I enjoy history and good biography – I have a book like this
going all the time. As you can see, I had
a strange fascination with the books of Ken McGoogan and the history of the
American West this year. We will see
what next year brings.
Here the books that stood out this year.
Custer’s Trials: A
Life on the Frontier of a New America by T. J. Stiles. I always look forward to a new T. J. Stiles
book. In this book, Stiles portrays
George Armstrong Custer, the Civil War hero slain at the battle of Little
Bighorn. Custer is portrayed as a man
out of a place in the developing United States.
The only thing he does well is fight, which is what ultimately killed
him.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. While I realize the Hamilton is a Broadway
sensation, I read this book to learn more about a man who is at times vilified,
at other times forgotten as a founding father of America. Chernow is an excellent biographer – his
portrait is exhaustive, highlighting Hamilton’s brilliance as well as his
failings.
A Time for Trumpets:
The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge by Charles B. MacDonald. Written in the 1980’s, MacDonald’s book may
have been superseded by newer research, but very few books do as well
communicating the storyline of the grimmest battle on the Western Front during
World War 2. MacDonald was a
participant, serving as a company commander in the midst of the fighting in
Belgium.
One Day In August:
The Untold Story Behind Canada’s Tragedy at Dieppe by David O’Keefe. The raid on Dieppe during World War 2 is part
of the Canadian identity, and one of its tragedies. Part of the reason for the tragedy is that no
one really knows why so many lives were wasted for an operation that seemed to
have no purpose. O’Keefe, using new
research, seeks to shed light on the hidden purpose for the costly raid.
Fatal Passage: The
Untold Story of John Rae, the Arctic Adventurer who Discovered the Fate of
Franklin by Ken McGoogan. Easily the
best history/biography book I read this past year. I am fascinated by Arctic exploration, and
John Rae is one of the unsung heroes of it.
His accomplishments are many, including the first to find evidence of
the lost Franklin expedition, even though today he is virtually unknown.
Gettysburg: The
Last Invasion by Allen C. Guelzo.
The second best history/biography book I read this year. Many people have written many pages about the
battle of Gettysburg, few have done it with such an excellent blend of writing
and research. I am looking forward to
reading more of Guelzo’s books – I already have Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer
President on my short list.
The Earth is Weeping:
The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West by Peter
Cozzens. The story of the Indian wars in
the west has been told many times, most famously from the perspective of the
Indian in books like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Cozzens’ portrayal of this period of American
history is brilliant, well-written and profoundly balanced.
Those are the best, here are the rest (in no particular
order):
2nd Tier books – very good, recommended.
Double Cross: The
True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre
Fierce Patriot:
The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman by Robert L. O’Connell
(honorable mention)
Grant’s Final Victory:
Ulysses S. Grant’s Heroic Last Year by Charles Bracelen Flood
Strangers on a Bridge:
The Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers by James B. Donovan
(the true story behind the movie)
Last Stand: George
Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West
by Michael Punke
The Black Count:
Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by
Tom Reiss
Geronimo by Robert M. Utley
Escape from Davao:
The Forgotten Story of the Most Daring Prison Break of the Pacific
War by John D. Lukacs
The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens who made
England by Dan Jones
The Wilderness Warrior:
Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley
The Immortal Irishman:
The Irish Revolutionary who became an American Hero by Timothy Egan
(Montana’s first governor)
A Decent, Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes by Frederik Allen
Astoria: Astor and
Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
Tragedy at Dieppe:
Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942 by Mark Zuehlke
How the Scots Invented Canada by Ken McGoogan
Wrecked in Yellowstone:
Greed, Obsession and the untold Story of Yellowstone’s Most Infamous
Shipwreck by Mike Stark
The Wars of the Roses:
The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan
Jones
The General:
Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved by Jonathon Fenby
Ancient Mariner: The
Arctic Adventures of Samuel Hearne, the Sailor who Inspired Coleridge’s
Masterpiece by Ken McGoogan
If You Can Keep it:
The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty by Eric Metaxas
Valour Road by John Nadler (3 World War 1 heroes from
the same Winnipeg street)
The Norman Conquest:
The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England by Marc
Morris
Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne
Augustus: First
Emperor of Rome by Adrian Goldsworthy (honorable mention)
Brilliant Disaster:
JFK, Castro and America’s Doomed Invasion of Cuba’s Bay of Pigs by
Jim Rasenberger
Lady Franklin’s Revenge:
A True Story of Ambition, Obsessions and the Remaking of Arctic History
by Ken McGoogan (honorable mention)
MacArthur at War:
World War 2 in the Pacific by Walter Borneman
The Greatest Knight by Thomas Asbridge
3rd Tier reads – good, but somewhat
disappointing:
The Romanovs 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore
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