Great History Books that Don't Suck to Read

>>3028805
what's wrong with rise and fall of the third reich, I found it to be extremely interesting

and if you want recommendations you're going to have to narrow it down to a particular event or nation you want to know more about

>>3028832
its interesting no doubt, but for some reason the way the author presents it is underwhelming to me. Right now I'm really interested in pre-WWI Europe and WWII. Some of my favorite books from recent months are No Less Than Victory and The Steel Wave, both by Shaara

>>3028832
I'm reading Rise and Fall at the moment, and while I find it highly informative, the author seems to sensationalize a lot of stuff. Every bad move made by the Weimer Republic was THE crucial decision that doomed it. He even did it twice on the same page once.

Another thing that I think would put off a lot of people today is that Shirer was utterly obsessed with sex. The guy goes off on rants about gay Nazis every chance he gets. You need to be able to interpret a book with the times it was written in order to fully understand, and a lot of people cannot do that without getting their panties in a bunch.

I think the biggest knock, however, is that this book is written by a journalist. It isn't explicitly a typical history book, but a 1,000+ page journal article that is reviewing many Nazi documents that were newly released at the time. It is HIGHLY informative, but not what you would be looking for if you want to read a history book with a more academic perspective. From what I can gather, it is telling the actual story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich, not interpreting it through the lens of history.

I still recommend the book to anyone looking for a firm understanding of what happened before and during the time period of Nazi Germany.