suggested reading: history

 

 

A History of the Modern Middle East by William L. Cleveland

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

This comprehensive work provides an analysis of the last two centuries of Middle Eastern history, from the rise of the Safavids and Ottomans to the Gulf War. It explains the deep historical currents flowing beneath today's headlines--essential reading for anyone seeking a better understanding of today's turbulent world.

 

 

 

Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Blending the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history, Wild Swans has become a bestselling classic in thirty languages, with more than ten million copies sold. The story of three generations in twentieth-century China, it is an engrossing record of Mao's impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love.

 

 

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

Recommended by Ray Befus

 

Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833). This accessible biography chronicles Wilberforce's extraordinary role as a human rights activist, cultural reformer, and member of Parliament.

 

 

 

Einstein Picasso by Arthur I. Miller

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

This fascinating parallel biography of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso as young men examines their greatest works—Einstein's special theory of relativity and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignin, the painting that brought art into the twentieth century. Miller shows how these breakthroughs arose not only from within their respective fields, but from larger currents in the intellectual culture of the times.

 

 

Mao: A Life by Philip Short

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Mao Zedong was a defining figure of the twentieth century -- a man of awesome vision and power, whose life was played out on so vast a canvas that his greatest contemporaries seem minor by comparison. In this meticulously researched account, Philip Short draws on extensive interviews and a wealth of previously secret material to present a complete portrait of this bewilderingly complex and versatile leader.

 

 

No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Presenting an aspect of American history that has never been fully told, this Pulitzer Prize-winning work paints a detailed, intimate portrait of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt and provides a brilliant narrative account of America during wartime.

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George M. Marsden

Recommended by Ken Wilson

 

This definitive biography of America's most important religious figure draws on newly available sources to reveal how he was shaped by the cultural and religious battles of his time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modern South Asia by Sugata Bose and others

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

Drawing on the newest and most sophisticated historical research and scholarship in the field, Modern South Asia is written in an accessible style for all those with an intellectual curiosity about the region. After sketching the pre-modern history of the subcontinent, the book concentrates on the last three centuries from c.1700 to the present.

 

 

 

The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

For 80 years between 1788 and 1868 England transported its convicts to Australia. This punishment provided the first immigrants and the work force to build the colony. Using diaries, letters, and original sources, Hughes documents this history. The book reads like a great novel.

 

 

 

At the Highest Leves: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War by Michael R. Beschloss & Strobe Talbott

Recommended by Emily Swan

 

With novelistic detail and intimacy, the book shows Bush Sr. and Gorbachev behind closed doors as they fence with domestic foes and suspicious allies. It demonstrates how the two leaders helped unravel the greatest political clash of the 20th century: the cold war.