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Message: [QUOTE="CL82, post: 5058926, member: 44"] I recently read The Boys in the Boat, and I agree it is an excellent read, far better than the movie. Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels is an excellent book on the battle of Gettysburg. I particularly enjoyed the sub story on the 21st Maine. It is historical fiction, but it is based upon the letters and books by the actual participants. Jeff Shaara is his son. His biography on Teddy Roosevelt is excellent as well. While we are talking about historical fiction, let me mention Patrick O'Brian's outstanding Master and Commander series. I found myself without a book as I headed off to vacation so I grabbed this off the shelf and read it probably for the fourth time. It is still excellent. Excellent character development, a multitude of integrated subplots seamlessly woven into the main plot, excellent self-effacing humor all part of a gripping adventure with characters you care about. The series is 20 or 21 books long. I've read through it twice and probably will go back for a third time. It's that good. The movie starring Russell Crowe is very good as well, but it is actually based on Far Side of the World which is a leader novel in the series. Agree with you too that Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals is a outstanding book that gives great insight into the Lincoln cabinet and into some of Lincoln's most famous speeches, which are a hybrid between his rating and Stanton's flowery prose of the time. [/QUOTE]