recommended books

Here are my top history book recommendations. Single click on a category to view its book list.

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Abraham Lincoln — note: assassination books listed separately

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
By: Doris Kearns Goodwin

Lincoln
By: David Herbert Donald

Lincoln: A Novel
By: Gore Vidal
— Extremely entertaining and mostly accurate. My all-time favorite book.

Lincoln’s Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln’s Image
By: Joshua Zeitz

And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
By: Jon Meacham

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Lincoln Assassination

American Brutus: John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies
By: Michael W. Kauffman 

Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
By: Edward Steers Jr.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer
By: James L. Swanson

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World War II

Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945
By: Barrett Tillman
— When people think of the bombing of Japan, they mostly focus on the two atomic bombs. This is an excellent book which describes in detail the intense bombing campaign of Japan which devastated most of the country before the use of the atomic bombs.

The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War
By: A. J. Baime
— There were two main reasons the Allies won World War II. One was the willingness of the Soviets to sacrifice approximately 27 million people. The other was the incredible ability of the U.S. to massively out produce any country in the history of the world in planes, tanks, trucks, guns, ammunition, and all of the other necessary items to win a war. This book explains how the U.S. accomplished this feat.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943): The Liberation Trilogy, Volume 1
By: Rick Atkinson

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
By: Rick Atkinson

Pacific Thunder: The US Navy’s Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944
By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Thunder Below!: The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II  
By: Eugene B. Fluckey

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 
By: Ian W. Toll

Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin   
By: Cornelius Ryan

Inside the Third Reich 
By: Albert Speer

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany 
By: William L. Shirer
— This is the best single volume on the Nazi regime.

The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945  
By: John Toland

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942    
By: Ian W. Toll

Chamberlain and the Lost Peace 
By John Charmley

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

Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
By: Timothy Snyder

Why the Allies Won
By: Richard Overy

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New Deal

The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope 
By: Jonathan Alter

The New Deal: A Modern History  
By: Michael Hiltzik

The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace  
By: Eric Rauchway

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 
By: David M. Kennedy

FDR 
By: Jean Edward Smith

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Ulysses S. Grant

Grant  
By: Ron Chernow

General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man       
By: Edward G. Longacre

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s  
By: William I. Hitchcock  
— Well researched and presents a very balanced assessment of Eisenhower.

Eisenhower: The White House Years 
By: Jim Newton

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John F. Kennedy — note: assassination books listed separately

An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963  
By: Robert Dallek

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
By: Kenneth P. O’Donnell, David F. Powers  
— Written by JFK’s two closest advisers. It provides a lot of excellent inside information. Obviously, it is biased because these two men genuinely revered JFK.

PT-109: JFK’s Night of Destiny
By: William Doyle

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John F. Kennedy Assassination

Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK  
By: Gerald Posner 
— Excellent and very well researched.

Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
By: Vincent Bugliosi  
— A tome, but simply the best book ever on the JFK assassination.

The Warren Commission Report 
— People dismiss the findings of the Warren Commission, but few have ever actually read the report. Very well done, and more readable than you would expect.

11-22-63: A Novel 
By: Stephen King 
— Very entertaining and very accurate on the facts of the JFK assassination.

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Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Rex
By: Edmund Morris

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World War I

The Guns of August
By: Barbara W. Tuchman

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U.S. History

A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
By: Robert W. Merry

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
By: David McCullough

The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008
By: Sean Wilentz

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic
By: Gordon S. Wood

1968: The Year That Rocked the World
By: Mark Kurlansky

Suffrage: Women’s Long Battle for the Vote
By: Ellen Carol DuBois

Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life
By: Tom Lewis

Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
By: Daniel Okrent

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Martin Luther King Assassination

Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
By: Gerald Posner

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Lost Cause Myth

Dixie’s Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture
By: Karen L. Cox 
— Very good explanation of the actions and lasting legacy of the UDC.

