[wdcbooks]

F. Scott Berg's biography of Lindbergh is just terrific. Lindbergh's life covered so many interests and so much of history that it's scope is broader than many other biographies. It also helps that he was a fascinating man.

This doesn't fit your criteria of being broad based, it is in fact quite narrow, but "River of Doubt" is an amazing book. It covers Teddy Roosevelt's trip through unexplored reaches of the Amazon in his fifties after he was no longer president. I read it trying to imagine Bill Clinton doing the same thing after walking out of the Oval Office. That led me to read several biographies of Roosevelt and it is in danger of becoming my historical obsession.

Battle Cry of Freedom is awesome by the way, and not at all boring if you have an interest in the Civil War.