Books like

Books like 1776

12 books with a reading profile close to 1776 by David McCullough. Outward-looking, growth-minded and clear-cut; a moderate read.

1

AMERICAN STRUGGLE

by Jon Meacham

Also outward-looking · history, biography

Jon Meacham analyzes four centuries of American political and social friction to explain how structural divisions have repeatedly threatened national stability.
2

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

by Ross King

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

Ross King reconstructs the four-year ordeal of painting the Sistine Chapel, focusing on the volatile relationship between Michelangelo Buonarroti and Pope Julius II.
3

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

by Erik Larson

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

Erik Larson chronicles Winston Churchill’s first year as Prime Minister, focusing on the period from May 1940 to May 1941 during the height of the German Blitz.
4

Alexander the Great

by Philip Freeman

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

Philip Freeman traces the trajectory of the Macedonian king from his tutelage under Aristotle to his sudden death at age thirty-two.
5

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

by Candice Millard

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

Following a stinging electoral defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt headed into the Amazon basin to map an unchartered tributary alongside Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon.
6

The Wright Brothers

by David McCullough

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

David McCullough recounts the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright, focusing on the five-year period between 1903 and 1908.
7

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

by Jack Weatherford

Also outward-looking · history, biography

Jack Weatherford reconstructs the life of Temujin and the rise of the Mongol Empire by synthesizing traditional historical accounts with the Secret History of the Mongols.
8

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

by Simon Winchester

Also clear-cut · history, biography

In 1879, James Murray began the monumental task of compiling the first Oxford English Dictionary, a project requiring the categorization of every word in the language alongside its chronological history.
9

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

by Dava Sobel

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

Dava Sobel chronicles the eighteenth-century race to determine a ship's east-west position at sea, a challenge that caused frequent shipwrecks and stunted global trade.
10

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

by Candice Millard

Also outward-looking · history, biography

Candice Millard recounts the 1881 assassination of James A.
11

Seabiscuit

by Laura Hillenbrand

Also outward-looking and clear-cut · history, biography

In the depths of the Great Depression, an undersized, crooked-legged horse named Seabiscuit became an unlikely racing icon.
12

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

by Erik Larson

Also outward-looking · history, narrative

In 1933, William E.

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