Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

His Excellency: George Washington

by Joseph J. Ellis

The author of seven highly acclaimed books, Joseph J. Ellis has crafted a landmark biography that brings to life in all his complexity the most important and perhaps least understood figure in American history, George Washington. With his careful attention to detail and his lyrical prose, Ellis has set a new standard for biography. Drawing from the newly catalogued Washington papers at the University of... (more)

Founding Brothers

The Revolutionary Generation

by Joseph J. Ellis

In this landmark work of history, the National Book Award—winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals–Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison–confronted the overwhelming challenges before them to set the course for our nation. The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790. During the decade that followed,... (more)

This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History - Fiftieth Anniversary Edition

This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History - Fiftieth Anniversary Edition

by T. R. Fehrenbach

The authoritative, highly acclaimed classic history of the Korean War, THIS KIND OF WAR, is a dramatic and hard-hitting account of the conflict written from the perspective of those who fought it. The 50th anniversary of the Korean War, which began in June 1950, makes this an appropriate time to revisit this monumental study. Successive generations of U.S. military officers have considered this book an... (more)

1421

The Year China Discovered America

by Gavin Menzies

On March 8, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set sail from China. Its mission was "to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas" and unite the whole world in Confucian harmony. When it returned in October 1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in political and economic chaos. The great ships were left to rot at their moorings and the... (more)

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

by Thomas E. Woods

Claiming that most textbooks and popular history books were written by biased left-wing writers and scholars, historian Thomas Woods offers this guide as an alternative to "the stale and predictable platitudes of mainstream texts." Covering the colonial era through the Clinton administration, Woods seeks to debunk some persistent myths about American history. For instance, he writes, the Puritans were not racists... (more)

What's The Matter With Kansas?

How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

by Thomas Frank

One of “our most insightful social observers”* cracks the great political mystery of our time: how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank turns his eye on what he calls the “thirty-year backlash”—the populist revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment. The high point of that backlash is the... (more)

For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga (Greenhill Military Paperback)

For Want of a Nail: If Burgoyne had won at Saratoga (Greenhill Military Paperback)

by Robert Sobel

More than any other colony, Virginia looked to the west for its future. After the French and Indian War, the Royal Proclamation of 1754 declared that officers and soldiers would be paid with parcels of western land, vaguely extending about eighty miles in all directions from Lexington. By 1768 most of the area had been explored by the Long Hunters, including Daniel and Squire Boone, James Knox,... (more)

Rising Sun Victorious

by Peter Tsouras

Here is a sideways look at World War II in the Pacific, which gives an exciting view of how the Japanese could have won. Expert military historians examine what would have happened if, for example if the Japanese had conquered India and knocked Britain out of the Pacific War; or if Japanese landings in Australia had severed the strategic link between the US and its Southwest Pacific base. The authors, writing as... (more)

Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire : From the First Century A.D. to the Third

Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire : From the First Century A.D. to the Third

by Edward Luttwak

'A fascinating book, well written and forcefully argued...Luttwak's formulations are as refreshing as they are convincing... He has done for Roman historians what they have not done for themselves.' --Z. Yavetz, New Republic

Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy

by Paul Ratchnevsky

Paul Ratchnevsky, one of the foremost historians of the Mongol period, draws upon Mongol, Chinese, Persian and European sources to provide a penetrating, balanced and highly readable account of the life of one of the greatest conquerors in world history. He begins with Genghis Khan's youth in the harsh environment of the twelfth-century steppe, and describes his rise to power as a young nomad warrior. The author... (more)

From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776

From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776

by Pauline Maier

"An intellectual interpretation of the American revolution that raises it to a new height of comprehensiveness and significance. A superbly detailed account of the ideological escalation . . . that brought Americans to revolution." —Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book Review In this classic account of the American revolution, Pauline Maier traces the step-by-step process through which the extra-legal... (more)

