Bruce Vail
Captain
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2015
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Steven E. Woodworth, David McCullough, Rick Atkinson, Stephen Sears
I'm also a Sears fan, although I have read only To the Gates.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Steven E. Woodworth, David McCullough, Rick Atkinson, Stephen Sears
You should read "Team of Rivals",that's her best work.
Lincoln's Lieutenants has become a favorite of mine.I'm also a Sears fan, although I have read only To the Gates.
Thanks for adding to the list.Biographies: Ron Chernow
Social History: David McCullough.
Economic History: Burton W. Folsom Jr.
Amity Shlaes biography on Calvin Coolidge was fantastic. Walter Russell Mead did some good work on Jacksonian policies, Geopolitics and how the Anglo-American societies shaped the world. David Cannadine's biography on Andrew Mellon was excellent and some of his books on the British Aristocracy are good.
Thanks. I had not heard of him.Maritime historian Eric Jay Dolin should be in consideration. I may be biased because of his excellent lighthouses book, but I did pretty good ones on pirates and whaling as well. They're large books but written for a general audience.
I agree. Leviathan: The History of Whaling In America was very well written as was When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail . I will eventually pick up Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates.Maritime historian Eric Jay Dolin should be in consideration. I may be biased because of his excellent lighthouses book, but I did pretty good ones on pirates and whaling as well. They're large books but written for a general audience.
Everybody has their own subjective view of what the best is.define "best": originality? depth of research? coherence? writing style? public engagement? price of books on remainder?
I don't know who the best historians today are. But I would suggest Daniel Walker Howe's 2007 book What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848 as a standard for writing good history. It's accessible to a wide audience without dumbed-down writing. I liked that it combined intellectual, religious, social, and political history in one package.
I can honestly say this book changed my life. I was not a fan of history until I read this book.