# Who is your favorite Popular Historian? And who do you dislike? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537 "2014-08-01T00:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/1 "2014-08-01T00:03:48Z")
I’m reading Bruce Catton’s _This Hallowed Ground_ and am enjoying it immensely. He writes with a verve and passion that belies his painstaking accuracy. I also like John Keegan, who I understand can be a controversial choice, though I don’t know why. They both are great admirers of US Grant, like I am, though Catton is the more-entertaining writer. As well as a topic of conversation, this thread is a way to suss out who else I should or shouldn’t read. I prefer military history, but I’m open to anything from anywhen so don’t feel limited. I am especially interested in British historians who are not crashing bores, as most of them seem to be. (I remember reading one who gave the appearance of being overly deferential to the nobility, droning on and on about Sir This and Lord That. :rolleyes: ) Who’s good with the big picture? The small picture? Who should never have been allowed near a pen and paper, typewriter, or word processor? Who has a big reputation but is often wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/2 "2014-08-01T00:35:52Z")
H.W. Brands is a personal favorite. As for somebody who probably doesn’t deserve his reputation, there’s Stephen Ambrose. He’s a really popular historian and his writing is excellent. But there have been a number of accusations that he plagiarized some of his work and made up other parts. He hasn’t been discredited but his work is now viewed with some suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/3 "2014-08-01T00:40:54Z")
Richard Rhodes wrote the definitive histories of the atomic weapons programs and stands as a personal benchmark for lucidity and detail and sheer readability. Michael Beschloss rates high on my list. I just finished Daniel Okrent’s book on Prohibition and had to write and compliment him on an obscure point. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/4 "2014-08-01T01:30:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > H.W. Brands is a personal favorite. And I see he also likes Grant, though I expect to be sick of the fellow soon. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/5 "2014-08-01T02:44:29Z")
Jared Diamond. I love “Guns, Germs and Steel”. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/6 "2014-08-01T02:49:19Z")
Ken Burns ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/7 "2014-08-01T10:47:57Z")
Not a writer, but I’m partial to Tony Robinson’s TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/8 "2014-08-01T11:51:11Z")
Dislike: Tom Holland. Victor Davis Hanson Like: On economic affairs, Niall Ferguson. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/9 "2014-08-01T12:16:54Z")
Page Smith. His 8 volume “People’s History of the United States” is one of the most readable histories of the US that I’ve ever found. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/10 "2014-08-01T13:24:16Z")
Simon Schama. His 3-part _History of Britain_ is terrific, as is his book on the French Revolution, _Citizens_. He’s just such a damn good writer. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/11 "2014-08-01T14:57:42Z")
Barbara Tuchman, if one is allowed to mention dead historians. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/12 "2014-08-01T14:59:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Barbara Tuchman, if one is allowed to mention dead historians. Shh! No! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/13 "2014-08-01T15:32:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > H.W. Brands is a personal favorite. Yeah, me too. And David McCullough, of course. Doris Kearnes Goodwin. Joseph J. Ellis. My wife loved loved \*loved \*Alison Weir, and while the Tudors and Stuarts aren’t my favorite history subject, I have to admit I like the two books of hers I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/14 "2014-08-01T15:38:23Z")
Will and Ariel Durant - their 11 volume _History of Civilization_ sits proudly on my shelf. Paul Johnson, especially _The Birth of the Modern_. Sir Peter Hall, _Cities in Civilization_. And for a guy who historians (both real and actual) can’t stand because his research isn’t all that great, but wrote one of the more enjoyable historical potboilers, is William Manchester’s _A World Lit Only by Fire_, about the Renaissance/Reformation period. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/15 "2014-08-01T16:48:01Z")
Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/16 "2014-08-01T17:02:31Z")
Rick Atkinson (WWII trilogy) and Nathaniel Philbrick (Bunker Hill and others). Stephen Ambrose, if for nothing else other than _Undaunted Courage_. Michael Tougias, for his books on disasters and survival. Older stuff: Alan Moorehead (a WWII war correspondent), for his books on WWII, Gallipoli, and for two of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever read: _Blue Nile_ and _White Nile_, about British exploration and the search for the river’s source. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/17 "2014-08-01T17:06:50Z")
Dan Carlin for his Hardcore History podcasts. I know very little about history and it’s always interested me, and his shows have kept my attention and helped get me through long days ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/18 "2014-08-01T22:59:17Z")
Ed Bearss Edited to add…maybe he doesn’t qualify as popular within the meaning of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/19 "2014-08-01T23:31:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Barbara Tuchman, if one is allowed to mention dead historians. Why wouldn’t you be allowed? A trait of humans is a group memory that crosses the generations. > [@What\_the](#): > > Ed Bearss > > Edited to add…maybe he doesn’t qualify as popular within the meaning of the OP. I read Catton to myself in Bearss’ voice. They seem made for each other. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Not a writer, but I’m partial to Tony Robinson’s TV shows. Y’know, for a guy who never took his A-Levels, which I take to mean he graduated high school but did not intend to go to college, he done good. Real good: two honorary MAs, four honorary doctorates, and a knighthood. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537/20 "2014-08-02T00:28:51Z")
If you’re looking for great history, check out Robert Caro’s multi-volume of Lyndon Johnson. It’s a classic in the making. And don’t be daunted by its length; it’s very readable. Another great recent classic is Robert Massie’s _Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War_. Massie’s written several other very good books but this one is his best. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-popular-historian-and-who-do-you-dislike/694537.md?page=2)