Your Ten Indispensable History Books

[Randomizer]

In no particular order, any era, any language, any author. Must be non-fiction, relate to any historical subject and complete sets count as one book so Clay Blair's two volume Hitler's U-Boat War equals one book for those so inclined. You need not own your choices now or at any time past; reading it and being somehow impressed is quite enough.

1. The Pity of War: Explaining World War 1 - Niall Ferguson

2. From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow (5-volumes) - Arthur Marder

3. The Civil War: A Narrative (3 volumes) - Shelby Foote

4. The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command - Andrew Gordon

5. Canadians Fighting the Great War (2-volumes) - Tim Cook

6. Hell in a Very Small Place: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu - Bernard Fall

7. Fleet Tactics; Theory and Practice - Wayne P. Hughes

8. The War of the World: 20th Century Conflict and the Descent of the West - Niall Ferguson

9. Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West - Tom Holland

10. Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy - David Stevenson

If I could only save ten titles from my library it would be these, hopefully others will share theirs...

[Sailor Steve]

Oh great. Only ten? I don't even know where to start. I assume we're not including reference works.

1. Jefferson the Virginian, by Dumas Malone - 6 volumes, 3500 pages. If I could only have one of the six Jefferson biographies I read in 2006-7 that would be it.

2. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson. The best single-volume biography on Franklin, and possible the best of any.

3. Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May - September 1787, by Catherine Drinker Bowen.

4. William Marshal, the Flower of Chivalry, by Georges Duby

5. A very nice history of the British monarchy from the 400s, which is in my storage so I can't remember the exact name or author.

6. Robin Hood, by J.C. Holt. A concise exploration of all the ballads and examination of the possible truths behind them.

7. Guns At Sea, by Peter Padfield. The history of naval gunnery from the middle ages to World War 2, including the development of modern fire control.

8. The Naval War of 1812, by Theodore Roosevelt.

9. The Civil War At Sea, by Virgil Carrington Jones (3 volumes). Of all the books on the subject (and I own several) this is at the top of my list.

10. Annals, by Tacitus.

[Randomizer]

Interesting selection, SS!

One had to draw a line somewhere, my criteria was that if the house was on fire and SWMBO and Cat were safe, these would be the first armload of books carried to safety. Ten was arbitrary.

Edited to add

Reference books are fine and a set of encyclopedias counts as one! Am not even married to ten titles, it seemed like a nice round number and even I had to discard many favourites from my initial selection just to get there. I just wanted to get a sense of what books have shaped the Forum Member's historical perspectives.

[Sailor Steve]

Maybe not so dead. Here in the US, anyway, it's getting late.

On the other hand, maybe a lot of folks haven't read ten history books. :dead:

[Egan]

Interesting selection, SS!

One had to draw a line somewhere, my criteria was that if the house was on fire and SWMBO and Cat were safe, these would be the first armload of books carried to safety. Ten was arbitrary.

However with only 26-views and just one response, this will obviously be a dead thread.

It'll take me a day or two before I can narrow it down to just ten. Give me time!:DL

[Egan]

This is a hard question, isn't it? I could probably pick ten favourite novels far more quickly than I can ten history books. My choices aren't complete by any means - I'm sure there will be books I've forgotten and there are others that, for whatever reason, I've decided aren't really history books even though they deal with something of a historical nature, such as Simon Louvish's biographies of the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy even though both books deal with the evolution of screen comedy. I've also tried to limit the number of 'military history' titles because I'm quite sure we could all fill several lists full of our favourites even though they are often covering the same ground. Mind you, there are still plenty here....

OK. In no particular order because it is impossible to choose favourites.

Silent Victory - Clay Blair.

I've always preferred this to his U-boat books, possibly because I'm more interested in the PTO but also because he seems more at 'home' writing about his own war. Huge, exhaustive (and exhausting) and essential reading for anyone interested in the US submarine war.

Roman Triumph - Mary Beard

A look at Roman triumphal processions, their history, evolution and importance to both the Roman people and their ruling classes. Focuses on Pompey's triple triumph (over the Spanish rebels, the pirates of the eastern Med and Mithridates,) that took place over three days in 88bc. what a weekend to go on hoilday to Rome that would have been...

Pax Britannica - Jan Morris

A nice counter point to the Mary Beard Book. Morris is one of Britain's outstanding writers usually more famous for travel writing than anything else but her books always refuse to separate history from the present. This one is part of a trilogy covering 'Modern' British history through the latter days of the empire and this volume takes as it's focus the Diamond Jubilee of Victoria in 1897.

Bright Young Things - DJ Taylor

I'll lay my cards on the table: I think Evelyn Waugh is one of the greatest writers in the English language to ever live. Although this book isn't about him he does crop up along with other luminaries such as the various Mitford Sisters. It is a history of the social world of England's rich and powerful youth between the wars, and how it all eventually came to an end of sorts. It is very much the world that Waugh writes about so well, and one can easily see where characters like Charles Rider came from.

Shattered Sword: The untold story of the battle of Midway - Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully

Now regarded, I think, as one of the finest slices of military history out there. It is a huge book, covering in amazing detail the battle from the Japanese point of view. Never dry and always interesting it moves along at a fair old clip, just like all the best novels.

World of Yesterday - Stefan Zweig

Zweig was a Jewish Writer who escaped Europe at the start of the Second World War and later penned this ode to the vanished world of Viennese intellectual society before it was rubbed out of history by the Nazis. Although it's really an autobiography, it delivers so much more than that. For anyone with an interest in European culture it will make you want a time machine.

