That’s presumably a typo. Schama’s series has 15 parts not 3. But it is an excellent series (and is posted on You Tube).
Schama’s Power of Art documentary series is also very good, although less history based.
eta: And then I belatedly realized you’re talking about the book series not the television series. The books were written as a companion work to a BBC series.
Robert Caro (mentioned above). Although I suppose he’s more of a biographer than a historian.
Steven Runciman (now deceased). His three-volume history of the Crusades is amazing. He was a really, really good writer, in addition to being a serious historian. He mostly wrote about Byzantium and events that affected Byzantium, but that included, obviously, the Crusades, and Sicily.
Another interesting general history of the Crusades is The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf. I think most histories that Americans and Europeans read treat the Crusades from a western viewpoint. They start in Europe, talk about the background of Urban’s pronouncement, and then follow the Crusaders to the Holy Lands.
Maalouf’s book tells the story from a different viewpoint. He presents it from the point of view of the people in the Holy Lands who suddenly found themselves being invaded by foreign barbarians.
Niall Ferguson. I knew him before his superstardom…
I’m not a fan of my ex-wife’s work, but not for any academic reasons, you understand.
Shelby Foote and the Civil War
David McCullough, Shelby Foote and Jared Diamond are all good writers and have a good televised presence too.
if i would have to select a singular favorite it would be David McCullough.
Right! I forgot that. I have a copy at home – I think it’s published by Penguin. One of these days I’m going to have to get around to reading it.
Books, TV–they’re all good.
Caught my wife watching a Schama documentary and thought for a moment, “Good. She’s an English credit away from an Art History degree and loves to disagree with experts,” but it was something about the Jews. By the way, nobody knows a documentary about 15th Century Italian altarpieces, do you? She’d love to disagree with that. However, she don’t disagree with nuns about nuthin’, so Sister Wendy is right out. 
Tried reading it, but it was all stuff I already knew and assumed was common knowledge and his theory seemed so obvious as to be boring. In retrospect it might have just been a topic I’ve long followed and thought about, not stuff everybody else knows.
Okay, how about Michael Wood? His books are more complete than his shows. And John Romer for his Egypt and Bible stuff. And I have to plug Adrienne Mayor because she contacted me after my booby trap staff report. I think she thought I was Cecil.
David McCullough. I’ll bet he is an awesome Grandpa.
Runciman is great, I’ve read his “The Medieval Manichee.” Eric Hobsbawm is awesome as well, though as a lifelong communist his political allegiances are going to be different than most Americans.
Isaac Asimov.