The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition
By: Linda Gordon

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Civil War

The Civil War: A Narrative
By: Shelby Foote  
Volume 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville 
Volume 2: Fredericksburg to Meridian   
Volume 3: Red River to Appomattox
— Most thorough history of the Civil War.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era 
By: James M. McPherson

A Short History of Reconstruction, Updated Edition: 1863-1877 
By: Eric Foner

After Lincoln: How the North Won the Civil War and Lost the Peace
By: A. J. Langguth

The Killer Angels 
By: Michael Shaara 
— Presented as a novel, but very accurate and extremely entertaining.

Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle That Changed History
By: Richard Snow

The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
By: Joanne B. Freeman

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Lyndon Johnson

Building the Great Society: Inside Lyndon Johnson’s White House
By: Joshua Zeitz

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream 
By: Doris Kearns Goodwin

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Ireland

The Partition of Ireland and the Troubles: The History of Northern Ireland from the Irish Civil War to the Good Friday Agreement  
By: Charles River Editors

Ireland: A Concise History from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day 
By: Paul Johnson

The Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People
By: John Kelly

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True Crime

Teach Me to Kill 
By: Stephen Sawicki  
— Excellent, a gripping telling of the Pamela Smart case.

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California

Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963
By: Kevin Starr

The Mirage Factory: Illusion, Imagination, and the Invention of Los Angeles
By: Gary Krist

The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
By: H.W. Brands

California: A History 
By: Kevin Starr

Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles
By: Paul Haddad

The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party
By: Daniel James Brown

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New York City

Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898  
By: Edwin G. Burrows, Mike Wallace

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York  
By: Robert A. Caro

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Ancient Rome

Augustus: First Emperor of Rome  
By: Adrian Goldsworthy

The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265-146BC  
By: Adrian Goldsworthy

Caesar: Life of a Colossus  
By: Adrian Goldsworthy

Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor  
by Anthony Everitt

A History of Rome, Volume 1 
By: Cyril Robinson

A History of Rome, Volume 2 
By: Cyril Robinson

Antony & Cleopatra
By: Adrian Goldsworthy

Hannibal
By: Patrick N. Hunt

Punic Wars: A Captivating Guide to the Punic Wars and Hannibal Barca
By: Captivating History

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Explorers

Columbus: The Four Voyages  
By: Laurence Bergreen

The Great Age of Discovery, Volume 1: Columbus, Magellan, and the Early Explorations  
By: Paul Herrmann

The Mysterious History of Columbus: An Exploration of the Man, the Myth, the Legacy     
By: John Noble Wilford

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
By: Laurence Bergreen

Undaunted Courage
By: Stephen E. Ambrose

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Civilization

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies 
By: Jared Diamond

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Catastrophes

The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History   
By: John M. Barry

Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Modern Los Angeles   
By: Jon Wilkman

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Scientific History

The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World  
By: Edward Dolnick

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution  
By: David Quammen

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion  
By: Edward J. Larson        

Astronomy: The Heavenly Challenge  
By: Jack Arnold

The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself  
By: Daniel J. Boorstin

Longitude
By: Dava Sobel

American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race
By: Douglas Brinkley

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Europe

Vienna 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace 
By: David King

The Pursuit of Power: Europe: 1815-1914 
By: Richard J. Evans

A History of the Middle Ages 
By: Crane Brinton, John Christopher, Robert Wolff

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Atomic Bomb

The Making of the Atomic Bomb  
By: Richard Rhodes

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer  
By: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

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Cold War

The End of the Cold War 1985-1991  
By: Robert Service

Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire  
By: Victor Sebestyen

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
By: David Halberstam

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Richard Nixon

The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It   
By: John W. Dean

Richard Nixon: The Life   
By: John A. Farrell   
— Best I have read about Nixon.

All the President’s Men 
By: Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

The Final Days  
By: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein

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Supreme Court

The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court  
By: Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong   
— Although outdated (from 1970s), it’s a great insight to the inner workings of the Supreme Court.

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Other Biographies

All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt
By: John Taliaferro

Robert Kennedy: His Life   By: Evan Thomas

Woodrow Wilson: A Biography  
By: John Milton Cooper

Worst. President. Ever.: James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents  
By: Robert Strauss

An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland   By: H. Paul Jeffers

Alexander Hamilton 
By: Ron Chernow

Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics
By: Jeremy Schaap

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Aztec Empire

Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs
By: Buddy Levy

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