With the official start of the summer underway, I thought it would be fun to ask for your beach reading recommendations. It should come as no surprise that I am interested primarily in history books. They can be about any subject and any time period.
If you don't happen to have read "Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert", I think it's interesting and insightful. I get the impression you don't read historical fiction, but IMO there are a few writers who use their imagination where there's no more evidence for historians to use and convince that that's how it must have been. Eg Hilary Mantel, not only the Thomas Cromwell trilogy but "A Place of greater safety" about the coming of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution.
I recently finished David K. Johnson's The Lavender Scare; it's a good book for McCarthy-era LGBTQ history. Also just started African Europeans by Olivette Otele and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
Salt has been a major factor in human history for thousands of years. There's even a good section on salt during the U.S. Civil War. Altogether an entertaining, and informative, read.
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
It is fiction, but one main theme is about history and how things are remembered and the stories we tell ourselves about history. Despite being written during the height of fear of nuclear war over 50 years ago, it remains incredibly relevant and poignant. Other main thematic areas include the ethical use of technology, the inevitability of humanity repeating history, and the sanctity of life. It is a contender for my one desert island book.
Just finished reading RING SHOUT by P. D'jeli Clark (pen name) a fantasy novelette set in the background of the Klan revival post 1915. In his non fiction writing the author teaches ante bellum history of enslavement and freedom.
I am also reading next on my list are AKATA WOMAN by Nnedi Okorafor and MacClellan by Stephen Sears.
I just finished reading all of Shakespeare's histories from Richard II to Richard III. This is my second time around with them and I enjoyed it more this time for two reasons. First, I read the plays while listening to the audiobook - so much more interesting and understandable! Second, I read a companion book to each play that explained the real history and/or took a different angle on the play/time period. For example, while reading Henry V I read Bernard Cornwell's novel AGINCOURT, which follows a peasant English archer during the conflict. These two things made the plays so much more interesting and understandable. This would be a great summer project and I could def read/listen to Shakespeare at the beach!
Recently, I finished all of Shakespeare's plays, a project that took a couple of years. Current history reading list: Jonathan Alter's biography of Jimmy Carter, "His Very Best"; John M. Barry, "The Great Influenza"; and one that's hard to categorize, Karen Armstrong's "Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence."
Thanks, Joe, for the comment. If you're interested in reading a little more about the Shakespeare plays project, it's the current post on my blog, "Retired But Not Shy": https://georgelamplugh.com/
1. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2015)
2. Not a 'Nation of Immigrants': Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2021)
3. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, by David Treuer (2019)
4. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America, by Pekka Hamalainen (2022) (This one may not be out in time for summer beach reading, but still worth keeping an eye on).
Call My Name, Clemson: Documenting the Black Experience in American Universtity Community (already started & like it a lot) by Rhonda Robinson Thomas. I live 20 minutes from Clemson, & many in my family have degrees from there including my Master's. I've done the cemetery tour that Dr. Thomas's research led to. I grew up in this area so many of the family names she discusses I know of. The dance she talks about in the mid "60s where Smokey Robinson was the performer was my parents first date while my father was a student.
Invisibile No More: The African American Experience at the Univ of South Carolina by Robert Greene II & Tyler D Parry
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America by Megan Kate Nelson (finished this already & highly recommend).
The Earth Remains by Shelly Burchfield (her debut novel and in full disclosure Shelly used to teach acroass the hall from me. Hopefullly, it is good and if not I helped a former coworker sale a book.
I suggest Finding Florida, The True History of the Sunshine State, by T. D. Allman. From 2013. Allman was a journalist so his writing is vivid and vigorous. The pre-Civil War and Civil War material will be interesting to readers of this blog. Many of the Civil War general officers served in the three so-called Seminole Wars as junior officers, and Allman's description of the American treatment of native Americans and black people before and after the war is horrifying, even though we all know that white Americans treated these people badly. There is also an vivid description of the Civil War battle of Olustee, the largest Civil War battle fought in the Florida. The 54th Massachusetts fought in this battle, a Union defeat. Confederates controlled the field after the battle, and soldiers murdered wounded black soldiers, which we know from Confederate soldiers' letters home and by examining casualty figures. There is good material about Florida during the Jim Crow era. There was a high rate of lynching here even compared to other Southern states, and some notorious race massacres, such as at Rosewood.
