Books like

Books like Kon-Tiki

12 books with a reading profile close to Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. Practical, outward-looking and clear-cut; an easy read.

1

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

by Hampton Sides

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

In 1879, Lieutenant George De Long led the USS Jeannette toward the North Pole, fueled by the incorrect scientific theory of an Open Polar Sea.
2

The Longest Day: June 6, 1944

by Cornelius Ryan

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

Cornelius Ryan reconstructs the D-Day invasion by weaving together hundreds of individual accounts from Allied and German soldiers, as well as French civilians.
3

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam

by Harold G. Moore

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

Lieutenant General Harold G.
4

The Johnstown Flood

by David McCullough

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

The book reconstructs the 1889 disaster in Pennsylvania, where the South Fork Dam collapsed after days of heavy rain.
5

Ten Days in a Mad-House

by Nellie Bly

Also clear-cut · history, narrative

In 1887, journalist Nellie Bly feigned insanity to secure a commitment to the Women’s Medical College on Blackwell’s Island.
6

13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi

by Mitchell Zuckoff

Also practical and outward-looking · history, narrative

On September 11, 2012, Islamic militants attacked a United States State Department mission and a nearby CIA Annex in Benghazi, Libya.
7

The Atomic City Girls

by Janet Beard

Also practical and clear-cut · history, narrative

In 1943, the Army transforms Oak Ridge, Tennessee, into a secret city of thousands of workers building the weapon that will end the war, though almost none of them know what they are making.
8

The Women of Chateau Lafayette

by Stephanie Dray

Also practical and clear-cut · history, narrative

This novel follows the history of the Chateau de Chavaniac, the birthplace of the Marquis de Lafayette, across three distinct centuries.
9

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

by Tom Holland

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

Tom Holland chronicles the collapse of the Roman Republic, beginning with the rise of Sulla and concluding with the establishment of the principate under Augustus.
10

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II

by Liza Mundy

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

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S.
11

Johnny Tremain

by Esther Forbes

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

Set in revolutionary Boston, the story follows fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, a talented silversmith's apprentice whose career is destroyed when a molten silver accident leaves his hand permanently disfigured.
12

Lost in Shangri-la: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II

by Mitchell Zuckoff

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

In 1945, a transport plane nicknamed the Gremlin Special crashed into a remote valley in Dutch New Guinea, leaving only three survivors: WAC corporal Margaret Hastings, Sergeant Kenneth Decker, and Lieutenant John McCol…

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