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Some that come readily to mind:
James Bamford, Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the National Security Agency and The Puzzle Palace. Sheds great light on 'historic' events to the degree his access to formerly secret documents (and those he was allowed to write about).
Carroll Quigley: Tragedy and Hope, great insight into how the controlling elements think.
If you like the combination of infrastructure projects government contracts and the impact to corporations read Colossus, Hoover Dam and the making of the American Century by Michael Hiltzik which gives an excellent comprehensive view of everything from the lowest workers who came during depression to work the project to the politicians and project management leaders of the corporations which came together to accomplish the feat.
One I've kept in my library is Jack Weatherford's Ghengis Khan and the making of the Modern World.
It chronicles the events of August, 1914 that led to World War I, the war that changed Europe forever, and all the reasons why August, 1914 became the fuze that ignited the bomb.
It's pretty old now- published in 1968, as I recall, but I think it's a must-read if a person wants to understand everything that followed. The after effects of that month are still with us, 103 years later.
As an alternative to "Guns of August" I would highly recommend "Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes To War" by Max Hastings. It essentially covers the same time period but gives more depth to events such as the July Crisis, which Tuchman sort of glosses over, in a very readable, if not more, concise manner. And if you can get your hands on a copy of it, "The Lamps Went Out in Europe" by Ludwig Reiners, is also a great choice.
I would also recommend:
"Shadow of the Sultan's Realm" by Daniel Allen Butler. This is a history of the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, in particular their participation in World War I. There are very few books out there that deal with the Ottomans during the First World War and this one is quite good.
"The Eastern Front: 1914-1917" by Norman Stone. This may well be the only detailed history of the fighting on the Eastern Front, which is amazing to me given how much more active this area was throughout the war than in the West.
"The Devil Soldier" by Caleb Carr. An interesting biography of someone I had never heard of, Frederick Townsend Ward, an American mercenary who led an Imperial army during the Taiping Rebellion in China.
"The Scramble for Africa" by Thomas Pakenham. A weighty tome about the carve up of Africa by the European powers between 1876 and 1912.
"Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876" by John S. Gray. An excellent book detailing the war launched against the Sioux which ended with Custer's death at the Little Bighorn.
"KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps" by Nikolaus Wachsmann. Without a doubt the most comprehensive study of the development of the concentration camp system and the individuals who created it and oversaw its activities. A bit of a grim read at times but a necessary one regardless.
"Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75" by George J. Veith. While there have certainly been books written about this event, this is the first which has been able to take advantage of the declassification of government documents from the North, giving a new twist to a well known story.
A newer book, Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler (2016) spun my head around and changed my perception of the German military prowess (they were on massive doses of meth) and Hitler himself, to wit:
"Hitler did have a secret, but it wasn't a weapon. Instead, it was a mix of cocaine and opioids that he had become increasingly dependent upon. "Hitler needed those highs to substitute [for] his natural charisma, which ... he had lost in the course of the war," Ohler says. He cites three different phases of the Fuhrer's drug use.
"The first one are the vitamins given in high doses intravenously. The second phase starts in the fall of 1941 with the first opiate, but especially with the first hormone injections," Ohler says. "Then in '43 the third phase starts, which is the heavy opiate phase."
You know, while you're right about The Guns of August, I found The Proud Tower to be a disappointment.
It felt like a rush job of a sequel, a quick rundown of Europe as the pinnacle of Western Civilization before the idiots tore it down. Might be just me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmilf
I must admit to recently purchasing The Proud Tower on the reputation of Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August...
One Amazon review called The Proud Tower "a towering disappointment", but another critical review points out that it's not actually one book but rather an anthology of articles authored by Tuchman, which would account for its perceived lack of flow and repetitiveness, as noted in the negative reviews.
I've read through the first two chapters of The Proud Tower and my fears of it being "a towering disappointment" have been dispelled. It's not an anthology of articles, but rather each chapter addresses a facet of western history prior to the Great War. If I were looking for a history book that flowed like a novel or a long movie, this book would not satisfy my wants. Instead, it flows more like a collection of stories with an overarching theme - it's more akin to Bradbury's Martian Chronicles than Frank Herbert's Dune, except that Tuchman's stories tend to run longer than Bradbury's.
Just finished Fifty Russian Winters- An American Woman's Life in the Soviet Union by Margaret Wettlin.
It is a memoir published in 1992 about an idealistic young woman who left the US in 1932 for a short visit to the Soviet Union that she by design turned into 50 years. She taught English to the Ford employees' children. She married, had children of her own and endured through WWII and Stalin.
Great read, on the ground day to day historical reality. I found it in the 50 cents pile at my local public library (I'm going to bring it back to them and tell them they should keep it in their collection) but it is still available for purchase at on line book sellers.
Listened to an interview this morning with Thomas E. Ricks about his new book "Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom"
Folks called in to the interview to rave about it. Apparently it has timely significance. I've put it on my list.
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