The Great Books Project: Nonfiction
This project stems from a desire to continue reading great books throughout my life. My interest began (and remains) primarily in fiction, but the project has grown in many wonderful directions (click here for fiction). The foundation of the project comes from The New Lifetime Reading Plan.
I have also color-coded the books I have read and given each a hugely arbitrary rating. The ratings are based on the pleasure I felt in reading the book, what the book aimed to achieve, and how fully the book reached its potential. Thus High Fidelity rates slightly higher than Things Fall Apart because I enjoyed it more and though its ambitions were limited, it met them. I am not claiming it is a "better" book.
| Culture | ||
| Fashion | ||
| Flusser, Alan | Dressing The Man |
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| Roetzel, Bernhard | Gentleman |
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| Smith, Russell | Men's Style |
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| Food | ||
| Fromartz, Samuel | Organic, Inc. |
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| Pollan, Michael | The Omnivore's Dilemma |
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| Literature | ||
| Atlas, James | Bellow |
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| Benson, Jackson | Wallace Stegner |
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| Briggs, Julia | Virginia Woolf |
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| Frank, Joseph | Dostoevsky |
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| Mellow, James | Hemingway |
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| Nabokov, Vladimir | Speak, Memory |
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| Parini, Jay | John Steinbeck |
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| Parini, Jay | One Matchless Time |
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| Samway, Patrick | Walker Percy |
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| Sklenicka, Carol | Raymond Carver |
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| Slater, Michael | Charles Dickens |
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| Todd, Olivier | Albert Camus |
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| Williamson, Edwin | Borges |
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| Wilson, A.N. | Tolstoy |
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| Yeats, W.B. | Autobiographies |
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| Music | ||
| Cash, Johnny | Cash |
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| Klein, Joe | Woody Guthrie |
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| Neely, Kim | Five Against One |
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| Streissguth, Michael | Johnny Cash |
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| Wilson, Elizabeth | Rostropovich |
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| Sports | ||
| Bissinger, H.G. | Friday Night Lights |
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| Halberstam, David | Summer of '49 |
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| Hornby, Nick | Fever Pitch |
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| Maraniss, David | When Pride Still Mattered |
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| Stump, Al | Cobb |
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| History, Military | ||
| Ancient | ||
| Kagan, Donald | The Peloponnesian War |
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| Strauss, Barry | The Battle of Salamis |
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| World War I | ||
| Keegan, John | The First World War |
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| Meyer, G.J. | A World Undone |
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| Stevenson, David | Cataclysm |
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| Strachan, Hew | The First World War |
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| Spanish Civil War | ||
| Beevor, Antony | The Battle For Spain |
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| Orwell, George | Homage to Catalonia |
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| World War II | ||
| Ambrose, Stephen | Band of Brothers |
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| Ambrose, Stephen | Citizen Soldiers |
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| Ambrose, Stephen | D-Day |
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| D'Este, Carlo | Eisenhower |
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| D'Este, Carlo | Patton |
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| Lord, Walter | Day of Infamy |
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| Weinberg, Gerhard | A World at Arms |
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| Korea | ||
| Fehrenbach, T.R. | This Kind of War |
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| Hastings, Max | The Korean War |
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| Vietnam | ||
| Karnow, Stanley | Vietnam |
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| McDonough, James | Platoon Leader |
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| Wolff, Tobias | In Pharaoh's Army |
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| Israel | ||
| Morris, Benny | 1948 |
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| Oren, Michael | Six Days of War |
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| Rabinovich, Abraham | The Yom Kippur War |
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| Persian Gulf War | ||
| Atkinson, Rick | Crusade |
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| Gordon, Michael | The Generals' War |
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| Powell, Colin | My American Journey |
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| Afghanistan | ||
| Naylor, Sean | Not a Good Day to Die |
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| Iraq War | ||
| Atkinson, Rick | In the Company of Soldiers |
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| Gordon, Michael | Cobra II |
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| Gourevitch, Philip | Standard Operating Procedure |
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| Packer, George | The Assassins' Gate |
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| Ricks, Thomas | Fiasco |
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| Woodward, Bob | State of Denial |
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| Other Modern Conflicts | ||
| Bowden, Mark | Black Hawk Down |
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| Huchthausen, Peter | America's Splendid Little Wars |
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| Et cetera | ||
| Berkowitz, Bruce | The New Face of War |
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| Keegan, John | The Mask of Command |
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| Wilson, George | Mud Soldiers |
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| History, U.S. | ||
| Colonial Period | ||
| Berlin, Ira | Many Thousands Gone |
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| Horn, James | A Land As God Made It |
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| Philbrick, Nathaniel | Mayflower |
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| Taylor, Alan | American Colonies |
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| French and Indian War | ||
| Anderson, Fred | Crucible of War |
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| Borneman, Walter | The French and Indian War |
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| Fowler, William | Empires At War |
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| Revolution & Founding | ||