Mein Kampf

by Ralph Manhein, Adolf Hitler

After 1944, Hitler's notorious book was not widely available until the hardback edition of this version appeared in 1969. This paperback edition is intended primarily for students of 20th century German history seeking to gain insight into its dominant figure from reading his own words. Ostensibly an autobiography, the work comprises a melange of Hitler's political and racial ideas over two volumes, "A Reckoning"... (more)

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

by Joseph J. Ellis

At different times Thomas Jefferson has been claimed by Southern secessionists and Northern abolitionists, New Deal liberals and neoconservatives Now historian Joseph J. Ellis restores our most elusive national icon to human dimensions with insight, sympathy, and superb style, shrewdly sifting the facts from the legends and the rumors. From the drafting of the Declaration of Independence to his retirement in... (more)

Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths

Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myths

by Re?gine Pernoud

As she examines the many misconceptions about the "Middle Ages", the renown French historian, Régine Pernoud, gives the reader a refreshingly original perspective on many subjects, both historical (from the Inquisition and witchcraft trials to a comparison of Gothic and Renaissance creative inspiration) as well as eminently modern (from law and the place of women in society to the importance of history and... (more)

The Crusaders: The Struggle for the Holy Land

The Crusaders: The Struggle for the Holy Land

by Re?gine Pernoud

There is no shortage of stories about the crusades, or of biographies of those who played the leading roles in this, the greatest epic of the Middle Ages. But there has been no book in which we could find, recreated, the way of life, the world view, the everyday social organization of those who tempted adventure. They were kings and paupers, barons, clerks, women, and merchants. Some were driven by their faith,... (more)

Adventure Travel in the Third World: Everything You Need To Know To Survive in Remote and Hostile Destinations

Adventure Travel in the Third World: Everything You Need To Know To Survive in Remote and Hostile Destinations

by Jeff Randall

Jeff Randall and Mike Perrin have years of experience leading travelers deep into the wildest cities and most rugged backcountry of the Third World. In this book, they help you recognize and minimize the many risks that come with venturing way off the beaten path so that you can come home with stories the average tourist will never be able to tell. The authors' hard-earned secrets for staying healthy and happy in... (more)

A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans

A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans

by Alfred M. De Zayas

The genocidal barbarism of the Nazi forces has been well documented. What is little known is the fate of fifteen million German civilians who found themselves on the wrong side of new postwar borders. All over Eastern Europe, the inhabitants of communities that had been established for many centuries were either expelled or killed. Over two million Germans did not survive. Some of these people had supported... (more)

Hitler's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf

Hitler's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf

by Adolf Hitler

"Provides a valuable insight into the development of ideas that were to shape Hitler's foreign policy after 1933."-Jeremy Noakes, The Times Literary Supplement "The text bears all of Hitler's hallmarks, along with a terrifying, sustained belief in war and violence as a means to ensure that Germany would flourish."- Publishers Weekly "He envisaged the German people... (more)

Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945 (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

by David E. Johnson

The U.S. Army entered World War II unprepared. In addition, lacking Germany’s blitzkrieg approach of coordinated armor and air power, the army was organized to fight two wars: one on the ground and one in the air. Previous commentators have blamed Congressional funding and public apathy for the army’s unprepared state. David E. Johnson believes instead that the principal causes were internal: army culture and... (more)

Last Order of the Lost Cause

by Raphael Jacob Moses

Explores the lives of the Moses family, focusing specifically on Raphael Jacob Moses, a successful business man and a fighter for the South during the Civil War.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: 900 history & geography

by Joseph J. Ellis

The Revolutionary Generation

by Joseph J. Ellis

by T. R. Fehrenbach

The Year China Discovered America

by Gavin Menzies

by Thomas E. Woods

How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

by Thomas Frank

by Robert Sobel

by Peter Tsouras

by Edward Luttwak

by Paul Ratchnevsky

by Pauline Maier

by Ralph Manhein, Adolf Hitler

by Joseph J. Ellis

by Re?gine Pernoud

by Re?gine Pernoud

by Jeff Randall

by Alfred M. De Zayas

by Adolf Hitler

by David E. Johnson

by Raphael Jacob Moses