18 books like Israel Potter
Andersonville; a story of rebel military prisons
"McElroy, with a detachment of his regiment, was guarding a supply route to Cumberland Gap when his entire company was captured in a surprise attack one morning during the winter of 1862-63. He and his comrades were taken to Lippy Prison, and from there they were sent to Andersonville. McElroy spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. His story of attempts at escape, of comrades tracked through…
Shares: Prisoners and prisons, Personal narratives, History
London
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Shares: London, Historical Fiction, History
The Rough Riders
"The Rough Riders (1899) is the story of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment Roosevelt led to enduring fame in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt recounts how the regiment was raised from an unusual mixture of hardened southwestern frontiersmen and privileged northeastern college graduates, and how it trained in Texas and then sailed "southward through the topic seas…
Shares: Personal narratives, United States, History
King Rat
The time is World War II. The place is a brutal prison camp deep in Japanese-occupied territory. Here, within the seething mass of humanity, one man, an American corporal, seeks dominance over both captives and captors alike. His weapons are human courage, unblinking understanding of human weaknesses, and total willingness to exploit every opportunity to enlarge his power and corrupt or destroy…
Shares: Prisoners and prisons, Historical Fiction
The Man Without a Country
The story of a U.S. Navy officer involved in the treason of Aaron Burr.
Shares: Exiles, History
Se questo è un uomo
This book describes Primo Levi's experiences in the concentration camp at Auschwitz during the Second World War. Levi, then a 25-year-old chemist, spent 10 months in Auschwitz before the camp was liberated by the Red Army. Of the 650 Italian Jews in his shipment, Levi was one of only twenty who left the camp alive. The average life expectancy of a new entry was three months. This truly amazing…
Shares: Prisoners and prisons, Personal narratives
Army Life in a Black Regiment
"Army Life in a Black Regiment has some claim to be the best written narrative to come from the Union [side] during the Civil War," wrote historian Henry Steele Commander. "Higginson's picture of the battle which was the origin of 'praise the Lord and pass the ammunition' and his reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to the black regiment are unsurpassed for eloquence." A Union colonel wrote…
Shares: Personal narratives, United States, History
Recollections of an old soldier
As they were in those days, the full title of Capt David Perry's book is its own description:
Recollections of an old soldier. The life of Captain David Perry, a soldier of the French and revolutionary wars, containing many extraordinary occurrences relating to his own private history, and an account of some interesting events in the history of the times in which he lived, no-where else…
Shares: Personal narratives, History
Friends Though Divided
My dear lads: Although so long a time has elapsed since the great civil war in England, men are still almost as much divided as they were then as to the merits of the quarrel, almost as warm partisans of the one side or the other. Most of you will probably have formed an opinion as to the rights of the case, either from your own reading, or from hearing the views of your elders.
Shares: United States, Historical Fiction, History
Gifted hands
In 1987, Dr. Benjamin Carson gained worldwide recognition for his part in the first successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. The extremely complex and delicate operation, five months in the planning and twenty-two hours in the execution, involved a surgical plan that Carson helped initiate. Carson pioneered again in a rare procedure known as hemispherectomy, giving…
Shares: Personal narratives, United States
Pan Michael An historical novel
The third and final book of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy takes a closer and more intimate look at one of the series’ protagonists: Pan Michael Volodyovski. The Polish Commonwealth has been through intense periods of war, and the peace that follows leaves one of its greatest heroes, Pan Michael, finally free to marry his beloved Panna Anusia. But in a twist of fate, she falls ill and dies, leaving…
Shares: Historical Fiction, History
St. George and St. Michael
It was the middle of autumn, and had rained all day. Through the lozenge-panes of the wide oriel window the world appeared in the slowly gathering dusk not a little dismal. The drops that clung trickling to the dim glass added rain and gloom to the landscape beyond, whither the eye passed, as if vaguely seeking that help in the distance, which the dripping hollyhocks and sodden sunflowers…
Shares: Historical Fiction, History
Domestic manners of the Americans
When Fanny Trollope set sail for America in 1827 with hopes of joining a Utopian community of emancipated slaves, she took with her three of her children and a young French artist, leaving behind her son Anthony, growing debts and a husband going slowly mad from mercury poisoning. But what followed was a tragicomedy of illness, scandal and failed business ventures. Nevertheless, on her return to…
Shares: Personal narratives, United States, History
The last American vampire
"The follow-up to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter--a sweeping, alternate history of 20th Century America as seen through the eyes of vampire Henry Sturges. He is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of his friend Abraham Lincoln's shocking death. It will be an expansive journey that will first send him to England for an unexpected encounter with Jack the Ripper, then to New York City for the…
Shares: United States, History
The Way of a Man
This book involves historical fiction romance. The scene of this romance is laid in the West during the time of the great Western movement previous to the Civil War.
Shares: United States, History
Home as found
"No society, dear!--Why you were at the Henderson's, and the Morgan's, and the Drewett's; three of the greatest _réunions_ that we have had in two winters!"'
"I did not know that you meant those unpleasant crowds, by society".
"Unpleasant crowds! Why, child, that is society, is it not?'
"Not what I have been taught to consider such; I rather think it would be better to call it company".
"And is…
Shares: Historical Fiction
The Border Empire
Wes Stone was a lawman—until the Sandlin gang gunned down his legendary father. Now, he's giving up his badge for vengeance...
Shares: Historical Fiction
Sovereign
The third installment of C. J. Sansom's acclaimed Matthew Shardlake mystery seriesC. J . Sansom has garnered a wider audience and increased critical praise with each new novel published. His first book in the Matthew Shardlake series, Dissolution, was selected by P. D. James in The Wall Street Journal as one of her top-five all-time favorite books. Now in Sovereign, Shardlake and his loyal…
Shares: London, Historical Fiction, History