Historyland’s Top Five History Books from 2016.

What a great year for history books! I was inundated with great titles from generous authors and publishers, and it was really hard to pick just five, but here they are, in no particular order a selection of my favourites from last year. Maybe they’ll be some of your favourites for 2017!

imageJacobites by Jacqueline Rider.

“It was a romance to equal fiction said Sir Walter Scott. This account of the great ’45 rebellion by Jacqueline Riding proves that… It is fresh, honest and enlightening… indeed it brings to light new, or rather little told aspects of the rebellion which is always greatly refreshing in any work that has “New History” on the cover”
https://adventuresinhistoryland.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/book-review-jacobites-by-jacqueline-riding/

imageBenjamin Franklin in London by George Goodwin.
“It is gently witty, it is cooly erudite it is in a word delightful. I will make no bones about it this book has confirmed to me, and will confirm to anyone else’s suspicion; more than ever, what made Benjamin Franklin a great man.”
https://adventuresinhistoryland.wordpress.com/tag/benjamin-franklin-in-london/


imageThe Cultural Revolution by Frank Dikotter.

“Dikötter’s picture of what China went through between 1962 and 1976 shows the calamity in a new and personal light… Books like this… told and described in terms of the people who had to endure… are vital”
https://adventuresinhistoryland.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/book-review-the-cultural-revolution-by-frank-dikotter/

 

imageAnglo Sikh War by Amarpal Singh Sidhu.
“This is a superb military history. Authoritative, poignant… and textured. Replete with first hand accounts and sharp analysis alongside overview maps that compliment the accounts of the action… This is a work that will surely become one of the foundation stones of any bibliography or library of the Sikh Wars worth the name, not just for its importance in continuing study but because of its robust and well crafted narrative.”
https://adventuresinhistoryland.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/book-review-the-second-anglo-sikh-war-by-amarpal-singh/

imageThe Romanovs by Simon Sebastian Montefiore.
“Russia was never small scale, and this book reflects that. The Romanovs is sensational & unrelenting. A glorious, gory set piece classical Ballet of a book, full of Byzantine intrigue, Total war, unrestrained passion, and the fragile invincibility absolute power.”
https://adventuresinhistoryland.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/book-review-the-romanovs-by-simon-sebag-montefiore/

 

Josh.

One Reply to “Historyland’s Top Five History Books from 2016.”

Leave a Comment