Reading is always great. It’s a way to enrich your mind while getting lost in a world separate from your own. However, the best kinds of books are the kind that do that and teach you something as well. That’s why here at the VC, we love a great Historical Non-Fiction book. We’ve complied a list of our six favorites for you to add to your reading list.
A Little History of the World
By: E.M. Gombrich
A tale of the history of human’s time on earth spanning from the early humans until the end of World War I, Gombrich’s history is engaging and easy to understand. The reader gets a great overview of all the important point of world history that get us we were are today in a language that even a child could understand. A quick and easy read for someone looking to whet their history appetite before diving into one specific point in time.
The Six Wives of King Henry VIII
By: Allison Weir
Don’t let the size of this book scare you. Although, The Six Wives of King Henry VII looks like a dry academic history book it’s anything but that. Weir goes into great detail about each of King Henry’s six VIII giving the reader an in depth perspective on the personality, reign, and fall out of each of his wives. An interesting perspective, the reader not only gets a great history on these famous (or infamous) women, but also the state of Medieval England and Europe.
Marie Antoinette: The Journey
By: Antonia Fraser
Another book that can be daunting to look at, Marie Antoinette: The Journey is a wonderfully written biography of the queen that sparked the French Revolution. A sympathetic perspective of the infamous monarch, Fraser details the life of Marie Antoinette from her birth until execution. A great read for anyone interested in the French Revolution and the events leading up to it as you get a great over view of the French Monarchy and lavish court life.
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
By: Erik Larson
Devil in the White City intertwines the tellings of the design and building of the 1983 Chicago’s World’s Fair alongside the brutal life and killings of of Dr. H. H. Holmes who lured victims to their deaths in his hotel. The novel gives a great prospective on the burgeoning city of Chicago and the architects who helped make it become the metropolis is today. It seems like it could be a dry subject, but the parallel of the great spirit of the city with the horrors of one man keep the book a griping read.
Night
By: Ellie Wiesel
Sometimes it’s easy to forget the Night is not fiction as the book tells the tail of Wiesel’s time at Buchenwald during WWII. The beautifully written memoir gives a great first hand account of the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany. The formative Holocaust book for anyone who is interested in the subject and some how missed reading this great during high school.
In Cold Blood
By: Truman Capote
Another book that is easy to forget that the story being told is non-fiction. In Cold Blood gives a detailed telling of the horrific murders of the Herber Clutter family in Holcomb Kansas. The novel recounts the act of senseless violence and how it shocked the small farming town, but also get into the physic of the killers. Also, a formative piece of American Non-Fiction that’s a great read if you missed it in high school.
