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Recommendations based on The Twelve Caesarsby Suetonius
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The Histories
by Herodotus
Exploration into the rise and fall of empires in the ancient world.
One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the "Histories" describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic ... (Goodreads)
History of the Peloponnesian War
by Thucydides
Detailed account of the protracted war between Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece.
Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its ... (Goodreads)
Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius
Reflections on Stoic philosophy, exploring the nature of existence and how to live life.
Written in Greek by the only Roman emperor who was also a philosopher, without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a remarkable series of challenging spiritual ... (Goodreads)
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
A timeless political treatise on the art of acquiring and maintaining power.
Machiavelli needs to be looked at as he really was. Hence: Can Machiavelli, who makes the following observations, be Machiavellian as we understand the disparaging term? 1. So it is that to know the ... (Goodreads)
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
by Tom Holland
An exploration of the events that led to the fall of the Roman Republic.
In 49 B.C., the seven hundred fifth year since the founding of Rome, Julius Caesar crossed a small border river called the Rubicon and plunged Rome into cataclysmic civil war. Tom Holland’s ... (Goodreads)
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
by William L. Shirer
The definitive story of Nazi Germany, its rise and fall, and its lasting impacts.
Hitler boasted that The Third Reich would last a thousand years. It lasted only 12. But those 12 years contained some of the most catastrophic events Western civilization has ever known. No other ... (Goodreads)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
by Edward Gibbon
An in-depth account of the fall of the Roman Empire, tracing its causes and effects.
Length: 126 hrs and 31 mins The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire was written by English historian Edward Gibbon & originally published in six quarto volumes. Volume 1 was published ... (Goodreads)
The Republic
by Plato
A philosophical discourse on justice, examining morality, politics, and virtue.
Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, this classic text is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. ... (Goodreads)
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes
Historical narrative of the scientists and engineers who developed the atomic bomb.
Here for the first time, in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside ... (Goodreads)
Caesar: Life of a Colossus
by Adrian Goldsworthy
Biography of Julius Caesar, detailing his rise to power and influence over Roman history.
Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of the great Roman emperor’s life, Goldsworthy covers not only the great Roman emperor’s accomplishments as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful ... (Goodreads)
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann
Re-examination of the pre-Columbian Americas, uncovering new evidence of its history.
In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.,Contrary to what so many ... (Goodreads)
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
A first-hand account of the Spanish Civil War, and the political conflicts in the 1930s.
In 1936 George Orwell travelled to Spain to report on the Civil War and instead joined the fight against the Fascists. This famous account describes the war and Orwell’s own experiences. Introduction ... (Goodreads)
The Conquest of Gaul
by Gaius Julius Caesar
A narrative of Julius Caesar's military campaigns in Gaul, chronicling his strategy and triumphs.
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
by Carl Sagan
A critical look at superstition and pseudoscience, advocating for the power of science and reason.
How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? ... (Goodreads)
On War
by Carl von Clausewitz
A comprehensive analysis of the nature and principles of war, including its political and social aspects.
Carl von Clausewitz's On War has been called, "not simply the greatest, but the only truly great book on war." It is an extraordinary attempt to construct an all-embracing theory of how war works. ... (Goodreads)
The Guns of August
by Barbara W. Tuchman
A riveting account of the events leading up to World War I and its devastating consequences.
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmerman Telegram comprise Barbara W. ... (Goodreads)
The Way Things Are
by Lucretius
A poetic exploration of the nature of reality, life, and the universe.
..". [captures] the relentless urgency of Lucretius' didacticism, his passionate conviction and proselytizing fervour.' –The Classical Review ... (Goodreads)
Politics
by Aristotle
Analysis of the structure and nature of governments and the pursuit of justice.
What is the relationship of the individual to the state? What is the ideal state, and how can it bring about the most desirable life for its citizens? What sort of education should it provide? What ... (Goodreads)
Down and Out in Paris and London
by George Orwell
An exploration of the dark side of two cities, and how life can be different for the privileged and the destitute.
This unusual fictional memoir - in good part autobiographical - narrates without self-pity and often with humor the adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-outs of two great ... (Goodreads)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)
The Art of War
by Sun Tzu
Ancient Chinese military treatise outlining strategies for success in battle.
Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on ... (Goodreads)
The Anti-Christ
by Friedrich Nietzsche
An exploration of morality and its relationship to religion, with a focus on the concept of nihilism.
The reference to the Antichrist is not intended to refer to the biblical Antichrist but is rather an attack on the "slave morality" and apathy of Western Christianity. Nietzsche's basic claim is that ... (Goodreads)
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
by Mark Bowden
A detailed account of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, where US soldiers fought Somali militia in a brutal urban warfare.
On October 3, 1993, about a hundred U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into a teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia, to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. The action ... (Goodreads)
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
by Ian Mortimer
Exploring the history and culture of Medieval England.
Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the 14th century. This text sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking the reader to the Middle ... (Goodreads)
The Road to Serfdom
by Friedrich A. Hayek
Warning against the dangers of collectivism and the power of bureaucracy.
A classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a ... (Goodreads)
Democracy in America
by Alexis de Tocqueville
A study of the political and social structure of the United States and its implications.
Democracy in America has had the singular honor of being even to this day the work that political commentators of every stripe refer to when they seek to draw large conclusions about the society of ... (Goodreads)
A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking
Exploring the depths of time and space and the emergence of the universe.
In the ten years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's classic work has become a landmark volume in scientific writing, with more than nine million copies in forty languages sold ... (Goodreads)
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
A biography of Joseph Stalin, exploring his rise to power and the inner workings of his regime.
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781400076789 This widely acclaimed biography provides a vivid and riveting account of Stalin and his courtiers—killers, fanatics, women, and children—during the ... (Goodreads)
The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Comprehensive scientific exploration of the evolution of species and the natural world.
Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for ... (Goodreads)