| Chernow, Ron | Alexander Hamilton |
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| Ellis, Joseph | American Creation |
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| Ellis, Joseph | American Sphinx |
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| Ellis, Joseph | Founding Brothers |
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| Ellis, Joseph | His Excellency |
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| Ellis, Joseph | Passionate Sage |
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| Ferling, John | Almost a Miracle |
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| Ferling, John | A Leap In The Dark |
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| Langguth, A.J. | Patriots |
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| McCullough, David | 1776 |
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| McCullough, David | John Adams |
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| Middlekauff, Robert | The Glorious Cause |
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| Simon, James | What Kind of Nation |
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| Smith, Jean Edward | John Marshall |
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| Wood, Gordon | Empire of Liberty |
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| Franklin | ||
| Brands, H.W. | The First American |
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| Isaacson, Walter | Benjamin Franklin |
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| Morgan, Edmund | Benjamin Franklin |
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| Wood, Gordon | The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin |
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| Antebellum 19th Century | ||
| Ambrose, Stephen | Undaunted Courage |
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| Borneman, Walter | 1812 |
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| Borneman, Walter | Polk |
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| Brands, H.W. | Andrew Jackson |
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| Howe, Daniel | What Hath God Wrought |
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| Linklater, Andro | Measuring America |
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| Wilentz, Sean | The Rise of American Democracy |
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| Civil War | ||
| Duncan, Russell | Where Death and Glory Meet |
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| Foote, Shelby | The Civil War: Fort Sumter to Perryville |
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| Foote, Shelby | The Civil War: Fredericksburg to Meridian |
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| Foote, Shelby | The Civil War: Red River to Appomattox |
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| McPherson, James | Battle Cry of Freedom |
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| Sears, Stephen | Gettysburg |
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| Sears, Stephen | Landscape Turned Red |
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| Thomas, Emory | Robert E. Lee |
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| Lincoln | ||
| Carwardine, Richard | Lincoln |
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| Donald, David Herbert | Lincoln |
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| Goodwin, Doris Kearns | Team of Rivals |
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| Miller, Wllliam Lee | Lincoln's Virtues |
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| Miller, Wllliam Lee | President Lincoln |
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| White, Ronald | A. Lincoln |
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| Post-War 19th Century | ||
| Bain, David Haward | Empire Express |
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| Brown, Dee | Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee |
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| Smith, Jean Edward | Grant |
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| Utley, Robert | The Lance and the Shield |
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| 20th Century | ||
| Brands, H.W. | T.R. |
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| Brokaw, Tom | The Greatest Generation |
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| Harris, John | The Survivor |
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| Kennedy, David | Freedom from Fear |
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| Larson, Edward | Summer for the Gods |
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| Maraniss, David | First In His Class |
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| McCullough, David | Truman |
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| Noonan, Peggy | When Character Was King |
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| Patterson, James | Grand Expectations |
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| Patterson, James | Restless Giant |
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| Smith, Jean Edward | FDR |
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| Thomas, Evan | Robert Kennedy |
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| Civil Rights | ||
| Branch, Taylor | At Canaan's Edge |
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| Branch, Taylor | Parting the Waters |
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| Branch, Taylor | Pillar of Fire |
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| Garrow, David | Bearing the Cross |
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| Klarman, Michael | From Jim Crow to Civil Rights |
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| Lewis, John | Walking With The Wind |
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| 21st Century | ||
| Lichtblau, Eric | Bush's Law |
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| Wright, Lawrence | The Looming Tower |
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| Foreign Policy | ||
| Gaddis, John Lewis | The Cold War |
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| McDougall, Walter | Promised Land, Crusader State |
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| Power, Samantha | A Problem from Hell |
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| Tyler, Patrick | A Great Wall |
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| Surveys | ||
| Ambrose, Stephen | To America |
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| Zinn, Howard | A People's History of the United States |
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| History, World | ||
| Africa | ||
| Beah, Ishmael | A Long Way Gone |
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| Gourevitch, Philip | We Wish to Inform You... |
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| Horne, Alistair | A Savage War Of Peace |
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| Kapuscinski, Ryszard | The Shadow of the Sun |
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| Reader, John | Africa |
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| Ancient | ||
| Everitt, Anthony | Augustus |
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| Everitt, Anthony | Cicero |
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| Goldsworthy, Adrian | Caesar |
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| Green, Peter | Alexander of Macedon |
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| Mackay, Christopher | Ancient Rome |
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| Martin, Thomas | Ancient Greece |
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| Asia | ||
| Gordon, Andrew | A Modern History of Japan |
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| Jansen, Marius | The Making of Modern Japan |
