[LM_NET] HIT : good adult history book for Christmas present

[Barbara Fritz <bfritzlibrary@GMAIL.COM>]

Holy Cow!  What a response. I didn't get to thank many people as I had ideas
flying in from all over.  THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  I had several requests for
a hit and I have no idea which book to choose. We have a spending limit in
our family this year and sadly I'm only allowed to get him one book!  Not
fair!!!!


Original target:   Hello all you very wise bookophiles.  I can recommend all
types of books for elementary children, but I am at a loss for a book for my
father. I want to get him a book dealing with American history. Something in
a paper trade binding. He enjoys books about the people behind the history.
He enjoyed a book on the Manhattan Project and another on a little known
group of soldiers in WWII who set up dummy units to fool the enemy.  He
enjoyed a book on Route 66.  He like books that aren't hardcore history,
more interesting tidbits of information. Any suggestions.


I really enjoyed Devil in the White City - a history of the Columbian
Exposition told along with the story of America's first serial killer.
Interesting and creepy at the same time! The stories of the men who designed
and built the White City, and the incredible inventions (the zipper! the
Ferris Wheel!) are just amazing.

Flags of our Fathers.

I would go to the bargain book section of Barnes and Noble and browse. They
always have interesting history books. Electric Universe: The Shocking True
Story of Electricity
David Bodanis or something like that.

We just got a book donated to our library called Medal of Honor: Portraits
of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty.  It has essays by John McCain, Victor
Davis Hanson and Tom Brokaw.  It was on the New York Times Bestseller.  From
what I've read of it so far, it is very moving.

My recommendation is only in hard trade binding I think, but I suspect  your
dad might like Pri. Robt. Knox Sneden's Eye of the Storm:  a Civil War
Odyssey. This young man was a Union cartographer who drew water color
pictures of the things he saw.  In 1994, in a CT
bank vault were found 500 watercolors which, when combined with a 5,000 p.
illustrated memoir make for 1 of the most compelling Civil War narratives
I've ever read.  He was eventually captured and imprisoned @ Andersonville
which is another story in itself.

Anything by Howard Zinn possibly.  He wrote one called something like The
People's History of the United States.  This is just off the top of my head,
but I thought you might look into it.  He may be too heavy rather than
entertaining; that is all a matter of taste.

I just ordered a book for my high school boys--Flyboys: A True History of
Courage by James Bradley about these WWII pilots who were shot down and kept
as prisoners of war by the Japanese.  It's terrific, but a word of caution
that it is very gruesome.  The fliers meet a terrible end.

Manhunt: The 12-day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson might be
easier to handle.  It reads like fiction and it's a great book.


I can recommend both Devil in White City by Erik Larson and The Children's
Blizzard by David Larkin. They tell the true story of a little historical
snippet, and they both read almost like detective stories.


I loved Letters of the Century edited by Lisa Grunwald. It's a chronological
arrangement of real letters written by real people that provides a unique,
and very moving, history of the 20th century. I've given it to several
people with favorable reactions.


It's not in paperback, I don't think, but one excellent one is Presidential
Courage.  It's about several presidents, and decisions they made, which at
the time they made them were unpopular and reviled, but looking back years
later was absolutely the right decision that changed the course of history.
I think it's awesome!  They have it at Barnes and Noble and probably all the
other bookstores; I just picked up another copy to give to my dad for
Christmas.


I loved Army At Dawn by Rick Atkinson.  It's a Pulitzer Prize winning
history of our first campaign in North Africa and the lead up to it.  The
second book in the planned trilogy, about the Italian campaign, was just
published.  It's a long book, but an excellent read.  Atkinson really gets
into the personalities of the military leadership and deftly intertwines the
strategic with the stories of the lowly foot soldiers.  He also displays
incredible wit in his writing, rare for military history.  It's the sort of
storytelling to which all military historians should aspire.

The Few, by Alex Kershaw, is the story of Americans who defied neutrality
laws by joining the RAF and the RCAF before our entry into the war.  A
shorter history focusing on a portion of the men who actually served.
Kershaw was spurred to write the book, in part, after learning that many of
the pilots killed in action are still remembered and honored by the villages
near the fields they flew out of.

For a non-military history, I'd suggest The Worst Hard Time.  It's the story
of the Dust Bowl and the people who held on in spite of the horros.  I had
no idea just how bad it was in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.  After
reading the book, I had a lot of questions for my mom and some uncles who
grew up in Nebraska during that time.  The personal stories can be
heartbreaking at times, inspiring at others.  In an epilogue, the author
discusses meeting people whose families stayed on and still live in the Dust
Bowl area.

If he hasn't read Band of Brothers, that's another must read.


I liked 1776 by McCullough and 1421 by Menzies.  My husband is reading
Scorpion Down by Offley and The Death of the USS Thresher by Polmar (his dad
was one of the naval investigators for both incidents).


Davy Crockett by Davy Crockett     Applewoods Books, 1993



How about Joseph Bruchac's book about the Navajo Codetalkers.


I enjoyed this book very much-- The Island at the Center of the World: The
Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
by Russell Shorto I am not much of a history buff, but really got into it.


Based on your father's interests, I think he would enjoy Plot Against
America (alternative historical fiction.....what if FDR didn't win the third
term and Charles Lindbergh won the election....very interesting)


I enjoyed "Left for Dead" by Pete Nelson. Nelson used much of the research
by a young man (Hunter Scott) who originally heard about the sinking of the
USS Indianapolis as retold in the original Jaws movie.

I would recommend  James Bradley's Flags of our Fathers (nonfiction about
the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II) and E. L. Doctorow's The March
(fiction about Sherman's march through the south during the Civil War). Both
are excellent; I liked The March better, perhaps I am more a fan of fiction.
All of my book club liked them as well.


My suggestion is Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs. Eight
German-Americans are landed by sub on Long Island to disrupt the American
war effort. Well written and an interesting insight on early US
counterintelligence activity. Some of it reads like a comedy of errors.


 don't know if it's available in paperback, but I loved Dear America  by
Stephen Ambrose.  The book is Ambrose's thoughts/interpretations of American
history.  Very interesting.  It came out several years ago.


I just bought this in paperback tonight at Borders:  Blood and Thunder:  An
Epic of the American West by Hampton Sides.  One  of my dad's friends
recommended it to him.  Sides' book Ghost Soldiers  was also highly
recommended.


books by Tom Brokaw - The Greatest Generation and now there's one about the
1960s.



Ghost soldiers : the forgotten epic story of World War II's most dramatic
mission by Hampton Sides.
Provides an account of the World War II mission undertaken by 121 select
troops from the U.S. Army 6th Ranger Battalion in January 1945 to rescue 513
American and British prisoners, including survivors of the Bataan Death
March, being held in a camp in the Philippines.


Left for dead : a young man's search for justice for the USS Indianapolis by
Pete Nelson
Recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of World War II,
the Navy cover-up and unfair court martial of the ship's captain, and how a
young boy helped the survivors set the record straight fifty-five years
later.




-- 
"Librarian. Genetically predisposed to answer questions and correct
misconceptions - whether asked or not." 2 01 2007

Barbara Fritz
Elementary Librarian
Bloomsburg Area School District
Bloomsburg PA
bfritzlibrary@gmail.com
http://bloomsburgasd.schoolwires.com/62784211610220/site/default.asp

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