hypochondriac Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 Looking for an extra Christmas gift for my dad. Any books that someone has read and thinks is a good read? He quite likes historical stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 Look at a few books on the falklands war Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecuk268 Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 If he likes Tudor history: Thomas Cromwell : The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant by Tracy Borman Especially if he's read Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" which were fictionalized accounts of Cromwell, this is a true portrait of the man taken from documents written at the time. He's quite a complex character rising from very humble beginnings to being one of Henry VIII's closest advisers. He was a devoted family man but could be extremely ruthless in carrying out his master's wishes, sending many people to execution. Instrumental in the break with Rome and the subsequent persecution of the Catholics, his great achievement was securing Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearsy Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 My Dad's getting Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. It's about Nuclear Bombs & is v.terrify! I had to go to some trouble to find the nice hard-back edition with the blue cover tho. I dunno if it's still in print or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridge too far Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 http://www.edwardrutherfurd.com/sarum.html I've read this twice now and it's a cracking read (although not strictly non-fiction). Quite topical at the moment with the new survey of the Salisbury area and of course the proposed tunnel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halo Stickman Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 I found Sliding On The Snow Stone by Andy Szpuk – the true story of the author’s Ukrainian father’s family living under first the Soviets and then the Germans in the 1930s and 1940s – to be a very well-written and truly gripping read. It also gave an interesting insight into some of the historical tensions currently afflicting that region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolution saint Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 Hack attack is pretty good. It's an account of the phone hacking scandal written by a guardian journalist. Quite an interesting piece of investigative journalism if you like that kind of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalkansaint Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 My favourite - Lords of the Horizons - beautifully descriptive history of thrbOttoman Empire - fascinating stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucks Saint Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 Stalingrad, or Berlin. 2nd world war books by Anthony Beevor. Very detailed, insightful and interesting accounts of how both fell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 The gospel according to st turkish - a mongboarders tale Set to be released in time for Christmas, Saintsweb legend turkish releases his memoirs where he relives 14 years of Internet forum membership. Edgy, gripping, thrilling and humorous, it follows one mans journey from dial up to BT infinity and all that went on In between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
View From The Top Posted 7 December, 2014 Share Posted 7 December, 2014 Stalingrad, or Berlin. 2nd world war books by Anthony Beevor. Very detailed, insightful and interesting accounts of how both fell Or Normandy, which is also excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_Abroad Posted 8 December, 2014 Share Posted 8 December, 2014 I've been running through a Medieval phase lately and quite liked "The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England" by Dan Jones. It was written very well. Before my Medieval phase I was on a Vietnam War kick and one book I couldn't put down was "To The Limits" by Tom A. Johnson. It's about his time as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, wild stuff. Lastly, if he likes historical and wants something other than war try "Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth" by Chris Stringer which, as the name implies, is about Human evolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 9 December, 2014 Share Posted 9 December, 2014 History is going through something of a publishing boom at the moment and there's plenty to choose from. My own personal favourite is the extraordinary Third Reich trilogy by Richard Evans. If you only buy one of the three, I'd suggest starting at the beginning with The Coming of the Third Reich - but all three would be a terrific present. Richard Evans' scholarship and fluency in German gives him access to much original materials and so his books read as 'as it happens' stories, and are the best page-turners I've read in a while. (Evans was also the leading historical consultant for Martin Amis's Zone of Interest, a terrifying 'inside' account of lives in a death camp, and was the lead expert witness in the legal demolition of the Holocaust denier and falsifier David Irving.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CB Saint Posted 9 December, 2014 Share Posted 9 December, 2014 Currently enjoying Twilight of the U Boats by Bernard Edwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsland Codger Posted 10 December, 2014 Share Posted 10 December, 2014 Edward I - a Great and Terrible King by Marc Morris ... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Terrible-King-Forging-Britain/dp/0099481758 The Most Dangerous Enemy by Stephen Bungay - A History of the Battle of Britain (with the 'most dangerous enemy' being the UK) And for an-allied-airman-on-the-run-in-occupied-France story, try Perilous Moon by Stuart Nimmo which tells the story of his father's escape after being shot down in the late spring of 1944. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonjoe Posted 10 December, 2014 Share Posted 10 December, 2014 Google "Samuel Johnson prize" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horley CTFC Saint Posted 10 December, 2014 Share Posted 10 December, 2014 Captain Scott by Ranulph Fiennes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 10 December, 2014 Author Share Posted 10 December, 2014 Thanks for these. I'll probably buy one tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convict Colony Posted 11 December, 2014 Share Posted 11 December, 2014 Was a quality read: The Greatest Knight: The Story of William Marshal http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greatest-Knight-Story-William-Marshal/dp/0751536601/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418336266&sr=1-1&keywords=william+marshall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Warrior Posted 11 December, 2014 Share Posted 11 December, 2014 Bexy said Dad's getting Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. It's about Nuclear Bombs & is v.terrify! Thanks son , I look forward to unwrapping it Love dad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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