Many posts over the past few years on this forum are requests for books. This thread is intended to be a "Sticky" thread for reference & book referrals so folks won't have to search through the entire database. I think this would be the place for people to list maybe a personal "Top Ten¨ favorite history books, maybe some books will pop up that we haven't seen on here before & lead to some good discussion. Feel free to link or add any books or book lists you might have & I'll put them up top. I'll come back & edit this later to clean it up a bit.


TEXAS HISTORY
Note: Virtual consensus on this board is that the top general Texas history book is "Lone Star" by TR Fehrenbach, linked here:
LONE STAR
Good Texas History Books?
Three Roads to the Alamo
With Santa Anna in Texas de la Pena
de la Pena Diary
Lone Star Nation
Juan Cortina Book
Texas History Book
Lone Star
Lone Star by TR Fehrenbach
Exodus from the Alamo

AMERICAN HISTORY
Pre-Columbian
1491?

French & Indian War
French & Indian War
French & Indian War Book

American Revolution
Books about the American Revolution?
Books about the US Revolution
US Revolution Reading
American Revolution book recommendation for a 13 year old

Age of Jackson
Age of Jackson



Mexican-American War
Mexican American War

Civil War & Reconstruction
Note: Shelby Foote's 3 volume series is regarded by many as the best book on the Civil War.
Shelby Foote
Favorite Civil War Novel or Story
Southern Storm - Sherman¡¦s March
Civil War Books on Leadership
Team of Rivals

WORLD WAR I
John Keegan’s book is probably the most popular of the general histories of WWI, though I found it kind of wordy & lacking sufficient maps to keep track of things.
First World War
“A World Undone” IMO, is a better book for a general history. Better maps, easier to understand sentence structure & a bunch of pictures to boot.
A World Undone
“The Guns of August” is nearly 50 years old & regarded as a classic for understand the beginnings of the war. It covers only the first month, so if you’re looking for an overview, look elsewhere.
The Guns of August
“All Quiet on the Western Front” is a novel about WWI written from the German perspective & is considered one of the best fiction books on the subject.
All Quiet



World War II
WWII Overview Books
WWII from German View
WWII in the Pacific
WWII Book Recommendations
Churchill
Favorite Books on WWII
Best WWII Books

Korean War
No threads found, but I recommend TR Fehrenbach's excellent book "This Kind of War¨
This Kind of War

Vietnam War
Vietnam War

Books on Vietnam War

Iraq , Afghanistan & The Middle East
Looking for a good book on Afghanistan
Books on Iraq
Books on the war in Iraq
Middle Eastern History

Presidential & American Biographies

Lincoln
Best President Biographies?

ANCIENT GREECE
No study of Greece would be complete without a reading of the Iliad & Odyssey.
The Iliad & The Odyssey
Here are a couple of general overview books. The Freeman book is a good basic history from the beginnings of Greece to the Roman takeover.
The Greek Achievement
The Greek Way
A couple of books on the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first modernhistorian; Peter Green has a really good modern book on the subject. Battles include Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis & Plataea.
Herodotus
The Greco-Persian Wars
Xenophon's Anabasis is a great read & the basis for the 70's Oscar Winning movie "The Warriors"
10,000+ Greek mercenaries get caught behind enemy lines & fight their way out. Their success gave Philip & Alexander the idea to take the fight into Persia.
Anabasis
After the Persian Wars, Athens & Sparta spent almost 30 years fighting for dominance of the Greek-speaking world: The Peloponessian War. Thucydides wrote about it first, Victor Davis Hanson provides some modern insight in his book.
Thucydides
A War Like No Other
Finally, Alexander the Great. This book is awesome & reads like a novel.
Alexander the Great

ROME
There have been lots of new books about Rome recently…. I’ve read most of these. The Granddaddy of them all is Gibbon. His work is a dated & shows some bias, but it is still worth reading.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
This is THE book IMO about the Punic Wars that turned Rome from a peninsular power into the dominant civilization in the Mediterranean. All the gory details of Hannibal’s triumphs and eventual defeat in the second Punic Wars.
The Punic Wars
A good read on how the Republic became the Empire:
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
These three books are the some of the best regarding the Fall of Rome. Bryan Ward-Perkin’s book is the shortest of the three and makes quick reading. Goldsworthy’s is longer & has more of a general history of the late Empire.
The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Fall of Rome
How Rome Fell
There are quite a few books written about Rome by the Romans themselves. A warning that these are often biased depending on who was in power at the time. Here are a couple:
The Conquest of Gaul
The Twelve Caesars
Here are a couple on Julius Caesar & Augustus that are very good:
Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor
Ceasar: Life of a Colossus

