I’m in a book club which reads mostly non-fiction. I thought I’d post a list of what we’re reading.
May 2012, Drift, the unmooring of American Military Power, by Rachel Maddow
April 2012. the Discovery of France by Graham Robb
March 2012 Strategy by B. H. Liddell Hart
January 2012, All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer and/or The Ayatollah’s Democracy by Hooman Majd.
November 2011, Justinian’s Flea, by William Rosen
October 2011, 97 Orchard, by Jane Ziegelman.
June 2011 and September 2011: Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of World War II. John W. Dower
May 2011: Monuments Men.Allied Heros, Nazi Theives, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt In History. Robert M. Edsel
April 2011: The Most Noble Adventure, the Marshall Plan and How America helped rebuild Europe. Greg Behrman
Older: (in process)
Date Title Author
Marvelous Possessions – The Wonder of the New World Stephen Greenblatt
The Broken Spears – The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico Miguel Leon-Portilla
Beyond 1492 – Encounters in Colonial America James Axtell
The Conquest of the Incas John Hemming
Texaco – A Novel Patrick Chamoiseau
The Caribbean Basin – An International History Stephen J. Randall & Graeme S. Mount
Guns, Germs and Steel Jared Diamond
Plagues and Peoples William H. McNeill
Viva Baseball – Latin Major Leaguers and Their Special Hunger Samuel O. Regalado
Tough Trip Through Paradise Andrew Garcia
Voices of Protest – Huey Long, Father Coughlin & The Great Depression Alan Brinkley
The First World War John Keegan
A Farewell to Arms – A Novel Ernest Hemingway
The Strange Career of Jim Crow C.Vann Woodward
Speak Now Against the Day – The Generation Before Civil Rights in the South John Egerton
The Lexus and the Olive Tree – Understanding Globalization Thomas L. Friedman
All Quiet on the Western Front – A Novel Erich Maria Remarque
A Very Long Engagement Japrisot
The Immaculate Invasion Bob Shacochis
The Battle for God Karen Armstrong
Civilization & Barbarity – In 20th-Century Europe Gabriel Jackson
Freedom From Fear – The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 David M. Kennedy
East to America – Korean American Life Stories Elaine H. Kim & Eui-Young Yu
Stranger in a Strange Land – A Novel Robert A. Heinlein
The Autumn of the Patriarch – A Novel Gabriel Garcia Marquez
False Dawn – The Delusions of Global Capitalism John Gray
Rise to Globalism Steven Ambrose & Douglas Brinkley
Why is Sex Fun? – The Evolution of Human Sexuality Jared Diamond
The Black Jacobins – Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution C.L.R. James
Underworld – A Novel Don DeLillo
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present Jacques Barzun
When China Ruled the Seas: The Teasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne Louise Levathes
The Thin Red Line – Every Man Fights His Own War James Jones
The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes
Wealth and Democracy – A Political History of the American Rich Kevin Phillips
Grand Expectations – The United States, 1945-1974 James T. Patterson
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to) Alex Haley
Founding Brothers – The Revolutionary Generation Joseph J. Ellis
The History of Civilizations Fernand Braudel
The Control of Nature John McPhee
Emergence – The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software Steven Johnson
Manufacturing Consent – The Political Economy of the Mass Media Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky
Knowledges – Culture Counterculture Subculture Peter Worsley
The Botany of Desire – A Plant’s-Eye view of the World Michael Pollan
The Closing of the American Mind Allan Bloom
London: The Biography Peter Ackroyd
The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs
Los Angeles – The Architecture of Four Ecologies Reyner Banham
Cicero – The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician Anthony Everitt
The Metaphysical Club – A Story of Ideas in America Louis Menand
The Measure of All Things Ken Alder
The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848 Eric Hobsbawm
Kraktoa – The Day the World Exploded – August 27, 1883 Simon Winchester
Garibaldi and the Making of Italy George Macauly Trevelyan
Wellington – A Personal History Christopher Hibbert
Napolean – A Political Life Steven Englund
Roll, Jordan, Roll – The World the Slaves Made Eugene D. Genovese
To Begin the World Anew Bernard Bailyn
The Humboldt Current Aaron Sachs
Collapse Jared Diamond
Master of the Senate – The Years of Lyndon Johnson Robert A. Caro
Mencken – The American Iconoclast Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Lincoln at Gettysburg Garry Wills
New Spirits – Americans in the Gilded Age Rebecca Edwards
How the Irish Saved Civilization Thomas Cahill
Nothing Like it in the World Stephen E. Ambrose
The Devil in the White City Erok Larson
The Power Broker Robert A. Caro
Thunderstruck Erik Larson
Byzantium – The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire Judith Herrin
History Book Club Stack.xls
Page 2
Date Title Author
Speak Now Against the Day – The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South John Egerton
Don’t Think of an Elephant George Lakoff
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail Hunter S. Thompson
The Boys on the Bus Timothy Crouse
Wealth and Democracy Kevin Phillips
The Worst Hard Times Tim Egan
Hard Times Studs Terkel
The Middle Ages Morris Bishop
Becoming Charlemagne Jeff Sypeck
2/17/10
The House of Wisdom Jonathan Lyons
The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright
3/17/10
The Big Bang Simon Singh
Fermat’s Enigma Simon Singh
The Invention of Air Steven Johnson
Blood and Thunder – An Epic of the American West Hampton Sides
The Brain That Changes Itself Norman Doidge
Evolution, The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory Edward J. Larsen
9/15/10
The Wilderness Warrior – Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America Douglas Brinkley
10/13/10
A River Lost Blaine Harden
11/17/10
The Big Burn Tim Egan
2011
1/19/11
Mark Twain Ron Powers
2/16/11
U.S. Grant – American Hero, American Myth Joan Waugh
3/16/11
Capitol Men – Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen Philip Dray
4/20/11
The Most Noble Adventure – The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe Greg Behrman
5/18/11
The Monuments Men – Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History Robert M. Edsel