I’ll have to get this one, based on your interesting recommendation. When we first moved to Spring Hill, FL, I got The Swamp Peddlers, by Jason Vuic. It explained a great deal, including why Spring Hill is laid out the way it is. The county courthouse in Brooksville has a rebel statue. When people asked that it be removed, it was instead moved to a more prominent position. The local Ladies Memorial Association regularly refreshes the wreath hanging on the fence. Smdh. https://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/protectors-of-confederate-statue-readied-for-a-battle-that-never/2334858/
The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War by Michael Gorra. Even if you haven't read all of Faulkner's work (or even most of it), Gorra's book is a really engaging analysis of how Faulkner wrote about the Civil War in Mississippi without writing directly about it.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown.
My sister gave me this book because our father had been on the rowing team at Yale. It wasn’t a subject I was interested in, and I knew nothing about our father’s experience.
I’m so glad I read it. It was so compelling, I resented each time I had to put it down.
I strongly recommend it, especially for summer reading!
Ends of War-I found it too compelling to put down.
Anything Bruce Catton-his works are admittedly a bit dated, but with that knowledge going in, I’ve still been pleased with his work. Catton could write!
The Crucible of War-the book, in my opinion, on the Seven Years War and how it laid a groundwork for revolution.
Road to Unfreedom-somewhat depressing, yet relevant to our current time.
Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire-this book helped turn my mind on the man who created my favorite F1 team. I used to consider him the necessary evil for Ferrari, but now I have a nuanced admiration for the man. He was irascible for sure, but more complex than he’s ever been given credit.
Salmon P. Chase by Walter Stahr. Good biography of the unlovable, ambitious and quite effective treasury secretary in Lincoln's cabinet and later chief justice. Valuable perspective on antislavery politics in the antebellum years.
Ways and Means by Roger Lowenstein. Readable account of the difficult but stupendously successful Union effort to finance the war. Important but overlooked subject.
I am often reading several books at once, until one really grabs me and I put the others down. Right now my list contains:
"Dixie's Daughters," by Karen Cox, about the UDC. Fascinating.
"1920: The Year of the Six Presidents," by David Pietrusza. I think this is the one that will grab me. I just finished the chapter where he introduces Warren G. Harding, and the scale of the man's philandering and epic mediocrity is astounding.
"Ben-Hur," by Lew Wallace. I watched the movie over Easter, and decided to read the book, which was cheap on my Nook. Getting through 19th Century prose is a bit of a slog, but I am finding it interesting.
"All the Real Indians Died Off": And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker; Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, S. C. Gwynne; and Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, Megan Kate Nelson. ‘Cause I’m a librarian and there can’t ever be only one. ;-)
I just finished The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, and it was spectacular. I’d highly recommend it! Another great book is Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry. About a particular elementary school shattered by the 2011 tsunami in Japan and how the community experienced it and accounted for it. Will stay with me forever.
If you don't happen to have read "Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert", I think it's interesting and insightful. I get the impression you don't read historical fiction, but IMO there are a few writers who use their imagination where there's no more evidence for historians to use and convince that that's how it must have been. Eg Hilary Mantel, not only the Thomas Cromwell trilogy but "A Place of greater safety" about the coming of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution.
I recently finished David K. Johnson's The Lavender Scare; it's a good book for McCarthy-era LGBTQ history. Also just started African Europeans by Olivette Otele and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
I recommend:
Salt: A World History - Mark Kurlanksy.
Salt has been a major factor in human history for thousands of years. There's even a good section on salt during the U.S. Civil War. Altogether an entertaining, and informative, read.
