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Recommendations based on The Fiftiesby David Halberstam
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The Best and the Brightest
by David Halberstam
A detailed account of the decision-making process that led to the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
The Best and the Brightest is David Halberstam's masterpiece, the defining history of the making of the Vietnam tragedy. Using portraits of America's flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces ... (Goodreads)
All the President's Men
by Carl Bernstein
Investigative journalism that uncovered the Watergate scandal and its aftermath.
The full account of the Watergate scandal from the two Washington Post reporters who broke the story. This is “the work that brought down a presidency— perhaps the most influential piece of ... (Goodreads)
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
A comprehensive study of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, and the unique cabinet he assembled.
Winner of the Lincoln Prize Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from ... (Goodreads)
The Breaks of the Game
by David Halberstam
An in-depth look at the 1979-1980 season of the Portland Trail Blazers, exploring the highs and lows of professional basketball.
"Among the best books ever written on professional basketball." The Philadelphia Inquirer David Halberstam, best-selling author of THE FIFTIES and THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST, turns his keen ... (Goodreads)
Master of the Senate
by Robert A. Caro
Detailed account of Lyndon Johnson's tenure as the leader of the US Senate, and his rise to power.
The most riveting political biography of our time, Robert A. Caro’s life of Lyndon B. Johnson, continues. Master of the Senate takes Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his ... (Goodreads)
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy
by Bill Simmons
A deep dive into the history and culture of the NBA, from the perspectives of a lifelong basketball fan.
There is only one writer on the planet who possesses enough basketball knowledge and passion to write the definitive book on the NBA.* Bill Simmons, the from-the-womb hoops addict known to millions ... (Goodreads)
Washington's Crossing
by David Hackett Fischer
A detailed account of George Washington's daring crossing of the Delaware River during the American Revolution, and its impact on the war.
Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within ... (Goodreads)
Means of Ascent
by Robert A. Caro
An exploration of the ruthless ambition and cunning tactics of Lyndon B. Johnson's political career.
Robert A. Caro's life of Lyndon Johnson, which began with the greatly acclaimed The Path to Power, also winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, continues – one of the richest, most ... (Goodreads)
The Passage of Power
by Robert A. Caro
An in-depth account of Lyndon B. Johnson's rise to power and his evolution as a leader.
The Passage of Power follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career—1958 to1964. It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power ... (Goodreads)
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser
An exploration of the industrial food system and its effects on U.S. society.
Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list ... (Goodreads)
Ball Four
by Jim Bouton
A candid account of the life of a professional baseball player, exposing the realities of the sport.
Twentieth-anniversary edition of a baseball classic, with a new epilogue by Jim Bouton. When first published in 1970, Ball Four stunned the sports world. The commissioner, executives, and players ... (Goodreads)
Truman
by David McCullough
A biographical account of Harry S. Truman's rise to the Presidency and his impact on American history.
The book provides a biography of Harry Truman in chronological fashion from his birth to his rise to U.S. Senator , Vice President , and President . It follows his activities until death, exploring ... (Wikipedia)
Zodiac
by Robert Graysmith
A true crime account of the Zodiac Killer, who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Who was Zodiac? A serial killer who claimed 37 dead. A sexual sadist who taunted police with anonymous notes. A madman who was never apprehended. This is the first, complete account of Zodiac's reign ... (Goodreads)
Our Dumb Century: The Onion Presents 100 Years of Headlines from America's Finest News Source
by Scott Dikkers
A humorous collection of fake news headlines poking fun at the events of the past century.
The Onion has quickly become the world's most popular humor publication, misinforming half a million readers a week with one-of-a-kind social satire both in print (on newsstands nationwide) and ... (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 Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
by Jeffrey Toobin
An exploration of the inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices.
In The Nine, acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin takes us into the chambers of the most important—and secret—legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, revealing the complex dynamic among the nine ... (Goodreads)
The Onion Field
by Joseph Wambaugh
A true crime story retelling a tragic kidnapping and its aftermath.
This is the frighteningly true story of two young cops and two young robbers whose separate destinies fatally cross one March night in a bizarre execution in a deserted Los Angeles field. ... (Goodreads)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
by Michael Lewis
How an unconventional approach to baseball changed the competitive landscape.
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball , had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every ... (Goodreads)
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
by Randy Shilts
A history of the AIDS epidemic and its impact on the world, politics, and individuals.
By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest ... (Goodreads)
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
by Bryan Burrough
The story of the highly competitive bidding war for RJR Nabisco, one of the biggest corporate takeovers in history.
A #1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of ... (Goodreads)
The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story
by Ann Rule
Uncovering the hidden identity of serial killer Ted Bundy and the events leading up to his arrest.
The first few chapters following the brief introduction about Bundy's birth and family describe Rule's friendship with Bundy, her first impressions of him, and her reluctance to consider the evidence ... (Wikipedia)
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves
by Andrew Ross Sorkin
An examination of the 2008 financial crisis, how it was caused, and how it was dealt with.
The book provides an overview of the financial crisis of 2007–08 from the beginning of 2008 to the decision to create the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The book tells the story from the ... (Wikipedia)
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
by Legs McNeil
An exploration of the punk rock movement through interviews with its pioneers and participants.
A, Time Out, and, Daily News, Top Ten Book of the Year upon its initial release,, Please Kill Me, is the first oral history of the most nihilist of all pop movements. Iggy Pop, Danny Fields, Dee Dee ... (Goodreads)
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
by Ibram X. Kendi
Exploration of the history of racism in America, tracing its origins and its effects on society.
In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti–Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Stamped from the ... (Goodreads)
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
An epic narrative of the discover of the world's trade routes, spanning more than 3,000 years.
The New Silk Roads takes a fresh look at the relationships being formed along the length and breadth of the ancient trade routes today. The world is changing dramatically and in an age of Brexit and ... (Goodreads)
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
by Neil Sheehan
A detailed account of the Vietnam War, and one man's role in it.
This passionate, epic account of the Vietnam War centres on Lt Col John Paul Vann, whose story illuminates America's failures & disillusionment in SE Asia. A field adviser to the army when US ... (Goodreads)
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
by John Grisham
True crime story of an innocent man convicted of a crime he didn't commit.
Ron Williamson has returned to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma, after multiple failed attempts to play for various minor league baseball teams, including the Fort Lauderdale Yankees and two affiliate ... (Wikipedia)
A Rumor of War
by Philip Caputo
A firsthand account of the Vietnam War by a Marine, recounting its devastating impact on his life.
The 40th-anniversary edition of the classic Vietnam memoir—featured in the PBS documentary series The Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick—with a new foreword by Kevin Powers. In March of 1965, ... (Goodreads)
The World of Yesterday
by Stefan Zweig
Autobiography of a Jewish writer, describing the intellectual and social life of fin de siècle Europe.
The World of Yesterday, mailed to his publisher a few days before Stefan Zweig took his life in 1942, has become a classic of the memoir genre. Originally titled “Three Lives,” the memoir describes ... (Goodreads)
Theodore Rex
by Edmund Morris
A biography of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, exploring his leadership, policies, and impact on American society.
Theodore Roosevelt and his two-term presidency (1901-9) deserve a king-size, seize-the-man biography - and Edmund Morris has provided one. "TR" typifies the "can do" American; his famous maxim, of ... (Goodreads)
