Historical Nonfiction

[El Diablo]

i,

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson is another good one I read recently. It's more about deep-sea wreck diving than history, but there's a fair amount of WWII history tossed in.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034...e&n=283155

[deadmoney98]

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i,

The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson is one I read recently that just barely misses your cutoff.

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/dev...city/home.html

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I second this nomination. Who cares that it's not within the date range? It was an excellent read.

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Third, this is an excellent choice, but make sure you have a dictionary handy, the author likes obscure words.

[esad]

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Great book. Should be required reading.

[HtotheNootch]

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i,

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson is another good one I read recently. It's more about deep-sea wreck diving than history, but there's a fair amount of WWII history tossed in.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034...e&n=283155

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That book is absolutely incredible. I've read it 5 or 6 times easily.

[I.Rowboat]

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istewart,

Stephen Ambrose's WWII stuff is really good - Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers, D-Day, etc.

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I was going to suggest these, as they are well written, great stories. His book on the making of the transcontinental railroad was very good as well, but that before the OP's specified time period.

Tom Wolfe is also good -- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Right Stuff are two personal faves.

Edit: If you can stand a book that is two-thirds present day/ one third 19th century, I highly recommend Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, about the sinking and ultimate recovery of the S.S. Central America, a sidewheel steamer that went down with 21 tons of gold bullion and coin, valued at roughly $1 billion (yes, billion with a "B"). It's a very cool read.

OK, last one: Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, is the best version of the well known disaster that was British explorer Ernest Shackelton's Antartic exploration of 1914. He and his crew of ~40 men set out to cross the Antartic by land but their ship became locked in the flow ice. Lansing's book tells how shackelton managed to get the entire crew back to safety without losing a single man. It is harrowing stuff, and a great read, with extensive pictures that give you a real sense of just how much this must have sucked.

OK, I'm done...

[TheRover]

Final Days - Woodward/Bernstein
Nuremburg Diary - Gilbert
Paris 1919 - McMillan
Inside The Third Reich - Speer
Labyrinth - Schellenberg
Hell's Angels - HST

want more?