What are some good history books to read?

Question

I really enjoy reading history related novels and i was wondering if anyone could help me find some.

Answer 1

I recently read a book called "Devil in the White City".

It takes place in the years leading up to, during, and shortly after the Chicago Worlds Fair.   The story mainly follows two men.  One is an architect who directs the building of the fair.  Lots of things we take for granted now were just being invented then... skyscrapers, ferris wheel, alternating current, etc.   The other part of this story is about another man who was a mass-murderer - killing many innocent women in Chicago and elsewhere.   The historical aspect was really interesting and it also had a great creepy vibe regarding this murderer and how he succeeded at conning a lot of people.

(this is actually a true crime and not a novel, but it reads like a novel)

http://www.worldcat.org/

Answer 2

read the bible :)

Answer 3

http://themustread.com/sbooks.php?id=13

Answer 4

I love reading books about the holocaust...too many of them to name but they are all really good :)

Answer 5

Wild Swans by Jung Chang, a chinese biography. Jung Chang relates the lives of her grandmother, her mother and herself, reflecting how China changed with the rise of communism and how her grandmother was a concubine to a general before it. She describes both her parents joining the communist party, and how they suffered as everything changed in radical china and communism became corrupted. The cruelty faced by the whole nation and her family is heartbreaking, but I have never learned so much about China´s communism before.

Another fantastic novel would be "Gone with the wind" by Margaret Mitchell set in the Old South during the American Civil War and Reconstruction. Although it related the life of Scarlett O´hara, a very charming and yet selfish girl, you experience the American civil war first hand, and I believe this is the greatest novel ever written. It is beautiful and relates the war from the southern perspective and their defeat much more powerful than triumph could ever be. I strongly recommend it.