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
It is fiction, but one main theme is about history and how things are remembered and the stories we tell ourselves about history. Despite being written during the height of fear of nuclear war over 50 years ago, it remains incredibly relevant and poignant. Other main thematic areas include the ethical use of technology, the inevitability of humanity repeating history, and the sanctity of life. It is a contender for my one desert island book.
Kurlanksy’s book is very good, different way to understand history thru one commodity.
Just finished reading RING SHOUT by P. D'jeli Clark (pen name) a fantasy novelette set in the background of the Klan revival post 1915. In his non fiction writing the author teaches ante bellum history of enslavement and freedom.
I am also reading next on my list are AKATA WOMAN by Nnedi Okorafor and MacClellan by Stephen Sears.
I just finished reading all of Shakespeare's histories from Richard II to Richard III. This is my second time around with them and I enjoyed it more this time for two reasons. First, I read the plays while listening to the audiobook - so much more interesting and understandable! Second, I read a companion book to each play that explained the real history and/or took a different angle on the play/time period. For example, while reading Henry V I read Bernard Cornwell's novel AGINCOURT, which follows a peasant English archer during the conflict. These two things made the plays so much more interesting and understandable. This would be a great summer project and I could def read/listen to Shakespeare at the beach!
Katz's Gangsters of Capitalism
Wilkerson's Caste
and Gorra's book on Faulkner is tremendous
Recently, I finished all of Shakespeare's plays, a project that took a couple of years. Current history reading list: Jonathan Alter's biography of Jimmy Carter, "His Very Best"; John M. Barry, "The Great Influenza"; and one that's hard to categorize, Karen Armstrong's "Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence."
Thanks, Joe, for the comment. If you're interested in reading a little more about the Shakespeare plays project, it's the current post on my blog, "Retired But Not Shy": https://georgelamplugh.com/
Some Indigenous-focused recommendations:
1. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2015)
2. Not a 'Nation of Immigrants': Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2021)
3. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, by David Treuer (2019)
4. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America, by Pekka Hamalainen (2022) (This one may not be out in time for summer beach reading, but still worth keeping an eye on).
My summer reading list:
Call My Name, Clemson: Documenting the Black Experience in American Universtity Community (already started & like it a lot) by Rhonda Robinson Thomas. I live 20 minutes from Clemson, & many in my family have degrees from there including my Master's. I've done the cemetery tour that Dr. Thomas's research led to. I grew up in this area so many of the family names she discusses I know of. The dance she talks about in the mid "60s where Smokey Robinson was the performer was my parents first date while my father was a student.
Invisibile No More: The African American Experience at the Univ of South Carolina by Robert Greene II & Tyler D Parry
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America by Megan Kate Nelson (finished this already & highly recommend).
The Earth Remains by Shelly Burchfield (her debut novel and in full disclosure Shelly used to teach acroass the hall from me. Hopefullly, it is good and if not I helped a former coworker sale a book.
Hello from Tampa.
I suggest Finding Florida, The True History of the Sunshine State, by T. D. Allman. From 2013. Allman was a journalist so his writing is vivid and vigorous. The pre-Civil War and Civil War material will be interesting to readers of this blog. Many of the Civil War general officers served in the three so-called Seminole Wars as junior officers, and Allman's description of the American treatment of native Americans and black people before and after the war is horrifying, even though we all know that white Americans treated these people badly. There is also an vivid description of the Civil War battle of Olustee, the largest Civil War battle fought in the Florida. The 54th Massachusetts fought in this battle, a Union defeat. Confederates controlled the field after the battle, and soldiers murdered wounded black soldiers, which we know from Confederate soldiers' letters home and by examining casualty figures. There is good material about Florida during the Jim Crow era. There was a high rate of lynching here even compared to other Southern states, and some notorious race massacres, such as at Rosewood.