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| Keay, John | India |
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| Asia Minor | ||
| Kinzer, Stephen | Crescent and Star |
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| Australia | ||
| Hughes, Robert | The Fatal Shore |
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| Britain | ||
| Fraser, Rebecca | The Story of Britain |
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| Gilbert, Martin | Churchill |
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| Magnusson, Magnus | Scotland |
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| Scott, Ronald McNair | Robert the Bruce |
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| China | ||
| Becker, Jasper | The Chinese |
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| Keay, John | China |
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| Short, Philip | Mao |
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| Spence, Jonathan | The Search For Modern China |
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| France | ||
| Schama, Simon | Citizens |
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| Germany | ||
| Evans, Richard | The Coming of the Third Reich |
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| Evans, Richard | The Third Reich at War |
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| Evans, Richard | The Third Reich in Power |
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| Kershaw, Ian | Hitler: 1889-1936 |
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| Kershaw, Ian | Hitler: 1936-1945 |
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| Holocaust | ||
| Gilbert, Martin | The Holocaust |
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| Levi, Primo | Survival In Auschwitz |
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| Szpilman, Wladyslaw | The Pianist |
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| Latin America | ||
| Castaneda, Jorge | Companero |
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| Middle East | ||
| Fisk, Robert | The Great War for Civilisation |
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| Gilbert, Martin | Israel |
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| Mansfield, Peter | A History of the Middle East |
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| Russia | ||
| Figes, Orlando | A People's Tragedy |
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| Longworth, Philip | Russia |
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| Montefiore, Simon Sebag | Stalin |
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| Montefiore, Simon Sebag | Young Stalin |
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| Service, Robert | Lenin |
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| Service, Robert | Stalin |
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| Service, Robert | Trotsky |
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| Taubman, William | Khrushchev |
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| Philosophy | ||
| Mill, John Stuart | On Liberty |
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| Mill, John Stuart | The Spirit of the Age |
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| Mill, John Stuart | The Subjection of Women |
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| Pirsig, Robert | Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance |
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| Plato | Apology |
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| Plato | Crito |
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| Plato | Euthyphro |
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| Religion | ||
| Buddhism | ||
| Aitken, Robert | Taking the Path of Zen |
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| Dalai Lama | Ethics for the New Millennium |
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| Downing, Michael | Shoes Outside the Door |
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| Sahn, Seung | The Compass of Zen |
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| Sahn, Seung | Dropping Ashes on the Buddha |
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| Suzuki, Shunryu | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind |
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| Christianity | ||
| Jacobs, A.J. | The Year of Living Biblically |
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| Lewis, C.S. | Mere Christianity |
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| Unknown | The Way of a Pilgrim |
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| Islam | ||
| Unknown | The Qur'an |
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| Other | ||
| Hoff, Benjamin | The Tao of Pooh |
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| Science | ||
| Aerospace | ||
| Berg, A. Scott | Lindbergh |
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| Hickam, Homer | Rocket Boys |
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| Kranz, Gene | Failure Is Not an Option |
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| Biology | ||
| Ridley, Matt | Genome |
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| Climate | ||
| Flannery, Tim | The Weather Makers |
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| Kolbert, Elizabeth | Field Notes From a Catastrophe |
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| Linden, Eugene | The Winds of Change |
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| Medicine | ||
| Crosby, Molly | The American Plague |
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| Hager, Thomas | The Demon Under the Microscope |
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| Oshinsky, David | Polio |
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| Physics | ||
| Gleick, James | Isaac Newton |
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| Goldsmith, Barbara | Obsessive Genius |
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| Isaacson, Walter | Einstein |
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| Rhodes, Richard | The Making of the Atomic Bomb |
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| Social Science | ||
| Business & Economics | ||
| Burrough, Bryan | Barbarians at the Gate |
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| Gordon, John Steele | Empire of Wealth |
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| Levitt, Steven | Freakonomics |
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| McLean, Bethany | The Smartest Guys in the Room |
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| Morris, Charles | The Trillion Dollar Meltdown |
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| Nasaw, David | Andrew Carnegie |
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| Phillips, Kevin | Bad Money |
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| Reich, Robert | Supercapitalism |
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| Yergin, Daniel | The Prize |
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| Political Science | ||
| Frank, Thomas | What's The Matter With Kansas? |
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| Gore, Al | The Assault on Reason |
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| Krugman, Paul | The Conscience of a Liberal |
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| Obama, Barack | The Audacity Of Hope |
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| Reich, Robert | Reason |
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| Sociology | ||
| Diamond, Jared | Guns, Germs, and Steel |
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| Ehrenreich, Barbara | Nickel and Dimed |
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