited. A 900 page book may take me months to get through)
Not really interested in biographies of a single person.

Some I have read and enjoyed: pretty much all of Candice Millard’s books; “1877: America’s Year of Living Violently” (Michelle Bellisiles); “Devil in the White City”; "All the Shah’s Men (Stephen Kinzer); “King Leopold’s Ghost”; “When Montezuma Met Cortes” (Matthew Restall)

So what should I be reading that I’m not?

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Here is a best history books of 2024; anything strike your fancy?

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Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers, saw Vietnam from both the ground and the highest corridors of power.

His memoir, Secrets, was a compelling read (and though it comes in at 12 pages more than your limit, it goes fast)

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I mentioned elsewhere that I’m reading Hampton Sides’ book about James Cook’s last voyage of exploration. Very interesting and well-written.

If you like exploration I can’t recommend White Nile by Alan Moorehead highly enough.

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What era of history do you like?

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I tend to read more modern era—say, 1400s or later but I’ll read pretty much any era. I don’t know that I have a favorite.

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If you’re interested in American elections, I recommend David Petrusza:

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A New World Begins by Jeremy D. Popkin.

Slightly over 500 pages but a solid, easily digestible history of the French Revolution.

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Bill Bryson’s One Summer: America, 1927 is fun and informative, though Bryson is by no means a professional historian.

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Rachel Maddow’s Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism is mandatory reading for what lies ahead, as the best history is. It covers the right-wing movement in the Depression, when capitalism seemed broken.

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The Military Experience in the Age of Reason, 1988 by Christopher Duffy

You could not pick a worse title for a more interesting book. Duffy is fascinated by the Early Modern Era (1500-1700) and pulls you along for the ride. In particular here he focuses on why and how Europe went from fielding dirty bands of spear chucking gangs to our modern understanding of a professional military force. Not just weapons and tactics, but everything a human has to deal with on campaign. While he dives into specific examples it’s often only to color the commentary about all facets of the common regular soldier’s life in different nations and decades. These frequent diatribes would be distracting but they’re so damn interesting I’ll more often bookmark them to read again later or quote in future online arguments.

The title makes it the last book anyone would take poolside on a vacation and yet that is exactly where I would take this when I want to read it again.

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I recently finished 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline about the Bronze Age Collapse and The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization Began by Valerie Hansen.

Both were enjoyable reads.

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Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America by Eric Jay Dolin (2011)

Pretty much what the title says.

I particularly liked the focus on both sides of the trade, i.e. not just the European colonizers, mountain men and coureurs des bois, but also the various natives tribes they encountered over the centuries, starting with the Iroquoians and then later Lakota, Blackfoot and Chinook for instance.

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How about a historical murder mystery:

On Cromwell’s Protectorate regime

On outsiders’ reactions to Nazi Germany:

On post-WW2 Germany:

On the rise and fall of the GDR:

Anything by Simon Schama - but would these be too general:

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a lot of good suggestions here…and the only one that’s been suggested so far that I’ve already read is Simon Schama’s “Citizens”, which I loved.

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Previous thread on this topic

What are some of your favorite history books? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board

I have an interest in World War 1

  • The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East* Eugene L Rogan
  • A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire* Gregory Wawro
  • Mimi and Toutou’s Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika* GIles Foden

All three books describe the experience of the common soldiers and other people caught up in the mess that was the War to end all Wars, something often missing in military history.