Bernard Leikind
I’ll have to get this one, based on your interesting recommendation. When we first moved to Spring Hill, FL, I got The Swamp Peddlers, by Jason Vuic. It explained a great deal, including why Spring Hill is laid out the way it is. The county courthouse in Brooksville has a rebel statue. When people asked that it be removed, it was instead moved to a more prominent position. The local Ladies Memorial Association regularly refreshes the wreath hanging on the fence. Smdh. https://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/protectors-of-confederate-statue-readied-for-a-battle-that-never/2334858/
I’ve always been fascinated by the effects of disease on history (even before COVID) so:
Irwin W. Sherman
Twelve Diseases that Changed Our World: Diseases that Changed Our World and the Lessons They Teach
Very quick read. Great at discussing the pathology in layman terms.
The Saddest Words: William Faulkner's Civil War by Michael Gorra. Even if you haven't read all of Faulkner's work (or even most of it), Gorra's book is a really engaging analysis of how Faulkner wrote about the Civil War in Mississippi without writing directly about it.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown.
My sister gave me this book because our father had been on the rowing team at Yale. It wasn’t a subject I was interested in, and I knew nothing about our father’s experience.
I’m so glad I read it. It was so compelling, I resented each time I had to put it down.
I strongly recommend it, especially for summer reading!
Ends of War-I found it too compelling to put down.
Anything Bruce Catton-his works are admittedly a bit dated, but with that knowledge going in, I’ve still been pleased with his work. Catton could write!
The Crucible of War-the book, in my opinion, on the Seven Years War and how it laid a groundwork for revolution.
Road to Unfreedom-somewhat depressing, yet relevant to our current time.
Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire-this book helped turn my mind on the man who created my favorite F1 team. I used to consider him the necessary evil for Ferrari, but now I have a nuanced admiration for the man. He was irascible for sure, but more complex than he’s ever been given credit.
The Cornfield-Antietam’s Bloody Turning Point
Lincoln on the Verge
Blitz: Drugs in the Third Reich by Ohler
Extra Virginity: the Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Mueller (everyone I’ve recommended it to agreed it was unexpectedly enthralling)
Dark Archives: Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Rosenbloom (creepy but interesting)
Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou by Wells (part history of gumbo, part memoir)
Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by O’Meara
Anne Applebaum’s (1) Torn Curtain, (2) Between East and West, and (3) Red Famine.
Salmon P. Chase by Walter Stahr. Good biography of the unlovable, ambitious and quite effective treasury secretary in Lincoln's cabinet and later chief justice. Valuable perspective on antislavery politics in the antebellum years.
Ways and Means by Roger Lowenstein. Readable account of the difficult but stupendously successful Union effort to finance the war. Important but overlooked subject.
I am often reading several books at once, until one really grabs me and I put the others down. Right now my list contains:
"Dixie's Daughters," by Karen Cox, about the UDC. Fascinating.
"1920: The Year of the Six Presidents," by David Pietrusza. I think this is the one that will grab me. I just finished the chapter where he introduces Warren G. Harding, and the scale of the man's philandering and epic mediocrity is astounding.
"Ben-Hur," by Lew Wallace. I watched the movie over Easter, and decided to read the book, which was cheap on my Nook. Getting through 19th Century prose is a bit of a slog, but I am finding it interesting.
In no particular order:
Winning Independence: The Decisive Years of the Revolutionary War, 1778-1781 by John Ferling
(my former Professor)
The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam by Andrew Wiest
Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H. W. Brands
The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West by Megan Kate Nelson
The Best and the Brightest: Kennedy-Johnson Administrations by David Halberstam
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam
The Phantom Flotilla. Peter Shankland. British gunboat battles Germans on Lake Tanganyika. So wild to be true.
"All the Real Indians Died Off": And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker; Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, S. C. Gwynne; and Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, Megan Kate Nelson. ‘Cause I’m a librarian and there can’t ever be only one. ;-)
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann is one of those books that changed the way I think about the world
I just finished The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, and it was spectacular. I’d highly recommend it! Another great book is Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry. About a particular elementary school shattered by the 2011 tsunami in Japan and how the community experienced it and accounted for it. Will stay with me forever.
You may have already read this one but I enjoyed The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt by Andrea Wulf
The Perfect Summer - Juliet Nicholson; Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park - Michael Smith
Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt
Thanks. Looks interesting.