for display only
Big Blue Interactive The Corner Forum  
Back to the Corner

Archived Thread

NFT: Book suggestion (history)

GiantsUA : 1/5/2019 1:21 pm
Hue 1968 by Mark Bowden (author of Black Hawk Down)
NY Times Bestseller
Great book so far - 200 pages in.

Focus is on Hue during the Tet Offensive.

Bowden is a very good writer  
81_Great_Dane : 1/5/2019 3:11 pm : link
and an outstanding reporter.
will add that to the list  
JerrysKids : 1/5/2019 3:26 pm : link
always looking for a good history book.
I have one for you, Campaigning with Grant (best history book I've read in a while.)
Campaigning With Grant by General Horace Porter

No one can read this book without coming away with a more nuanced appreciation of Grant and his abilities. Many will find a new affection for the man. If you want to understand Grant as he appeared to those closest to him, read this masterful first-hand account of Horace Porter's time on Grant's staff during the American Civil War.
Hey Great Dane,  
GiantsUA : 1/5/2019 5:22 pm : link
My wife and I may go to the Great Dane's -UAlbany - VT Men's basketball game tonight.

Local kid plays for VT.
The Killing of the Rising Sun  
gtt350 : 1/6/2019 11:33 am : link
terrific read, The reality of some situations were mind boggling
RE: will add that to the list  
section125 : 1/6/2019 11:41 am : link
In comment 14248334 JerrysKids said:
Quote:
always looking for a good history book.
I have one for you, Campaigning with Grant (best history book I've read in a while.)
Campaigning With Grant by General Horace Porter

No one can read this book without coming away with a more nuanced appreciation of Grant and his abilities. Many will find a new affection for the man. If you want to understand Grant as he appeared to those closest to him, read this masterful first-hand account of Horace Porter's time on Grant's staff during the American Civil War.


Thanks for this. I read Grant's Memoirs a few years back and may go read it again. Fascinating look at the Civil War and you definitely get a different perspective from the Grant was an alcoholic POV.

Thanks GiantsUA will get that one too. People forget that we decimated the NVA in the Tet Offensive. Yes, we took heavy casualties but the North was ready to pull back for a while after what was essentially an all out effort to kick us out of the country that totally failed.
A couple of people here suggested "Killers of the Flower Moon"  
BestFeature : 1/6/2019 12:09 pm : link
I bought the book before the suggestions but wasn't sure if I'd read. Only about 40 pages in but so far it's been great. Thanks, BBI!
Also I'm not sure if Killer of the Flower Moon can be considered  
BestFeature : 1/6/2019 12:12 pm : link
history. It's a historical mystery if that's a genre. I just figured I'd write that here since it was somewhat relevant.
Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillian  
Jeever : 1/6/2019 1:30 pm : link
You want to know why the world is as effed up as it is especially the Middle East give this a read. The powers that be arbitrarily drew lines on the map to placate each other with total disregard to the local populations. Hense a country like Iraq.
RE: Hey Great Dane,  
81_Great_Dane : 1/7/2019 4:57 pm : link
In comment 14248484 GiantsUA said:
Quote:
My wife and I may go to the Great Dane's -UAlbany - VT Men's basketball game tonight.

Local kid plays for VT.
How was that? The Great Danes have been pretty darn good. When I was there it was Division III. Good to see them holding their own in Division I.
Dostoevsky's...  
Milton : 1/7/2019 5:06 pm : link
"Demons" (also called "Devils" and "The Possessed"), but I would avoid the Constance Garnett translation (which is most common). Magarshack or McAndrew are the best translators for him in my opinion.
p.s.--technically it's not a history book per se, but it basically tells the story of Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin before they were even born.
I haven't read it...  
Milton : 1/7/2019 5:10 pm : link
But I'm curious about Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, which inspired Lin Manuel Miranda to write the musical based on it.
"The life of somebody I think embodies hip-hop..." - ( New Window )
RE: I haven't read it...  
Jim in Fairfax : 1/7/2019 5:18 pm : link
In comment 14252706 Milton said:
Quote:
But I'm curious about Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, which inspired Lin Manuel Miranda to write the musical based on it. "The life of somebody I think embodies hip-hop..." - ( New Window )

I tried reading it but found it a tedious read. Gave it up fairly early.

Maybe I was in the wrong mood. I did recently finish Chernow’s Bio on Grant. It was also at times a tedious read, and I skimmed through the worst sections. But I found it a more engaging 8ng read overall.
My holiday read was Berlin 1936: 16 Days in August  
Bobby Humphrey's Earpad : 1/7/2019 7:27 pm : link
Fascinating look at the City of Berlin and German life during Hitler's Olympics through numerous perspectives from the athletes, the Nazis, visitors, politicians and German residents themselves. Last throes of Berlin society before the Nazis crackdown for good a few weeks after the Olympics conclude and march to war thereafter.
Gotta disagree with Jim  
Dunedin81 : 1/7/2019 8:10 pm : link
Loved the two Chernow bios, and I found them to be page-turners as biographies go.
Back to the Corner