Not really in any order:
1. Larry McMurtry fiction of the West, esp. the Old West & history of the same Lonesome Dove: A Novel by Larry McMurtry. His essays on NYRB. His archive page from NYT.
2. Alan Furst – “historical espionage novels” of the pre-WW Two era in Europe, esp. central Europe; Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst or Dark Star: A Novel. Impossible for me to choose a single favorite; only Foreign Correspondent and Dark Voyage disappointed (a little). New book in June 2010: Spies of the Balkans
Furst interview with Robert Birnbaum on Identity Theory web site.
Radio interview with Furst on KQED
3. Edmund Morgan – US colonial era historian - essays by Morgan at NYRB.
On TV wiith Charlie Rose on Ben Franklin.
One of my favorites: The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 (The Chicago History of American Civilization) by Edmund S. Morgan
4. James McPherson US Civil War historian - He wrote the greatest single-volume history of the Civil War or any war or an era: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)
Amazon's James M. McPherson Page
McPherson continues to turn out quality and readable histories:
Book: Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution
Book: Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief
Meet James McPherson at the NEH web site.
5 Questions for James McPherson (Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian & Britannica Contributor) on Abraham Lincoln & His Legacy.
YouTube Conversation with History at UC Berkeley
5. Edward Rutherfurd official site
Historical fiction epics of British Isles and elsewhere. I loved his books when I read them; not sure I would put him this high today if I was starting fresh - but then again I think I've read sarum three times!
My favorites:
Book: London: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd
Book: Sarum: The Novel of England
Book: The Forest
6. Rose Macaulay – Makes my list on the strength of one book: The Towers of Trebizond with its famous opening line: "'Take my camel, dear,' said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass." Famous First Words : NPR
Rose Macaulay - NYRB The NYRB page for The Towers of Trebizond
"The Towers of Trebizond" by Rose Macaulay - Salon.com “Dotty English eccentrics take a tour of Turkey in this delightful and long-forgotten 1956 satire -- which then takes an unexpected and sobering turn toward a crisis of faith.”
7. John Mortimer Try any of the Rumpole of the Bailey series and if you will soon swoon for the old darling as tweaks the pompous and defends the criminal accused. "Crime doesn't pay, but it's a living."
Book: The First Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer
SALON Features: "Champagne for everyone!"
UK Guardian obit: Rumpole of the Bailey creator John Mortimer dies
Madeline Kahn interviews John Mortimer:
He has his own page on the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/john-mortimer
I’ve never read his Rapstone Chronicles books (Paradise Postponed & Titmuss Regained) – I tried one many years ago and it wasn’t to my taste at the time. Paradise Postponed (Rapstone Chronicles).
8. John Biggins A Sailor of Austria: In Which, Without Really Intending to, Otto Prohaska Becomes Official War Hero No. 27 of the Habsburg Empire (The Otto Prohaska Novels) by John Biggins
Biggins wrote four marvelous books of historical fiction featuring Otto Prohaska, a Czech resident of the Austro-Hungarian Empire who serves on a submarine in its navy during WWI. Each book takes Otto to a different unexpected adventure. Oddly, it is hard to find much information about Biggins. Apparently the books did not sell all that well when originally published in the 1970s, but have been reissued by McBooks Press.
Check out the star ratings on Amazon: The people who read it, love it.
Tony Miksak's Words on Books as broadcast weekly on KZYX radio discusses John Biggins:
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Probables for the next installment:
9. George MacDonald Fraser
10. Patrick O’Brian
11. Gore Vidal
12. Paul Fussell
13. Arthur Conan Doyle
14. John Keegan
15. A.B. Guthrie
16. John Le Carre`
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