Friday Fave's #7-Best Historical Nonfiction Reads!

I found this image on The Morgue Files. Perfect, right?

                 As I work on Friday Fave's posts, it makes me realize one thing, Fridays come around really quickly! Sometimes, coming up with a question is harder than you might think!  Take this past week, for example.  It was Presidents Day on Monday, so I thought, maybe I will ask who was everyone's favorite President before the year 2000. (I didn't want to get too political).  But I realized that all of us would probably choose George Washington, so that wasn't going to work. Those thoughts made me start thinking about history and I thought, "Why not, What are our favorite Historical Books?'".  Madalynn didn't really like that idea because she prefers science and science fiction.  On the other hand, Lindsey had so many books that she loved that fit the historical genre that she had a difficult time choosing.  Alicia had quite a few as well, but one of the ones she mentioned interested me so much that I encouraged her to choose it.  We decided to narrow down the choices to nonfiction only this week.  Fiction will have to be an entirely different post.   If you want to see past Friday Fave Posts, click on that link.  So, here goes!  This weeks question is:

What is your favorite Historical Nonfiction Book?

       This week, we will begin with Maddy's fave because she found a way to combine her love of science with history.  She chose  The Hot Zone:  The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston.  The title is self-explanatory.  This book tells the horrific story of how a deadly virus from the African rain forest made its way to Washington D.C.  Madalynn said it was intense and fascinating. It is recent history, but history none the less.  

You can click on the picture to purchase this if you are interested.  It is available on Kindle, but is actually less expensive in mass market paperback at $5.99.

               I am going next because I have talked about my choice before, in a previous post, about my 10 Books to Read Again and Again.  It is  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.  Her book takes place in Holland during WWII.  Her family hid Jewish people from the Nazis until they were caught and  Corrie and her sister were sent to a prison camp.  In spite of the many hardships she faced, her faith never waivered and her courage never failed.  The story is both heart wrenching and inspiring.  If you haven't read it, you must. You really must.  I think I may just have to go read it again now, because I am thinking about it. 

    I don't see it available on Kindle, but the paperback price is super low, only $2.99, and hard cover is only $5.38. Anyway, this is the type of book you want to own and stroke the pages because it touches you so much.

            Next is Alicia's choice.  She is also a science loving daughter of mine! (She is a science teacher!)  The book she chose is Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel.  This book is based on 124 surviving letters from one of Galileo's daughters to him.  She was a nun in a convent and she changed her name to Maria Celeste in honor of her father's work.  The story of the book is more about Galileo than her, but her letters give insight into his character.  His letters to her were presumably burned after death by the convent in order to avoid association with Galileo. Alicia liked this book because it brings a different view to the whole situation of religion vs. science.  It doesn't vilify either side.  It is easy to read and understand even for those who do not feel they understand science. It shows how Galileo, although persecuted by the Pope, still had faith in God and was supported by other Bishops and Priests in the church.  It also shows that the  story depicting the Catholic Church vs Galileo is much more complicated than one might think.  

    I think that this book is going to be one of my next reads.  It sounds really good!  Alicia said that she listened to it on audio book!  The paperback version is available here for $2.49.

             Since Lindsey had such a difficult time choosing just one book this week, we told her that she could be the one to cheat and pick two books.  
             Like me, Lindsey loves books about WWII.  So, it isn't surprising that one of her picks is from that time period.  She chose Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi.  This is the story of an Italian man during Mussolini's fascist regime.  He was banished to the south of Italy with other exiles and spent a year living there in bad conditions.  He learns a lot about humans and has a lot of time to think about whether it was worth it for him to speak out against his government.  Lindsey likes this book because it is shows another aspect of how dark and bad the actions of people like Hitler and Mussolini can be, which serves as a reminder to us all to always stand up for what is right. 

      This book sounds haunting to me and must be added to my list!  It is available in paperback from $2.67.

           Lindsey's top choice, and also a choice that each of us would also make, is The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  This book contains the ancient history of the America's and teaches what the roots of our nation really are.  Most importantly it shows that we have a Heavenly Father who loves all of His children and He wants all of them to have the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It teaches that we choose our course in life.  We get to decide how we want to act, and then we must receive the consequences of those decisions, whether they are good or bad.  (Hint: It is always a good decision to keep the commandments.)  Lindsey says, "The teachings in this book shape everything I do and I love it and read from it every day."  I love it, too.  I hope you will read it and find out for yourself the truth contained in it.

   You can get this book for free on Kindle!  You can order a free copy at this site.  You will be glad that you did.

             Whew!  Those are our  Friday Fave's for this week! It was hard work to narrow down to these choices, but I think there are 5 good ones here!  I hope you find something new to read in them!  Let us know if you have any good Historical Nonfiction that we should consider as well!  
​             If you have already read all of these, here are some other suggestions that we have made in the past:

The Top 10 Books You Will Want to Read Again and Again

​Best Books to Read on Kindle

​Happy Reading!