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I know this may not be what your looking for but one of my favorite non-fiction books is the Bible. I really like the book of Joshua. I like the story of the battle of Jericho that I believe is factual history.
There are so many stories in the Bible that authors have taken and expanded on. Without the Bible as inspiration Shakespeare probably wouldn't be so well known.
Another one I really liked was The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone "In 1348, at the age of twenty-two, Joanna I, the queen of Naples, stood trial before the pope, accused of murdering her cousin and husband, Hungarian prince Andrew. Arguing her own case in Latin, she won her acquittal, and went on to become the only female monarch in her time to rule in her own name; she presided over one of Europe's most prestigious and influential courts for more than thirty years—until she herself was murdered."
1) American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World by David Stannard
I think the title is self-explanatory. It's a very difficult read emotionally - at least it was for me. It took me a couple of weeks to finish because I had to rotate it with "fluff".
2) Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Michael Hecht
Again, I think this title is self-explanatory, but, in case it isn't, it's a history of free thinkers and doubters throughout time. Very insightful and well written.
3) Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
A history of the nonreligious in America. Another insightful, well written book.
4) The Chinese in America: A Narrative History by Iris Chang
Chang did a very good job with this book, and I really enjoyed reading about Chinese experiences here in the U.S.
5) Night by Elie Wiesel
Most people are familiar with Wiesel's autobiography, I think, but if you aren't, it's the story of a Jewish boy living through the nightmare of WWII.
There are so many stories in the Bible that authors have taken and expanded on. Without the Bible as inspiration Shakespeare probably wouldn't be so well known.
GL2
I didn't know that.
I wasn't aware that Hamlet, MacBeth, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, the Merchant of Venice, et al. were in the Bible.
I wasn't aware that Hamlet, MacBeth, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, the Merchant of Venice, et al. were in the Bible.
Or Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labours Lost, A Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, never mind all the historical plays from King John to Henry VIII
Mary Boleyn: Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir Considerably more accurate version of Mary's life than anything written by Philippa Gregory
The Lost King of France by Deborah Cadbury
The short life and tragic death of Louis XVII, son of Marie Antoinette
Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory & the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess by Elizabeth Lev
The amazing life of Caterina Sforza, who went up against the Borgia family and almost won
Thanks--I didn't realize there was a book about Mary Boleyn. Pretty much anything is a more accurate version than anything written by Philippa Gregory!
The Liberators: Americas Witnesses to the Holocaust - Came out in 2010, interviews with US soldiers now in their 80s and 90s who were the first to come across the concentration camps. This one was hard to put down.
Manhunt: About the Lincoln conspiracy and the tracking of John Wilkes Booth
April 1865: Probably the best general summary of the Civil War that you can get in one book.
1) American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World by David Stannard
I think the title is self-explanatory. It's a very difficult read emotionally - at least it was for me. It took me a couple of weeks to finish because I had to rotate it with "fluff".
2) Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Michael Hecht
Again, I think this title is self-explanatory, but, in case it isn't, it's a history of free thinkers and doubters throughout time. Very insightful and well written.
3) Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
A history of the nonreligious in America. Another insightful, well written book.
4) The Chinese in America: A Narrative History by Iris Chang
Chang did a very good job with this book, and I really enjoyed reading about Chinese experiences here in the U.S.
5) Night by Elie Wiesel Most people are familiar with Wiesel's autobiography, I think, but if you aren't, it's the story of a Jewish boy living through the nightmare of WWII.
I must spread rep before I can give it to peppermint again, but IMO, EVERYONE EVERYONE EVERYONE should read "Night". And be prepared not to sleep well for a night or two following it. If I may expound on peppermint's description, it's the story of Elie Wiesel as a teenaged boy living in Hungary and wanting to study Kabbalah to being moved to a ghetto and then being taken to a concentration camp where he lived out the war as forced labor. His mother and sister are believed to have been gassed immediately, and he and his father were kept alive and used for labor. He wrote it all down ten years after the war ended and it was published in 1960, but at that time, no one wanted to hear about it.
peppermint, your other choices sound interesting, too. Thanks.
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