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?
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...
