Top History Books in my Library
As a graduate student of History you can imagine I have read my
fair share of books over the years. What makes these books among the few
favorites in my library is certainly within the stories they tell, the effect and
timing of when I read them and my inability to later sell them, but indeed hold on to all them despite the financial pains of book buying and selling in college.
Here are just a few that are my favorite or rather that I am
rather fond of:
My favorite classical
history book is none other than The
Rise of Rome-Books 1-5, by Livy. Livy delivers a history of Rome early beginnings,
starting with the horrible conception of Romulus and Remus and takes the reader
through to the Gaul’s sacking of Rome in 390 B.C. This is a thorough book yet
the information is given to you quickly and precisely. I read this book in my
junior year of undergraduate in a brief ten week course on Roman History and I
loved this book.
My favorite World
History book is Tom Standage’s A
History of the World in 6 Glasses. This is by far the most interesting book
I have read in my graduate studies thus far. Standage approaches the history of
the world through an entirely different style of writing history, by looking at
history as a cause and effect and the importance of different beverages that he
states propels the world and civilizations forward to progress. It is definitely
an entertaining book to say the least. I just finished reading this book for my
current World History seminar course and I literally could not put it down. It
really makes you want to go out and buy a beer, a bottle of wine and eventually
a crisp bottle of Coca-Cola.
My favorite early
American History book would have to be Carol Berkin’s A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution. Berkin’s
delivers another concise rendition of how the Founding Fathers establish the
most important document in America’s history, The United States Constitution.
Berkin’s really brings to life the struggles and realities of creating a
government in an age without cell phones, fax or word processors. This book
truly brings history alive. I read this book in my first graduate course called
U.S. Constitutional History and this made me truly proud to be an American.
My favorite early
African American History book is without a doubt John W. Blassingame’s The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the
Antebellum South. This is more than
a history on an era that typically considers just the plantation owners and a
little on the slave, this book is all about the African American’s ability to
survive and find some kind of normalcy during an excruciating period of their
history. Blassingame focuses on the culture and experiences of the African
American’s journey from Africa to America to which they had no control over. I
read this book in my undergraduate with my favorite professor (Dr. Barbra Green
at Wright State University). This book
really for the first time opened my eyes to the fact that the Slaves did not
choose to be there, they were there without choice and as a young white woman
that was appalling and made me want to learn as much as I could about the
experiences of the Slaves during this period in American history.
My favorite Civil-War
and post-civil War (Reconstruction) history book is unquestionably Eric
Foner’s Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished
Revolution. This is a book that again dives into the story of African
American history demonstrating the eagerness and abilities of a culture to
struggle to find equality. In many regards the period found success in the
north, but in the South during the Reconstruction the obstacles and inability
of the whites to allow progress to take place was too great. Foner really dives
into the trials of the south and ultimate failure to assimilate the former
slaves into a society attained by the Northern victory of the Civil War. I read
this book in my undergraduate study of the Reconstruction period (also with Dr.
Green). This is another book that was hard to put down and one that I just
could not sell back at the bookstore at the end of the term.
My favorite go to
American History book is really Howard Zinn’s A People of the United States: 1492 to Present. This is really a
good read and a good source of information when you just need a book that is
all encompassing concerning United States History. Zinn approaches US History
tactfully but delivers the information quickly that does not draw out
unnecessarily. I have used this book as a resource in many classes in my
undergrad and later in my graduate coursework.
My favorite History
book of all time is without a doubt is Alison Weir’s The Children of Henry VIII. When it comes to Tudor history Alison
Weir is the master of the era. In this book Weir tactfully approaches the succeeding
years of the British monarchy following the death of the beloved yet tyrannical
King Henry VIII and his four heirs. Beginning with his son King Edward VI,
followed by a distant relative Lady Jane Grey, then the barbaric duration of
Mary I who history would remember as Bloody
Mary, and ending finally with Elizabeth I that would then lead into Weir’s
next book The Life of Elizabeth I.
This book means a lot to me and I have grown rather fond of the Tudors (not the
television series) as a result. When I read this book I had just graduated from
college in 2008 when the bottom fell out of the economy and I was working a dead-end
job that was not, shall we say, intellectually stimulating. This book showed me
that I was more than where I was at and that I should pursue my dreams. Beyond
my own revelation this book is a thoroughly researched and amazingly articulated
history of the rollercoaster of the lives of Henry VIII’s heirs.
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