Author: Tim Graczewski
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (2004) by Jack Weatherford
The early 1990s marked the first time that Genghis Khan and his empire – defunct since at least the mid-fourteenth century – could be studied in-depth. “The Secret History of the Mongols,” re-discovered in the early nineteenth century, had finally been translated, and the collapse of the Soviet Union had opened up the so-called Ikh…
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Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order (1993) by John F. Marszalek
“Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order” by John Marszalek is military biography at its finest: lucidly written, thoroughly researched, admirably objective and offering penetrating insights into the subject’s motivations and foibles. There are three aspects to this book, all quite different, that made a lasting impression on me. First, to my surprise, Sherman’s tumultuous childhood…
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The Coming of the French Revolution (1947) by Georges Lefebvre
God only knows how many books have been written about the French Revolution. “The Coming of the French Revolution” by Georges Lefebvre, first published in 1967, is one of the few that has endured as a bona fide classic, regularly assigned as required reading as “the classical interpretation” of events from 1788-89 in university-level courses…
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The Killing School: Inside the World’s Deadliest Sniper Program (2017) by Brandon Webb
I didn’t choose “The Killing School,” “The Killing School” chose me. You see, this book literally just showed up to my house one day. I had purchased my 14-year-old son, an avid Boy Scout and outdoorsman, a subscription to “Crate Club,” a company founded by “The Killing School” author Brandon Webb. Once a month my…
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The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction (2001) by William Doyle
Oxford University Press has hit a homerun with their snappy “Very Short Introduction” series of books, covering literally hundreds of topics from Accounting to Writing & Script. This volume on the French Revolution by William Doyle, also the author of the authoritative single volume “The Oxford History of the French Revolution,” offers a crisp and…
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The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution, 1763-1776 (1918) by Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr.
This certainly isn’t the book for everyone. Written a century ago, “The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution” is one of the more influential works on the subject from an American historian in the early twentieth century (Schlesinger’s son would turn out to be even more influential on the course of American politics and historical…
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The Days of the French Revolution (1980) by Christopher Hibbert
There are plenty of general histories of the French Revolution for the general reader to choose from. If I had just one to recommend it would be either Simon Schama’s magisterial “Citizens” or William Doyle’s classic “Oxford History of the French Revolution.” If asked what book would make a good companion to one of these…
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Robespierre: A Revolutionary Life (2012) by Peter McPhee
Nearly a quarter-millennium after his public beheading Maximilien Robespierre remains a controversial figure. There are over 50 schools, streets and buildings named after “The Incorruptible” in France today, but none within the city limits of Paris. A 2009 attempt to get a street named after him in the City of Lights was voted down by…
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The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution (2015) by Timothy Tackett
“How had the high ideals of 1789 turned to the violence and terror of 1794?” That is the question that Timothy Tackett, professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Irvine, seeks to answer in his well-acclaimed 2015 book “The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution.” It’s a great question and one…
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