Rating: 8.3/10. Book about America’s hidden empire, and how it came to be like this rather than older colonial empires (like the British or French) which conquered large areas of land and populations. The US is now more of a “pointillist” empire that controls specific points of interest around the world, but it’s no less…
Category: History
The Idea Factory by Jon Gertner
Rating: 7.8/10. Book that describes the origin and eventual breakup of Bell Labs, a research division of AT&T. In the early 1900s, AT&T’s phone service was seen as unreliable and only operated locally; it was expensive with a lot of technical issues. Jewett was a manager who recruited several graduate students at Millikan’s lab who…
Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis
Rating: 7.7/10. Book split into six parts about various parts of the founding of America and the key personnel involved. Now, the American Revolution is extensively analyzed in retrospect, but at the time, the participants had no idea whether their movement would succeed or what it would become. Historians now disagree on whether to analyze…
A Brief History of Japan by Jonathan Clements
Rating: 8.0/10. Book about the history of Japan from the earliest known history up until the modern day, written in a style that’s not too academic while still having quite detailed information. Japan was settled in multiple waves of migrants from Korea and Siberia. The first group was the Jomon people, who were hunter-gatherers known…
Too High and Too Steep by David B. Williams
Rating: 7.8/10. Too High and Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography by David B. Williams Book about the history of Seattle focusing on how humans have changed its natural landscape, eg by filling in the shoreline and tide flats, creating artificial islands, and leveling hills near the city center. The landscape has changed quite drastically since…
The Box by Marc Levinson
Rating: 7.9/10. The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson Book about the history of the shipping container and how it changed global trade. The shipping container revolution began in 1956 and has made the transportation of goods across the world extremely fast and efficient,…
A History of America in Ten Strikes by Eric Loomis
Rating: 7.8/10. Book about strikes, unions, and labor movements throughout US history. The dynamics and expectations of the working class have changed significantly, but a common theme that occurs throughout history is that the role of government is crucial: if the government decides to side with employers to destroy unions, there is generally nothing that…
The Bookseller of Inverness by SG Maclean
Rating: 7.5/10. A historical mystery novel set in the 1750s after the Battle of Culloden in the Scottish town of Inverness. The story takes place a few years after the battle where the Jacobites, the people of Scotland who supported the former Scottish King James, were defeated by the British, leading to depression in the…
The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris
Rating: 7.9/10. The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 by Marc Morris Fairly detailed book about Anglo-Saxon and English history, spanning from the collapse of Roman civilization until the Norman invasion of 1066. It is comprehensive and covers all the major events and kings of this time period. The focus…
In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood
Rating: 8.2/10. This history book covers the period of early English history from the beginning of the Roman settlement of the British Isles up until the Norman Invasion, which marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. This age after the fall of Rome until the Norman Invasion is generally considered the Dark Ages of England;…
Perfecting Sound Forever by Greg Milner
Rating: 8.2/10. Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music by Greg Milner Book about the history of recorded music from the earliest audio recordings until the present day. It begins with the famous tone tests used by Edison starting around 1915 where they placed a phonograph on stage alongside a live singer and…
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson
Rating: 8.4/10. Book covering the history of the Polynesians and how we came to know about them. The prologue begins in the Hawaiian Islands, first discovered by Cook in 1778 (one of the last major European discoveries. Cook’s arrival coincided with a festival, so he was initially warmly welcomed, but he was later killed there….