Books like

Books like The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11

12 books with a reading profile close to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff. Outward-looking and clear-cut; an easy read.

1

Flags of Our Fathers

by James D. Bradley

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

James Bradley reconstructs the lives of the six men who raised the American flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
2

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II

by Denise Kiernan

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

In the early 1940s, the United States government constructed Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a secret city carved out of rural farmland to house seventy thousand residents working on the Manhattan Project.
3

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

by Erik Larson

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

Erik Larson reconstructs the final 1915 voyage of the luxury ocean liner Lusitania, tracking its path from New York toward the Irish coast during the early stages of World War I.
4

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

by Timothy Egan

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

In the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan moved beyond the deep South to establish a stronghold in the American Midwest, specifically Indiana.
5

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

by Nathaniel Philbrick

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

In the winter of 1820, a massive sperm whale repeatedly rammed and sank the whaleship Essex in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
6

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

by David Grann

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

In 1925, British explorer Percy Fawcett entered the Amazon jungle to locate a hidden civilization he named "Z," believing it to be the birthplace of complex South American culture.
7

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

by Erik Larson

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

Erik Larson chronicles the five months between Abraham Lincoln’s election and the surrender of Fort Sumter.
8

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

by Ross King

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

In 1418, the architects of Florence faced a structural crisis: the massive central opening of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral remained uncovered, as no known building method could support a dome of such scale withou…
9

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.
10

A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

by Adam Makos

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

In December 1943, Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown flew a crippled B-17 bomber over Germany, its fuselage shredded and half its crew wounded.
11

Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission

by Hampton Sides

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

Hampton Sides chronicles the 1945 raid on the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp in the Philippines.
12

The Bookseller of Kabul

by Åsne Seierstad

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

Following the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Norwegian journalist Åsne Seierstad lived with the family of Sultan Khan, a bookseller in Kabul who risked imprisonment to preserve Afghan literature.

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