Historical genre books (329)


11.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / India flag India
Description:
Vikram Seth's novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find -- through love or through exacting maternal appraisal -- a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of l... continue

12.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini EN

Rating: 4 (74 votes)
Country: Asia / Afghanistan flag Afghanistan
Description:
Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, the #1 New York Times bestseller A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. “Just as good, if not better, than Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling first book, The Kite Runner.”—Newsweek Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today. Born a generation apart a... continue

13.

A Woman in Berlin : Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary by Marta Hillers EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Germany flag Germany
Description:
For eight weeks in 1945, as Berlin fell to the Russian army, a young woman kept a daily record of life in her apartment building and among its residents. She tells of the shameful indignities to which women in a conquered city are always subject.

14.

Abyssinian Chronicles : A Novel by Moses Isegawa EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Uganda flag Uganda
Description:
Every once in a while there emerges a literary voice with the power and urgency to immerse readers deep within a previously "invisible" culture. From a young African writer who has already earned comparisons to Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez comes this masterful saga of life in 20th-century Uganda. The teller of this panoramic tale is Mugezi, a quick-witted, sharp-eyed man whose life encompasses the traditional and the modern, the peaceful and the insanely violent, the despotic and the democratic. Born in a rural community in the early 1960s, he is raised by his grandfather, a depos... continue

15.

Adolfo Kaminsky : A Forger's Life by Sarah Kaminsky EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Algeria flag Algeria
Description:
The gripping true story of a life-long forger working for the French Resistance and clandestine organizations, told to his daughter.

16.

After the Roundup : Escape and Survival in Hitler's France by Joseph Weismann EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / France flag France
Description:
Cover -- Contents -- Translator's Foreword -- 1. Fall 1940 -- 2. The Star -- 3. July 16, 1942 -- 4. Beaune-la-Rolande -- 5. Escape -- 6. Parisian Wanderings -- 7. Three "Misérables"--8. The Americans -- 9. The Castle of Méhoncourt -- 10. Becoming French -- 11. Return to the Past -- Epilogue: Bearing Witness

17.

Alamut by Vladimir Bartol EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Slovenia flag Slovenia
Description:
Alamut takes place in 11th Century Persia, in the fortress of Alamut, where self-proclaimed prophet Hasan ibn Sabbah is setting up his mad but brilliant plan to rule the region with a handful of elite fighters who are to become his "living daggers." By creating a virtual paradise at Alamut, filled with beautiful women, lush gardens, wine and hashish, Sabbah is able to convince his young fighters that they can reach paradise if they follow his commands. With parallels to Osama bin Laden, Alamut tells the story of how Sabbah was able to instill fear into the ruling class by creating a small army... continue


19.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Description:
Intrigued by contemporary reports of a sensational murder trial in 1843 Canada, Atwood has drawn a compelling portrait of what might have been.