Books like

Books like Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

12 books with a reading profile close to Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King. Outward-looking and clear-cut; a moderate read.

  1. 1 The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

    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.

  2. 2 Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

    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.

  3. 3 Alexander the Great

    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.

  4. 4 The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

    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.

  5. 5 Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

    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.

  6. 6 AMERICAN STRUGGLE

    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.

  7. 7 The Wright Brothers

    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.

  8. 8 Seabiscuit

    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.

  9. 9 Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

    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.

  10. 10 The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

    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.

  11. 11 1776

    1776

    by David McCullough

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

    David McCullough’s account focuses narrow attention on the military campaigns of a single pivotal year, beginning with the Siege of Boston and concluding after the retreat through New Jersey.

  12. 12 Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

    Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

    by Bill O'Reilly

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

    Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard reconstruct the timeline leading to the assassination of John F.

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