Best Reads of 2022 - History/Biography

 It is the middle of January and I have finally found time to start writing my annual summary of the best books from the past year.  As in past years, I have read a lot of good books this year.  I plan to divide these posts into three groups again – history/biography books, ministry-oriented books and fiction books.

Here is my description of the best history/biography books I read this year, followed by a list of the others I finished during 2022.

Stalin’s War:  A New History of World War II by Sean McMeekin.  This is a truly
remarkable, eye-opening book.  McMeekin’s argument is that Stalin, not Hitler, was the prime driver behind World War 2.  The author details how Stalin manipulated Hitler to bring about war, and then when Hitler turned on him, how he made himself the darling of the West.  McMeekin details the necessity and excesses of the Lend Lease program and the extent to which the US went to continue to supply the Russians with raw materials and manufactured goods which enabled them to get a jump on the Cold War.

Island Infernos:  The US Army’s Pacific War Odyssey, 1944 by John C. McManus.  This is McManus’ second book in a three-part series on the US Army in the Pacific during World War 2.  Like the previous book, it is amazingly well written and researched.  McManus unpacks the Army’s role in places like Saipan, Guam, New Guinea and Leyte Island in the Philippines and he does not shy away from addressing the Marine Corps’ bias against the Army by some of its leadership. 

Intellectuals:  From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and  Chomsky by Paul Johnson.  Another absolutely fascinating book.  Johnson details the life of intellectual after intellectual who each made absolute claims about how society should operate and how others should live.  But when their own lives are examined, they are exposed for the hypocrites that they truly were.  One wonders who would star in such a book if it was written about today’s intellectual class.

A War of Empires:  Japan, India, Burma & Britain, 1941-45 by Robert Lyman.  The CBI or China-Burma-India theater of World War 2 is often overlooked.  But the fact is, Allied troops fought the Japanese longer there than any other place in the Pacific War.  Lyman focuses our attention on this theater and especially on the struggles and subsequent triumphs of the Indian Army soldiers which made up the bulk of the troops. 

Victory at Sea:  Naval Power and the Transformation of the Global Order in World War 2 by Paul Kennedy.  Kennedy’s book is a high-level study of the navies of World War 2.  He focuses on the changes in the global world order as some navies who entered the war eroded or were destroyed, while others like the US Navy displayed remarkable growth.  It is a fascinating synthesis made better by some great naval art by artist Ian Marshall.

July 1914:  Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin.  You might start noticing a theme here.  This is a Sean McMeekin year.  After reading Stalin’s War, I sought out other McMeekin books.  This volume is about the political and diplomatic machinations that brought about World War 1.  Blunders and miscommunication abound everywhere, and while blaming Austria as well as Germany, McMeekin brings the pivotal roles of Russian, France and Britain to the fore as well.  Bottom line – no one comes out looking good here.

The Russian Revolution:  A New History by Sean McMeekin.  One more McMeekin book.  This is a very readable account of how the Russian revelation came about.  He brings out how fragile and risky Lenin’s position really was at the beginning.  The book is rather grim in spots, and McMeekin does not shy away from the horror of Communist rule or the guilt belonging to other nations in allowing the revolution to begin and continue to its end.

Other excellent books I read:

Brothers in Arms:  One Legendary Tank Regiment’s Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day by James Holland

Poland 1939:  The Outbreak of World War 2 by Roger Moorhouse

Maverick:  A Biography of Thomas Sowell by Jason L. Riley

Operation Pedestal:  The Fleet and Battled to Malta, 1942 by Max Hastings

The Greek Revolution:  1821 and the Making of Modern Europe by Mark Mazower

Island of the Blue Foxes:  Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition by Stephen R. Bown

Fears of a Setting Sun:  The Disillusionment of America’s Founders by Dennis C. Rasmussen

The Last Emperor of Mexico by Edward Shawcross

The White Ship:  Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I’s Dream by Charles Spencer

Thaddeus Stevens:  Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice by Bruce Levine

River of the Gods:  Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard

Agent Sonya:  The Spy Next Door by Ben MacIntyre

Icebound:  Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer

The Last Battle:  When US and German Soldiers joined forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe by Stephen Harding

The Red Prince:  John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster by Helen Carr

Salmon P. Chase:  Lincoln’s Vital Rival by Walter Stahr

Shadow Man:  An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling by Ron Franscell

Who Can Hold the Sea:  The US Navy in the Cold War, 1945-1960 by James Hornfischer

Rebels at Sea:  Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin

Path Lit by Lightning:  The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss

Everest 1922:  The Epic Story of the First Attempt on the World’s Highest Mountain by Mick Conefrey

Together We Stand:  North Africa 1942-1943:  Turning the Tide in the West by James Holland

Blood and Smoke:  A True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem and the Birth of the Indy 500 by Charles Leerhsen

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

George V:  Never a Dull Moment by Jane Ridley

A Man of Iron:  The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland by
Troy Senik

The Last Campaign:  Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America by H. W.  Brands

A Fire in the Wilderness:  The First Battle between Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee by John Reeves

 

And a few that were somewhat disappointing:

Eight Days in May:  The Final Collapse of the Third Reich by Volker Ullrich

All Roads Led to Gettysburg:  A New Look at the Civil War’s Pivotal Campaign by Troy D. Harman