Top Ten Books I'd Give To Readers Who Have Never Read Narrative History
Narrative History is defined by Wikipedia as the practice of writing history in a story-based form. For me, it has always been making history interesting, relevant and exciting. For anyone who has never read a narrative history book, here is my list of top ten books to interest you:
The Fall of the House of Walworth by Geoffrey O’Brien
Opening with patricide and then turning back to look at the rise and fall of a New York aristocratic family
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
A double narrative following President Garfield, the man who assassinated him and the man who could have saved him – Alexander Graham Bell
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
A true adventure story, this book follows a British explorer who vanished in the Amazon during his search for a lost, mythical city
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The narrative history book par excellence, the Devil is a serial killer masquerading as a doctor during the 1893 Chicago World Fair. Best little tidbit? The serial killer’s last name? Holmes! :)
The Murder of the Century by Paul Collins
Any book about people throughout the New York area finding parts of the same dead body has to be enthralling, right? Set amongst the newspaper battles between Joseph Pullitzer and William Randolph Hearst.
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
A great book chronicling the career and most famous case of the detective who lies at the origin of every police detective in literature, Inspector Jonathan Wincher.
Duel with the Devil by Paul Collins
Another entry for Paul Collins, this time about a trial that pitted two of the Founding Fathers against one another – Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff
From the back cover copy:
Two harrowing crashes . . . A vanished rescue plane . . . A desperate fight for life in a frozen, hostile land . . . The quest to solve a seventy-year-old mystery
Need I say more ? :)
One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson
A slightly more epic entry, tracing an entire summer in America, which saw Charles Lindbergh cross the Atlantic, Babe Ruth break the home run record, Al Capone tighten his grip on Chicago and the first ‘talkie’ be released.
50 Children by Steven Pressman
The most recent narrative history I read, 50 Children is the touching story of one couple’s attempts to save 50 Jewish children from the Holocaust just before WW2.
Any books you would add to this list? What type of books would you choose to introduce a genre or a writer to someone?
The Fall of the House of Walworth by Geoffrey O’Brien
Opening with patricide and then turning back to look at the rise and fall of a New York aristocratic family
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
A double narrative following President Garfield, the man who assassinated him and the man who could have saved him – Alexander Graham Bell
The Lost City of Z by David Grann
A true adventure story, this book follows a British explorer who vanished in the Amazon during his search for a lost, mythical city
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The narrative history book par excellence, the Devil is a serial killer masquerading as a doctor during the 1893 Chicago World Fair. Best little tidbit? The serial killer’s last name? Holmes! :)
The Murder of the Century by Paul Collins
Any book about people throughout the New York area finding parts of the same dead body has to be enthralling, right? Set amongst the newspaper battles between Joseph Pullitzer and William Randolph Hearst.
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
A great book chronicling the career and most famous case of the detective who lies at the origin of every police detective in literature, Inspector Jonathan Wincher.
Duel with the Devil by Paul Collins
Another entry for Paul Collins, this time about a trial that pitted two of the Founding Fathers against one another – Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff
From the back cover copy:
Two harrowing crashes . . . A vanished rescue plane . . . A desperate fight for life in a frozen, hostile land . . . The quest to solve a seventy-year-old mystery
Need I say more ? :)
One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson
A slightly more epic entry, tracing an entire summer in America, which saw Charles Lindbergh cross the Atlantic, Babe Ruth break the home run record, Al Capone tighten his grip on Chicago and the first ‘talkie’ be released.
50 Children by Steven Pressman
The most recent narrative history I read, 50 Children is the touching story of one couple’s attempts to save 50 Jewish children from the Holocaust just before WW2.
Any books you would add to this list? What type of books would you choose to introduce a genre or a writer to someone?
Great list! I'm going to have to read The Devil in the White City. It sounds so interesting! Have you read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien? One of my favorites, even if I did have to read it for a class :)
RépondreSupprimerThanks! Devil in the White City is fantastic, one of the best books in any genre I have ever read. No, haven't read The Things They Carried, will check it out. Thanks for the comment and the recommendation!
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