I've got two favorites:

"Robert Kennedy: His Life" by Evan Thomas. Just a great portrait of one of my personal heroes. Critics like this because it's supposedly "even-handed" and doesn't neccessarily mythologize RFK. But I just found it fascninating, and after reading, you'll be convinced that perhaps the biggest "what if" of the 20th century is if RFK had been able to campaign as the Dem presidential nominee in 1968.

My other faveorite history book is "Theodore Rex" by Edmund Morris. This is the second volume in his three volume (#3 has yet to be written) biography of Teddy Roosevelt. A true "progressive," Trex would hardly recognize the Republican party that he led from 1901-1908. Trex just jumps off the pages. A larger than life man -- and one of our five greatest presidents.

Posted at June 8, 2005 7:40 PM in response to History