JB,

Remembering that you said you like to read history (IIRC), i was wondering: Have you ever read any of the works of Walter Lord? I just completed Day of Infamy, his recount of the 24 hours of December 7, 1941. I found the "little bits" fascinating. Previously, I've read his two works on the Titanic.

Michael

I read "A Night to Remember" (of course!) but for no particular reason I have not explored any of his other works. The only author by whom I have read more than one book on history is David McCullough.

JB,

If you enjoyed "A Night to Remember," I would recommend "The Night Lives On." Published in the 1980's, it takes another crack at the Titanic sinking, after Lord performed many more years of research.

And yes, I would recommend "Day of Infamy" as well, if for no other reason than it recounts the post-attack "lunacy" that occurred.

Michael

I recommend any of the World War II books written by Steven Ambrose. He bases his work on an amazing number of oral histories and interviews, and he makes the horror, and the bravery, of that war come alive.

Good call, Mark. Ambrose is great.

Also worth a peek is the works of Barbara Tuchman - covers all sorts of periods of history, and all readable and enjoyable.

David McCollough is great - fantastic works. Will and Ariel Durrant wrote a few good books on world history - and the set looks good on one's bookshelf - attractive editions.

Howard Zinn is pretty good - but taken with the same grain of salt that you'd take any other historian with. I accept his thesis, but I get bored by the angry young college students who wave "People's History" around like a bible. Yeah, yeah, white men are evil, etc. I get it - now move on to something constructive, you know?

Same goes for Chomsky - I take as great media critisism, but no more than that.

And that's the recomendations from the guy with the degree in history.

Best,

Mike O'Brien

Giles Milton. Just finished SAMURAI WILLIAM and started BIG CHIEF ELIZABETH. Great fun and fact about British and Dutch sailors who first traveled to "the new world" and "the Indies".

Also, Gore Vidal's CREATION is a long-time favorite. Read about the Greek Wars from the PERSIAN p.o.v. and meet Zoroaster, Buddha and Homer(!).

For American History Thomas Fleming cannot be beat.
His books on World War one and Two:
Illusion of Victory and The New Dealers War
are two of my favorite books around.
He also wrote very intersting books about or around the American Revloution including the book called "Duel" about Burr and Hamiliton that takes on intersting post war history.
Even his book about The Louisiana Purchase was far more exciting to me that it had a right to be.

Dwayne
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