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 | ||
| Essays | ||
| Hitchens, Christopher | Arguably |
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| 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 | ||
| Frank, Joseph | Dostoevsky |
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| Parini, Jay | John Steinbeck |
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| Parini, Jay | One Matchless Time |
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| Wilson, A.N. | Tolstoy |
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| Memoirs | ||
| Bauby, Jean-Dominique | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly |
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| Hanff, Helene | 84 Charing Cross Road |
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| Offutt, Chris | The Same River Twice |
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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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| Hastings, Max | Inferno |
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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 | ||
| Coll, Steve | Ghost Wars |
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| Naylor, Sean | Not a Good Day to Die |
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| Wright, Lawrence | The Looming Tower |
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| Iraq | ||
| Atkinson, Rick | In the Company of Soldiers |
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| Filkins, Dexter | The Forever War |
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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 | ||
| Beeman, Richard | Plain, Honest Men |
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| Chernow, Ron | Alexander Hamilton |
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| Chernow, Ron | Washington |
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| Ellis, Joseph | American Creation |
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| Ellis, Joseph | American Sphinx |
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| Ellis, Joseph | First Family |
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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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| Maier, Pauline | Ratification |
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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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| 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 Walker | What Hath God Wrought |
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| Linklater, Andro | Measuring America |
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| Potter, David | The Impending Crisis |
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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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| McCullough, David | The Great Bridge |
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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 | ||
| Brokaw, Tom | The Greatest Generation |
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| Cooper, John | Woodrow Wilson |
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| Dallek, Robert | An Unfinished Life |
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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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| Thomas, Evan | Robert Kennedy |
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| Wilkerson, Isabel | The Warmth of Other Suns |
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| Teddy Roosevelt | ||
| Brands, H.W. | T.R. |
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| Morris, Edmund | Colonel Roosevelt |
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| Morris, Edmund | The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt |
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| Morris, Edmund | Theodore Rex |
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| FDR | ||
| Black, Conrad | Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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| Brands, H.W. | Traitor to His Class |
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| Smith, Jean Edward | FDR |
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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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| Lewis, John | Walking With The Wind |
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| 21st Century | ||
| Lichtblau, Eric | Bush's Law |
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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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| Freeman, Charles | The Greek Achievement |
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| Freeman, Philip | Alexander the Great |
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| Freeman, Philip | Julius Caesar |
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| Goldsworthy, Adrian | Antony and Cleopatra |
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| Goldsworthy, Adrian | Caesar |
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| Goldsworthy, Adrian | How Rome Fell |
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| Mackay, Christopher | Ancient Rome |
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| Martin, Thomas | Ancient Greece |
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| Miles, Richard | Carthage Must Be Destroyed |
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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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| Kinzer, Stephen | Crescent and Star |
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| Australia | ||
| Hughes, Robert | The Fatal Shore |
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| Britain & Ireland | ||
| Foster, R.F. | Modern Ireland |
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| Fraser, Rebecca | The Story of Britain |
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| Gilbert, Martin | Churchill |
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| Magnuson, 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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| Short, Philip | Mao |
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| Spence, Jonathan | The Search For Modern China |
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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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| Massie, Robert | Catherine the Great |
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| Montefiore, Simon Sebag | Stalin |
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| Montefiore, Simon Sebag | Young Stalin |
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| Service, Robert | A History of Twentieth-Century Russia |
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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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| Law | ||
| Amar, Akhil | The Bill of Rights |
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| Cray, Ed | Chief Justice |
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| Greenburg, Jan Crawford | Supreme Conflict |
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| Greenhouse, Linda | Becoming Justice Blackmun |
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| Gunther, Gerald | Learned Hand |
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| Harr, Jonathan | A Civil Action |
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| Klarman, Michael | From Jim Crow to Civil Rights |
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| Larson, Edward | Summer for the Gods |
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| Murphy, Bruce Allen | Wild Bill |
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| Newman, Roger | Hugo Black |
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| Newton, Jim | Justice for All |
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| Simon, James | What Kind of Nation |
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| Smith, Jean Edward | John Marshall |
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| Stern, Seth | Justice Brennan |
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| Toobin, Jeffrey | The Nine |
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| Urofsky, Melvin | Louis D. Brandeis |
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| Williams, Juan | Thurgood Marshall |
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| Money | ||
| Business & Economics | ||
| Braham, Lewis | The House that Bogle Built |
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| Burrough, Bryan | Barbarians at the Gate |
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| Chernow, Ron | The House of Morgan |
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| Chernow, Ron | Titan |
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| Gordon, John Steele | Empire of Wealth |
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| Henriques, Diane | The Wizard of Lies |
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| Levitt, Steven | Freakonomics |
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| Lowenstein, Roger | When Genius Failed |
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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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| Schroeder, Alice | The Snowball |
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| Sorkin, Andrew Ross | Too Big to Fail |
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| Stewart, James | Den of Thieves |
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| Yergin, Daniel | The Prize |
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| Investing | ||
| Bernstein, William | The Four Pillars of Investing |
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| Bogle, John | Common Sense on Mutual Funds |
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| Bogle, John | Don't Count on It! |
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| Ellis, Charles | Winning the Loser's Game |
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| Larimore, Taylor | The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing |
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| Larimore, Taylor | The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning |
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| Malkiel, Burton | A Random Walk Down Wall Street |
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| Schultheis, Bill | The Coffeehouse Investor |
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| Swedroe, Larry | The Right Financial Plan |
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| Swensen, David | Unconventional Success |
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| Personal Finance | ||
| Bach, David | The Automatic Millionaire |
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| Bach, David | Smart Couples Finish Rich |
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| Robin, Vicki | Your Money or Your Life |
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| Stanley, Thomas | The Millionaire Next Door |
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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 & Aviation | ||
| 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 | ||
| Dawkins, Richard | The Greatest Show on Earth |
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| Ridley, Matt | Genome |
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| Skloot, Rebecca | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks |
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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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| Kidder, Tracy | Mountains Beyond Mountains |
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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 | ||
| 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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| Psychology | ||
| Kahneman, Daniel | Thinking, Fast and Slow |
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| Sociology | ||
| Diamond, Jared | Guns, Germs, and Steel |
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| Ehrenreich, Barbara | Nickel and Dimed |
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