Don't Know Much About History . . .

[annemehr]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Cindy C." <cindysphynx at c...>
wrote:
 
> Has anyone read any good non-fiction history books they could
recommend?  
> 
> I'm looking for something that is an entertaining read (as contrasted
> to the dry-as-dust history books I was forced to read in school), and
> I'm more interested in quality than subject matter, really.  European
> history, Russian history, Chinese history, African history . . . it
> all works for me.

Annemehr:

I can't help Cindy exactly, but I know exactly the type of book she
means, because I've read two of them from US history.

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick is about the wreck of
the Essex, a whaleship out of Nantucket.  The events are what
supposedly inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick.  It is very
well researched and besides learning about one particular voyage, you
also get a lot about whaling in general and the time it happened in.

Seabiscuit, whose author I forget (Susan Hillebrand or something? I've
leant my copy out), but many of you will know -- it was a bestseller
last summer -- is another.  In telling the story of one great
racehorse, it also presents the life of racing at that time and a feel
for the Great Depression.

Both these books are completely nonfiction, but they delve into
particular subjects right down to a very human scale.  They read like
stories in a way, but are so full of facts that you're sure you are
getting the whole picture and not just a romanticised version.

Yet, when I look in the bookstore, I can't find books like these;
they're all overviews of the Civil War and other boring stuff (not the
Civil War, that is, but the overview).  Maybe "History" isn't the
right section?

Thanks to all who have made recommendations.  I'll be looking for
something new, too, as soon as I finish OoP for the third time.

Annemehr