For me, it is "Sarum: The Novel of England" by Edward Rutherfurd.

"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara

Chick picked mine so for a different one Andersonville.

Gates of Fire

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and Pillars of the Earth by Follett.

Sarum was good. Did you read Forrest?

Texas by James Michener

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Gates of Fire

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Excellent! I'm about to finish "The First Heroes" about the Doolittle raid, and "Gates of Fire" is on my nightstand underneath "TFH".

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Texas by James Michener

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You're kidding, right!?

I loved it.

Killer Angels would be a good one. Here's my top 5 (the order changes from time to time, but they're all great):

1. The Killer Angels -- Absolutely best Civil War Novel. Red Badge of Courage is fairly good for an opium addict who was about 3 when the war actually took place. But K.A. kick's its ass.
2. The Winds of War -- The absolute best World War II novel, and the only epic novel I've read three times. You learn the history real well reading it.
3. August, 1914 - Alexander Solszhenitsyn -- Skip the first five chapters (which I think he put in to get past the Soviet censors). After that, this is an awesome novel.
4. All Quiet on the Western Front -- This is a classic, and a little cliched now, but it created the cliches, so that's alright. It's anti-war, but what would you expect from a German writer with a French last name?
5. A Farewell to Arms -- Hemmingway's first major work, and one of his best (probably second only to "A Sun Also Rises.". This is more novel than history, and more literature than simply fictionlizing battles, but it is an awesome book and should be read by everyone. Also a bit anti-war, but again, this was WWI, which was historically the most pointless major war.

Although I'm a huge Texas history buff, I have found no great Texas novels. "Texas" is alright, but it's long and preachy, and Mitchener (who is normally a great writer) tries to be too encyclopedic. He's trying to get all of Texas history in the book, when what makes a great novel great is that it is selective. While the Spanish colonial period is incredibly important, there's just no way to make it exciting in narrative unless you write it from the perspective of comanche indians who captured a priest and are flaying him alive.

And NOBODY has ever done a good novel about things like the Mier Expedition which has a potential scene (the counting of the beans) which has enough potential drama to make Hitchcock hide under the couch.

The Red Badge of Courage would be another one to add to the list........

Gates of the Alamo is as close as anybody is ever likely to get in describing colonial Texas and the revolt that freed us from military feudalism. And it is very good on the centralist/federalist politics in Mexico that both caused the revolt and made its success possible.

A year ago there was a little novel called DIEZMO about the Mier expedition and a kid who basically went along as a joyride. It was not bad, but as Aalan points out, the black bean episode is there for any great novelist to use in an appropriate fashion.

Aalan:

good call on All Quiet on the Western Front, that's better than my #2 Andersonville. The Killer Angels is full of make believe and historical inaccuracies but that doesn't diminish it in my eyes. H does pick a very good Texas Historical novel with Gates of the Alamo, much better than Michner's book.

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Pillars of the Earth by Follett

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also a great read. More thematic than a particular historical "event," but excellent book nonetheless. I loke everything I've read by follet.

Eye of the Needle
JackDaws
Hornet Flight
Night over Water
On Wings of Eagles (non-fiction Iran hostage account)
Pillars of Earth


all very good and riveting.

Another vote for Pillars.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is a riveting read.

[This message has been edited by Boozoo (edited 1/25/2007 1:37p).]

Patton:Genius of War

There's a spirit can ne'er be told
It's the Spirit of Aggieland.

We will never forget 11.18.1999
BTHO Bonfire

GFW = not a novel

I suppose I'm slow, but Pillars of the Earth was a trudge for me. I never understood what they were getting at, and remember it as hard work. I'm sure the duh factor is on me.

The Forgotten Soldier
The Jungle
Gods and Generals

Pillars is definitely good, but not nearly as fast paced some of follet's other stuff. Definitely a commitment to sit down and read.

As mentioned "Gates fo the Alamo" is great, and really places you into the Texas Revolution.

aalan: Don't forget "War & Rememberance." Great follow-up to "WOW."

Terry C. Johnston wrote a series of historical fiction books about the mountain man/fur trade era. There were about 9 books in the series which featured a character named Titus Bass. They really take you back in time and show you what it must have been like both from the mountain man and indian perspective. Highly recommend them.

the Forgotten Soldier was great too.

Totally forgot about Gates of the Alamo, but by an odd circumstance, I've never read it. I bought a copy, loaned it to my dad and never saw it again. I need to get that, as I hear it is good.

Yes, War and Rememberance is good, and I think we've had this discussion before, but I don't think it's as good as Winds of War. I wouldn't put it in my Top 5. Most likely in the Top 10 though.

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"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara

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Proudest member of the Fightin Texas Aggie class of 08 Beat the h*** outa tu A-A-A Whoop!!!. May bonfire forever burn in our hearts.....and may the Twelfth Man ever burn it in memory and in hope for the future.

The Hornblower series.

Some historical works READ like novels. Isaacs storm and flags of our fathers for example.

I like Tale of Two cities for fiction.

For WWEE fiction the Military series by WEB Griffin that starts with the Lts and follows men through their careers.

Jackdaws, as previously, posted
The Eagle Has Landed
Guns of the South

Also as in Modano's original post, Sarum was a highly interesting read.




[This message has been edited by terata (edited 1/28/2007 9:21a).]

Eagle Has Landed is pretty good, now that you mention it.

War

and

Peace

I liked Gates of the Alamo and I am in the middle of Rise to Rebellion.

Yes AggieLit, but War and Peace is so damn long that even the Cliff Notes version makes my phone book look small.

What is it with Russian writers anyway? I was reading an Ayn Rand book the other day, and was thinking about that. Although she was Russian-American, she still wrote excessively long.

I only wish someone could have persuaded Hemmingway to do a War and Peace translation. It would have been 30 pages.

Not sure if these count as historical fiction, but four of my favorite books:

Once an Eagle
Trinity (Leon Uris)
Lonesome Dove
Cold Mountain

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Yes AggieLit, but War and Peace is so damn long that even the Cliff Notes version makes my phone book look small.

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I wish it were twice as long.

And I wish, more than anything, that I could read it for the first time again.

Don't cheat yourself. Every friend who I've persuaded to read it has loved it. The only other novel I've read with characters as real and situations as overwhelming is Lonesome Dove.

Get the Maude translation.