Stranger than Fiction: Great Nonfiction Reads

I read a lot of history, with a preference for well-written works that look at the human side of events. Of course, I will grind my way though a dry, academic work if it will get me the details I need.

Just lately I've been re-reading The Sandino Affair by Neil Macaulay. An account of US intervention in Nicaragua and Augusto Cesar Sandino's war against it. Sandino pitted his bands of patriotic guerrillas against the US Marines and the US-backed Nicaraguan National Guard from 1927 to 1933. Sandino was assassinated by NG commandante Anastasio Somozo who set himself up as dictator of Nicaragua. Somoza's heir was overthrown by the Sandanistas in 1979, touching off another tumultuous era in Central America.

Also on my bookshelf by Macaulay is The Prestes Column, about a group of idealistic Brazilian army officers who attempted a coup in 1925. Defeated, but not destroyed the rebels under Lieutenant Luis Carlos Prestes set off on an epic march around Brazil ending up back where they started in 1927. Prestes later founded the Brazilian Communist Party.

I actually studied under Professor Macaulay at University of Florida. He was not some ivory tower guy, he graduated from the Citadel, served in the US Army, and then joined Fidel Castro's rebels fighting the dictator Batista up in the Sierra Maestre. Macaulay broke with Castro later, though didn't seem to regret fighting Batista. He would pepper lectures with warnings about Marx-Leninism. interesting guy.

One of my favourites is The Wall, by Alister Moffat charting the lifespan of Hadrian's Wall. One day I would love to write an epic novel charting the construction of the Wall. Kind of Pillars of the Earth in Roman Britain.

Next book on my list is The Roman Conquest of Scotland. I have high expectations!

Amiable Renegade: The Memoirs of Captain Peter Drake, written by, surprise, surprise, Captain Peter Drake, exiled Irish soldier of Fortune during the War of The Spanish Succession.

He published the memoirs in Dublin in his old age, but apparently all the copies were seized by his family who wanted to hush up the potential scandal. However, 6 copies got away and one of them was used for a reprint a few years back.

Peter Drake is the sort of character that belongs in a book by Henry Fielding - a Catholic Irish, he left Ireland to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession by way of St Germain, London and Cork County jail. In the first two years of the conflict he changed armies 8 times, charmed women left and right, and finally got caught by the English and sentenced to death. After talking his way out of that somehow, he returned to the French army and was grieviously wounded at Malplaquet.

He then spent several years making a living as a gigolo and gambler in Bath - and the best thing is that apparently it's all more or less true. Plus his style is very plain and self-depreciating.

It's absolutely hilarious; definitely stranger than fiction!

The Old Man and the Swamp: A True Story About My Weird Dad, a Bunch of Snakes, and One Ridiculous Road Trip by John Sellers

Amazon's description sums it up nicely:

I have nothing against snakes, provided that they're hundreds of miles away from me. And I have nothing against my dad, given the same set of conditions.

In a fit of questionable judgment, consummate indoorsman John Sellers tags along on a journey to search for snakes with his eccentric, aging father--an obsessive fan of Bob Dylan, a giver of terrible gifts, a drinker of boxed wine, a minister- turned-heretic, and, most importantly, the self-designated guardian of the threatened copperbelly water snake.

Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson (about the Chicago World's Fair and H.H. Holmes the serial killer.)

Wormwood Forest: a Natural History of Chernobyl by Mary Mycio (title fairly explanatory. About the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the flora and fauna therein, and a bit of the politics involving it)

The Wave, by Susan Casey (it's about rogue waves, but also a good deal about surfing and the quest of some surfers to surf a 100 foot wave)

I tend to like my nonfiction with a good narrative flow, which may or may not be odd.

I haven't yet read it, but I've heard great things about Holly Tucker's
Blood Work. I love medical history.

It's pretty theory heavy and esoteric, but I absolutely love Silvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch about primitive accumulation and women's bodies. I learned a lot about the division of labor in feudalism. (There were state-run brothels. Whoa.)

Mayqueen,

Thanks for your tip.

It's a joke in my family to find me books on disease and plague. I'm happy to recommend, In the Wake of the Plague by Norman Cantor. I loved this and best of all, he included a critical biography in a historical context at the end of the book. It has a wealth of imformation on how the black death changed history.

Great suggestion! Adding that to my list of books to read. If you have any other suggestions for medical history, I'm all ears.

THe best eye-popping book for medical history is The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry.

This book was required reading for an American History class in university. I loved it so much I kept it. Besides finding out just how hideous medical teaching was in the US, it goes into how the pandemic swept the world, and how the flu virus mutates. It also spells out how nations' governments contributed to the fear and the spread of the disease. After reading this book, I fully understand why world health organizations are so worried about bird flu and others. A MUST read!

Snowstorm said:

THe best eye-popping book for medical history is The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry.

This book was required reading for an American History class in university. I loved it so much I kept it. Besides finding out just how hideous medical teaching was in the US, it goes into how the pandemic swept the world, and how the flu virus mutates. It also spells out how nations' governments contributed to the fear and the spread of the disease. After reading this book, I fully understand why world health organizations are so worried about bird flu and others. A MUST read!

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I loved that one. Amazing how that greatest generation saw pretty much every sucky thing that could happen to the world. And in the case of world wars, TWO of them!

Fascinating how they finally figured out what caused it, what...80-something years later? The frozen Inuit up in Alaska or something? And they couldn't have done anything at the time anyway since it was a virus. So sad.

GingerGunlock said:

Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson (about the Chicago World's Fair and H.H. Holmes the serial killer.)

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This one too. As an art history major (including architecture), and a true crime fan, this one was fabulous for me, although it bored my husband stiff. I couldn't understand how.

If you ever get to Chicago, go to the Museum of Science and Industry. It's one of the few remaining buildings from the Fair. Chicago is just an amazing place anyway. My dad grew up there, and I love visiting my family still around there.

I found an interesting one at the antique store the other day. I'm always on the lookout for anything '20s related, especially early Hollywood.

This one's called "A Bright and Guilty Place," about early corrupt Los Angeles/Hollywood (the same corrupt administration that gave us the travesty that occurred in the movie 'Changeling"). Two men named Dave Clark and Leslie White and all the crime swirling around them.

Hip-Hop-a-potamus said:

If you ever get to Chicago, go to the Museum of Science and Industry. It's one of the few remaining buildings from the Fair. Chicago is just an amazing place anyway. My dad grew up there, and I love visiting my family still around there.

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Hometown proud! I love that museum. There are many great museums here.