Any history book ideas?

[thaegumathteth]

Ds is 15 and studying for his history higher. He's asked for books about history for Xmas but not textbooks iyswim. Doesn't have to be related to school topics and he doesn't want ones about slavery, ww1&2 as he already has a few of those.

I'm thinking maybe Scottish history, but beyond that I'm really quite stuck as I am not very knowledgeable about historical eras tbh.

Can anyone recommend anything Scottish history related or anything else that fits the bill? I wondered about Russian and American history too?

I have recently really enjoyed (and then lent both to my 15 year old, who also enjoyed).

Beyond - about the race between the USA and USSR to put a man on the moon.

A Little History of The United States, by James West Davidson - a nice, not at all dry overview of US history.

My favourite book on Russian history is In the Land of the Firebird by Suzanne Massie, but it is likely out of print now. Thoroughly recommend it if you can get your hands on it though.

Beyond - about the race between the USA and USSR to put a man on the moon.

Seconded

Ian Mortimer’s Time Traveller’s Guide’ series are good (and not too heavy reading), as are Ruth Godwin’s (?) ‘How to live like a Victorian’ etc series. Another vote for Bill Bryson’s ‘At Home’.!

DD reads historic non-fiction a lot. and in the beginning needed books which were written in a more easier style.

She likes Nancy Goldstone, Daughter's of the Winter Queen especially, which tells the stories of the decendents of Mary Queen of Scots and shows how they influcened Europe.

Alison Weir

Dan Jones

I would go to a larger Waterstone and really look around and have a feel for the text, some have an. awful font.

Neil Oliver's books are very good. He has a history podcast too.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown: a more realistic history of the American West (because how first peoples were treated is often overlooked in traditional history)
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alverez: the fictionalised story, based on facts, of the Mirabal sisters who played a key role in bringing down Trujillo in the Dominican Republic (because "herstories" often get overlooked)

Jimmy Powdrell Campbell
The Scottish Crown Jewels and the Minister's Wife: A Cromwellian Mystery

Queen of Science: Personal Recollections of Mary Somerville

No mean city

Anything by Antonia Fraser or Alison Weir

Gone with the Wind

Eric Hobsbawn's books, just skip the we1&2 bits

AJP Taylor is arguably the greatest history writer ever but he mostly focussed on war.

David Thomson Europe since Napoleon

The rise and fall of the great powers Paul Kennedy

Image and Identity: The Making and Re-Making of Scotland Through the Ages Dauvit Broun

Scotland Herstory Rosemary Goring

Walter Scott's novels

[[https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-World-100-Objects/dp/0241951771/ref=asc_df_0241951771/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=311073749434&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6608755943467112774&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006510&hvtargid=pla-457470754540&

Sorry messed up link:
a history of the world in 100 objects

The bbc prog on it is good too

Thank you so much everyone - lots to consider.

Massively appreciate the advice

Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Agent ZigZag Ben Macintyre
a woman of no importance Sonia Purnell.

I've just started The Poor Had No Lawyers by Andy Wightman and have found it filling in a lot of gaps in my knowledge of Scottish history. From what I've seen so far it seems to do a pretty good job of demonstrating how seemingly remote historical decisions and events continue to shape the modern world.

I read loads of Bill Bryson when I was 15 so I'd say that's a good call. I ended up doing history at uni off the back of that plus Antonia Fraser's Six Wives of Henry VIII (maybe not so interesting to a teenage boy) and George Orwell's writing on the Spanish Civil War (technically not WW2 but very much part of the run up so he might not be up for that either).

What sort of things is he interested in in general? There are books on the history of football and other sports. If he likes adventure you could try a history of John Paul Jones - a Scotsman who went on to found the US navy, or Shackleton or Cook (any of the explorers). Its a vast topic just pic something he's interested in and get a book on its past. OH is currently reading Homo Britanicus which is a history of prehistoric man in Britain from the time when Britain was still attached to Europe via Doggerland.

May have already been mentioned, but if related to the periods he's interested in, Alison Weir writes very readable (and historically sound) non fiction.

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. Princes in the Tower era.
It's written as fiction but there's a lot of information in it.

My ds loved it (and enjoyed repeating it to his long suffering history teacher who he'd previously wrongfooted on WWII a few times)

Actually @BigFatLiar a book on football history is also a great idea

'River Kings' by Cat Jarman about the Vikings is amazing. I also loved 'Sapiens' by Yuval Noah Harari which is a meta-history. 'Time Traveller's Guides' are excellent too. Agree with previous posters that finding his interests will help.

@MargaretThursday The Daughter of Time is one of my favourite novels ever!

Histories of various intelligence services
Cold war era history
Genghis Khan
The spice road

I second or third the recommendation for Neil Oliver's book on the history of Scotland. I actually find him unwatchable on TV and he has some quite odd views on things but his book is very accessible and interesting.

Biographies e.g. Da Vinci

Killer in the Kremlin by John Sweeney. I got it for my history obsessed son,and the author dedicated it to him, writing “Vladimir Putin Do fuck off!”

A History of the World in 100 Objects has also a potdcast/e=radui eoisodes www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads

I recommend www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jun/26/hare-amber-eyes-de-waal I would buy a hardback because it has much better photos than the paperback of the artefacts mentioned in the text.

Also very readable www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/22/east-west-street-origin-genocide-crimes-against-humanity-philippe-sands-review

I have recently listened on audiobook to An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. It was gripping - probably quite a hefty read but it seems there’s is a film of the book, which I didn’t know about, that came out in 2019 if he finds it too heavy going. it’s about the Dreyfus affair, he is accused of spying for Germany against France in the 1890s. Dreyfus is Jewish and antisemitism is rife.
I read it without knowing the background or outcome - it was very good.

River Kings' by Cat Jarman about the Vikings is amazing.
I agree - really accessible and full of fascinating detail.

For the post-Roman Britain/Early Medieval period I’d also recommend the books by Max Adams and In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood.

Also, Medieval Women by Henrietta Leyser is a good look at changing lives for women over that period.