Books you recommend - nonfiction

[Tdog]

I'm looking for non-fiction books that you have read and recommend. To give an example of books I have read & enjoyed: Six Frigates by Ian Toll [founding of the US Navy], The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson [US European involvement in WWII], A Man Called Intrepid by William Stevenson [WWII spy network founding].
Looking forward to your recommendations.

Jack

 

[2LaneCruzer]

My first recommendation would be "Life at the Bottom" by Theodore Dalryimple. Great book, if you are interested in sociology and what motivates people.

Life at the Bottom - Wikipedia

Another one that is I enjoyed was "My Life With Bonnie and Clyde" by Blanche Barrow. Puts a new light on the romance of being a hunted criminal.

My Life with Bonnie and Clyde by Blanche Caldwell Barrow

 

[RNeumann]

Bible

 

[forgeblast]

The guns of august, best ww1 book I have ever come across.
and
War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The guns of august, best ww1 book I have ever come across.
and
War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier

If warfare and war birds are of interest, I highly recommend "Whistling Death" the story of the development of the F4U Corsair, and "Reach for the Sky", the story of the legless British Spitfire pilot, Douglas Bader, during WWII.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Highly recommended for any car person.
Excuse My Dust by Bellamy Partridge.
Written in 1943, tells about transition from horses to cars at turn of last century. Interesting story about several people, but you get a sense of what it must have been like. Bicycle mechanics and blacksmiths were it!

 

[Jstpssng]

Hiroshima, by John Hersey Hiroshima by John Hersey, Paperback | Barnes & Noble(R)

Actually it's a compilation of articles he wrote for New Yorker magazine, about survivors experiences immediately after the bomb was dropped.

Also on the WWII battlefield; The Book | Rachel S Cox
About 5 classmates who enlisted in the British army before the US committed to the war.

 

[flyerdan]

Some good autobiographical works,
They Call Me Mr. 500 by Andy Granatelli. Details his early life with his brothers operating a speed shop in the 40's and his quest to win the Indy 500.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted Lawson. Fist hand account of being one of the pilots involved in the Doolittle Raid.

Papa John by John Phillips. Account of the early days of the Mamas and the Papas, putting together the Monterrey Pop Festival, and subsequent problems.

 

[bigtiller]

By the time I get done with the daily newspaper and TBN, reading time is over.

 

[bunyip]

The seven ordeals of Count Calliastro by Iain McCalnan, an interesting historic account of an Italian peasants rise to fame and fortune and how he was tortured and killed by the Vatican, some interesting twists and turns through the account of his life.