MIDDLE AGES & RENAISSANCE:
Millenium – Tom Holland – Good read about what was going on around the turn of the 1st Millenium.
Millenium
The 1st Crusade by Thomas Asbridge – What was the first crusade? How did it start & who was involved? An amazing book that details it all and reads like an adventure novel. Also explains the formation of the first Christian Kingdoms in the Levant.
[The 1st Crusade
4th crusade by Johanthan Phillips – Before you blame the collapse of the Byzantine Empire on the Turks, read about how some desperate Crusaders sacked Constantinople & crippled the Empire.
4th Crusade
1453 – Roger Crowley – About the Fall of Constantinople. Great book & a fast read.
1453
Empires of the Sea – Roger Crowley. This book covers the battles between the Ottoman Turks & the West in the 16th century. You think Europe had Muslim problems now…
Empires of the Sea
The Italian Renaissance by JH Plumb – This one is a composite book & has bios on all the big players in the Italian Renaissance: Popes, Artists, Philosophers, etc. A nice guide.
The Italian Renaissance
Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King – This one is all about the process of building the Duomo in Florence.
[Brunelleschi’s Dome
Crusades book thread:
CRUSADES


Misc. "Need a good book" & book discussion threads
Really good book thread

aalan94¡¦s book list

What is your favorite history book?
Favorite history books?
Favorite historical novels

Books
Books
Books
Books
Books
Books

[This message has been edited by TexAgs staff (edited 5/13/2010 4:00p).]


[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 1/17/2011 5:27p).]

[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 1/19/2011 1:29p).]

[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 1/19/2011 1:32p).]

[This message has been edited by Apache (edited 1/19/2011 1:35p).]

Good idea, Apache.

Good job Apache.

Team of Rivals is Civil War not Revolutionary War.

Looks like I need to start a late 19th Century/ WWI thread.


Great start though! Now we just need the sticky!

Thanks BQ, I put that one in the wrong heading.
A few more updates made as well.

"One Bullet Away" is a great read on what it is like to become a Marine Officer. It would mostly go under Iraq I suppose.

Another good history book is "Long Grey Lines" by John Andrew. It is about military schools in the South, but I don't know where to place it.

***THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR FUTURE POSTS***

[This message has been edited by aalan94 (edited 2/2/2010 9:24a).]

Aalan:

Come on you know it was a friendly resignation from the club followed by unabashed Yankee aggression-- no revolution at all

ttt

(Don't want this topic to fall too far down the reading list)

Read Any of Patrick O'Brian's 20+ novels about the British Navy wars 1800- ? ! First was " Master and Commander".

Great topic. Let's keep it alive.

dp

[This message has been edited by BigJim49 AustinNowDallas (edited 1/19/2010 1:15p).]

re WWII books. I am currently reading 'At Dawn We Slept' about the events leading up to the Pearl harbor attack. A good read and ignites the old conspiracy theory of what did the war department know, when did they know it, and why was the Hawaiian Dept not notified?

[This message has been edited by airplane driver (edited 1/19/2010 2:18p).]

Got some thoughts Airplane, but you might start a separate Pearl Harbor link and we can post that into this one so we can keep it simple and encyclopaedic.

aalan agree

Added a bunch of books on Ancient Greece in the original post.

Apache, I recommend Edith Hamilton's works.

I've got Hamilton's "The Greek Way" listed there as a general overview. Her book "Mythology" should probably be a standard for understanding the Greek gods & legends as well.

Is this intended to take over for future book threads as well? Just curious, because I have some requests.

quote:

---

Is this intended to take over for future book threads as well?

---

No... just check this thread first to see if it has been brought up or discussed before, then bump the original thread. If you've got a new question, by all means make a thread about it & link it up here for easy reference. There were requests for a "good Texas history book" every month which prompted this thread.

I'm going to continue to post some of my favorite books about different eras of history to the original list. If you (or any other) poster has got some favorite books, by all means list them here.

I didn't see a list on Naval Activities in the Atlantic.

Both of Clay Blairs "Hitlers U-Boat War" are excellent books.

Bump up! I added some books I've enjoyed about Rome. I'll add Byzantium later.

Bump again for Agent Zero.

Hey guys, if everybody gets a spot on page 1 or two and just edits that, it keeps it concise.

So who is a mod? Let's get this thing stickied!

I would suggest Patton's biography named: Before the Colors Fade. Excellent book. I think it was written by or in collaboration with his nephew. Not sure about that. I'll have to find my copy and get the author.

The full title of the book is:
Before the Colors Fade, Portrait of a Solier George S. Patton, Junior
It was written by Fred Ayer Jr. and he was Patton's nephew.

Tom Hooper '82, '84, '86.
My son is '09
Gary, Texas



[This message has been edited by drthoop (edited 2/23/2010 10:11p).]

quote:

---

AMERICAN HISTORY
Pre-Columbian
1491?

---

Just curious, is that title meant to be "1421"?

1491 is the book about the American Indians and how they lived

1421 is a lie by a brit to make the chinese look good.

Thanks. BTW the Chinese have a long, long history of "looking good" based upon achievements.

Reserving a spot on page 1 to add my own info.

Bump!

*ahem*

quote:

---

Dear Mods/Admins,

There is currently a thread on the History board that we would like stickied. Please consider this action as it is a vital part of this board's activities.

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1559884&forum_id=49&page=last#r23310458


Thank you for your help.

---

quote:

---

Troy, just got it done for you.

Andrew
TexAgs.com

---

IT IS DONE!!!!

Thanks Andrew!

Cool! Now all of you get to work & put some reviews or links up on this thing!

"At Dawn we Slept" is an excellent book! ! !

Was written after FOI released a lot of information in '95 - makes for very interesting reading.

Ooops! Screwed upon above post. Was thinking of "Day of Deceit"