Books That Taught Me The History I Never Knew


I truly believe that we learn more through stories than from classrooms - that a comprehensive education can be acquired simply through access to a good library.  These books certainly taught me more history than I ever learned in a classroom.  Some are memoirs, some are non fiction, and some are even fiction, but fiction based on history, and those fiction novels often inspired me to research more of the factual history on my own.  I've started with a list by state, as I think our schools are severely lacking when it comes to American History.  Then I have a list of World History, and a list of general history below that.

American History By State:

Arizona - 

  • Down the Great Unknown By Edward Dolnick - John Wesley Powell's amazing  expedition down the grand canyon.  This also touches on the men who came home from the civil war and needed an adreneline rush, there were those who were unable to settle into the normal routines of life after the war.
  • No Barriers by Erik Weihenmeyer - This book is about a "blind mans journey to kayak the grand canyon"   - but it is SO much more than that.  You will learn so much from this book  - about technologies to help the blind, about traumatic brain injury, about nature, and so much more.  Erik is amazing on his own of course, but even more amazing are the people he has surrounded himself with, and their stories are woven into this book as well.  I think I spent a full week after finishing this book just wandering around randomly saying "wow" as I recapped various parts of the book in my brain.  

Hawaii - 


Illinois - 


Kentucky - 
New Jersey

  • Radium Girls  by Kate Moore- The horrific story of the women who glowed, then died, from their job painting watches, and the company that denied responsibility.  This story took place roughly the same time as the Killers Of The Flower Moon in Oklahoma, and I just happened to read the two back to back.

New York - 

  • The Great Bridge - By David McCullough.  If I had come across a book on the Brooklyn Bridge by any other author, I doubt I would have even read the back cover.  But David McCullough wrote this, so I read all 636 pages about the creation of a bridge, and I learned so very much!  
  • A Fall Of Marigolds  by Susan Meisner - Switches timelines between September 11 2001, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 100 years earlier, with a a good bit about Ellis Island and the immigration process as well.  THis was a slow start for me, but once I got into this book, I loved it, and learned so much!

North Carolina - 


Ohio - 

  • The Pioneers by David McCullough  - An especially intereting read for us genealogists in Pennsylvania.  So many of us had branches of our families "go west" to Ohio, where there are often in depth biographies written for those banches of the family.  What took  them to Ohio?  This book gives so much context for that research.


Oklahoma - 
  • Killers Of The Flower Moon - The Osage Murders & The Birth Of The FBI  -  By David Grann In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.  Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances. 
Pennyslvania
  • The Summer Of 1787 By David O Stewart - The story of the creation of our constitution, and the men who crafted it.  If you plan to visit Independence Hall in Philadelphia, read this first!  Another one of my all time favorite reads!
  • The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough.  I love everything David McCullough has written, but this, in my opinion, is one of his very best. I've visited Johnstown, but it is through McCulloughs descriptions that I "see" the history that occurred here.
South Carolina
  • Six Miles To Charleston by Bruce Orr - When we travel, I like to find a book that has soemthing to do with where we are traveling.  For our trip to South Carolina, I found this book about the reputed first female serial killer.  It isn't one of my favorite books, but it was an interesting read. " In 1819, a young man outwitted death at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher and sparked the hunt for Charleston's most notorious serial killers. Former homicide investigator Bruce Orr follows the story of the Fishers, from the initial police raid on their Six Mile Inn with its reportedly grisly cellar to the murderous couple's incarceration and execution at the squalid Old City Jail. Yet there still may be more sinister deeds left unpunished, an overzealous sheriff, corrupt officials and documents only recently discovered all suggest that there is more to the tale. Orr uncovers the mysteries and debunks the myths behind the infamous legend of the nation's first convicted female serial killer."
Tennessee - 
Texas - 
  • 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  Fiction, but with so much historical background on Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President Kennedy.  

History Around The World:

The #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe and National Geographic: acclaimed journalist Douglas Preston takes readers on a true adventure deep into the Honduran rainforest in this riveting narrative about the discovery of a lost civilization -- culminating in a stunning medical mystery.

Seven Years In Tibet By Heinrich Harrer
This memoir is one of my favorite books of all time.
"In this vivid memoir that has sold millions of copies worldwide, Heinrich Harrer recounts his adventures as one of the first Europeans ever to enter Tibet and encounter the Dalai Lama."


The Greater Journey - Americans In Paris By David McCullough
"The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work."

 Little Princes - One Man's Promise To Bring Home The Lost Children Of Nepal by Conor Grennan - A Memoir
In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. He was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. Conor learned the unthinkable truth--the children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages protection for their children from the civil war for a huge feebly taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home. For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children with their families. He risks his life, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Little Princes is a true story of what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, it is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations

 Born To Run

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