Need Xmas ideas for DH

[tsjmom]

I'd like my kids to buy DH a book for xmas. His interests are American history, everything from Jamestown Revolution to Indians to Civil War. Something factual but an interesting read.

I appreciate any ideas :) Thanks!

[Misfit]

I haven't read them (nor know anyone who has) but there is a series on the Revolution called Sparrowhawk. Just put that in the Amazon search engine and you should find them. I think Cornwell's written some also.

[boswellbaxter]

If you're looking for nonfiction, James Swanson's Manhunt was a fascinating account of the search for John Wilkes Booth following Lincoln's assassination.

[Ash]

I just picked up an book that might be of interest: Angels and Ages, about Lincoln and Darwin and how they changed society in that day and age. I like the author (Adam Gopnik); if he doesn't mind a little English history thrown in, it might work.

http://www.amazon.com/Angels-Ages-Darwin-Lincoln-Modern/dp/0307270785

[LoveHistory]

How about a biography or the memoirs of one of the great Civil War generals?

[MLE]

I'd recommend Nothing like it in the World: the men who built the transcontinental railroad (http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Like-World-Transcontinental-1863-1869/dp/0684846098) by Stephen Ambrose. He has a lively style of writing that breaks a large story down into gripping segments, like the bit where he details the contest between the two sides as to who could lay the most tracks in one day.

If you want good (and very accurate) male-oriented HF on the revolution and the decades afterward, James Alexander Thom's From Sea to Shining Sea (http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Shining-JAMES-ALEXANDER-Thom/dp/0345334515/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290403388&sr=1-1). It follows the fortunes of the Clark family, first with Revolutionary War General George Rogers Clark and then with his better known youngest brother, William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. One of my all-time favorites.

I'm afraid both books are sized like doorstops. If you want lighter fiction that is still well-researched as to detail, although a bit formulaic, try the Sackett family series by the late Louis L'Amour.

[Ash]

Actually any of Ambrose's books would probably work. His book on Lewis and Clark Undaunted Courage was brilliant, and its not as daunting as some of his door stoppers.

[tsjmom]

How about a biography or the memoirs of one of the great Civil War generals?

Any in particular?

Thanks everyone - please keep them coming.

[Divia]

What about:

The March: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow
His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of A... by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Any HF by Michael Sharra


I havent read the ones listed above but I hear they are goodl Most of my reading tends to be about women, customs and slavery from the Civil War era, not something he's into.

[Misfit]

Any HF by Michael Sharra

Good suggestion, the Shaara Civil War trilogy is excellent and comes in a boxed set.

[Ash]

The March: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow

I'd second that.

[Telynor]

I read Empire of the Summer Moon about the Commanches and Indian wars in Texas just after the Civil War. Damn fine writing and very eyeopening. I'm not that much into American history, but I was very impressed by this one.

[LoveHistory]

Any in particular?

Thanks everyone - please keep them coming.

Grant and Lee are the big ones of course. Should be a wealth of choices where they're concerned. I'll check with my Dad about which Grant book he has. He might have some other ideas too.

[tsjmom]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I'll certainly check them out!