Ten Best Histories and Biographies Read During 2014

Posted by Paul Cool on Jan 4, 2015 in The Books That | Comments Off on Ten Best Histories and Biographies Read During 2014

The list begins with Napoleon: A Life, the best book I read in 2014, and certainly the most impressive literary achievement among all the books listed.  Runner-up is A Misplaced Massacre, a mesmerizing example of creative non-fiction.  The final eight are listed in chronological order of subject matter, from ancient to modern. *NAPOLEON: A LIFE by Andrew Roberts: My library contains some 250 books on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. I thought I’d read virtually everything worth knowing, but I devoured this sympathetic and yet eyes-wide-open biography. Across 800 pages, Roberts weaves the Corsican’s personal and public lives into a coherent whole, no small achievement considering the subject was a giant who towered over a continent for two decades. Roberts’ Napoleon is fresh from the get-go, as he presents the boy as voracious reader, soaking up the adventures...