Hitler's Empire - Mark Mazower

A vast book dealing with two things: how German rule in occupied Europe came to take on all the hallmarks of imperial ideology, and how the occupied nations responded to this new order.

From the Gracchi to Nero: A history of Rome - HH Scullard

My go to book for a lot of Roman history. Covers a vast sweep in a suitable dense, dusty academic style that simply assumes you speak Latin (which I wish I did!). A little bit dated now, but it's a treasure trove that makes no concessions to brevity or popularism whist remaining very readable.

The Third Reich - A new History - Michael Burleigh

Burleigh is a writer I admire without really loving, but this is a fantastic examination of how the Nazis came to power and what they did when they got there. Although I don't think he brings anything blindingly new to the discussion I would recommend this to anyone who wants to move beyond the basics of understanding Nazi Germany. Besides, any historian who (correctly) describes Himmler as a 'moralizing little creep' deserves to be read!

Battalion - a History of an infantry battalions war from El Alamein to the Elbe - Alastair Borthwhick

Having read the book several times, I discovered that Alastair was a friend of my father. Alas, by that point Alastair had passed on and I never had the opportunity to talk to him. This book began life as the history of his battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and had not been meant for anyone other than the veterans. Eventually, though, it made it's way into the world at large where is arrived on the desk of a BBC producer who optioned it for a television series. Somewhere along the way, the BBC decided to shelve this in favour of a joint project with HBO about some American paratroopers. A shame I think. I wonder what ever happened to that HBO project? :DL

It's a great book, full of love and humour and horror with some fascinating insights into the differing faces of war between North Africa, Sicily and the Western front.


Cicero: A Turbulent Life - Anthony Everitt

A fantastic biography of one my heroes that really brings to life the political world of Rome at the very, very end of the republic. It's the sort of book that reminds you that sometimes the very greatest of dramas are real. Seriously, I can't think of an author who could create a cast of characters like this: Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, Anthony and many, many others. A brilliant protrait of a cowardly man who found bravery when it mattered on mroe than one occaion.


Well, that's my ten, looks like. and I was just getting started...:haha:

[Randomizer]

Have heard of some of your titles but the only ones that I have read are Silent Victory and Shattered Sword; both were in my top twenty...

I almost bought Cicero: A Turbulent Life last fall but settled on Eden to Armageddon: World War 1 in the Middle East by Roger Ford instead. What little I know about ancient Rome comes from Tom Holland's Rubicon (excellent) and the Internet, seldom the best source.

You and Sailor Steve, have provided food for thought when the book budget opens up again. Thanks for sharing.

[Egan]

The Cicero one is very, very good. I have several of his books but this is the best one. His biography of Augustus is interesting in a lot of ways but simply feels a bit flat after this. I also have his book about Hadrian but haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'm hoping he'll write one about Anthony who really deserves an objective treatment that covers more than the last few years of his life but, well, sex and madness sells and the focus is probably always going to be on Cleopatra's role in the final events.

I agree that there is a lot of poor Roman history on the net, but a very good resource is to be found at UNRV.com (http://www.unrv.com). It is frequented by many Roman history academics (and several well known writers on the subject) as well as normal people with an interest and it's forums cover virtually every aspect of Roman history.

[Gotland]

edit: wrong thread.

[STEED]

In no order..

The Second World War - A Complete History
By Martin Gilbert

The Mighty Eighth - A History of the Units, Men and Machines of the US 8th Air Force
By Roger A. Freeman

Eagle Against the Sun - The American War with Japan
By Ronald H. Spector

Most Secret War
By R. V. Jones

When Titans Clashed - How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
David M. Glantz & Jonathan House

The Battle of Kursk
David M. Glantz & Jonathan House

The Battle for Kursk 1943 - The Soviet General Staff Study
Translated and edited by David M. Glantz & Harold S. Orenstein

The Last Year of the Luftwaffe - May 1944 to May 1945
By Alfred Price

The Last Year of the Kriegsmarine - May 1944 to May 1945
By V. E. Tarrant

Twilight of the Gods - The Decline and Fall the German General Staff in World War Two
By David Stone

[BossMark]

:hmmm: Only got four
Jane's Battleships-by Bernard Ireland and Tony Gibbons

Operation Barbarossa-by Alan Clark

Battles of WW2-by Nigel Cawthorne

Wolfpack: The U-boat war and the allied counter attack 1939-45 by David Jordan

[STEED]

Operation Barbarossa-by Alan Clark



Reading a former Conservative MP's book!!! :o

Holy Cow...The End of the World. :har:

Good book, I bought it years ago and only got around to reading it last year, I will give Alan Clark credit the book stands or falls as it is. Unlike many writers who go back a re-work there books or tweak them here and there.

[BossMark]

Reading a former Conservative MP's book!!! :o

Holy Cow...The End of the World. :har:

Good book, I bought it years ago and only got around to reading it last year, I will give Alan Clark credit the book stands or falls as it is. Unlike many writers who go back a re-work there books or tweak them here and there.

When I got the book which was given to me :yep:, upon getting about half way through it I didnt realise it was a Tory git that wrote it :nope:. But never the less its still a dam good book :yep:

[kranz]

Mein Kampf :know:

[STEED]

When I got the book which was given to me :yep:, upon getting about half way through it I didnt realise it was a Tory git that wrote it :nope:. But never the less its still a dam good book :yep:

He passed away a few years ago.

Indeed I found it a good over view book.

[BossMark]

He passed away a few years ago.

Indeed I found it a good over view book.
Yeah late 90s I think, my Granddads friend gave me the book in the early 90s.