Here are 100 books that A New Age Now Begins fans have personally recommended if you like
A New Age Now Begins.
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Over the years, I’ve lived and worked in the US, and I find it endlessly fascinating. With its mix of cultures, regional identities, and historical tensions, it often felt like several nations merged into one, forged initially against Britain with the help of France. Living there and reading extensively about its history gave me a personal perspective on the forces shaping the nation.
Researching the year 1865 around Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, I discovered far more than I expected, deepening my understanding of the era. I wanted to share a selection of American novels—works that influenced my thinking or mirror the historical mystery and adventure central to that period.
This book offers a monumental three-volume account of America’s defining conflict.
Combining meticulous research with a novelist’s flair, Foote vividly portrays battles, political struggles, and personal experiences on both sides. His narrative balances strategy, leadership, and human cost, giving readers a deep sense of the era’s complexity.
While Foote’s Southern sympathies can be seen, such as his portrayal of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, downplaying his subsequent leadership of the Ku Klux Klan, his prose remains compelling and accessible. Reading it provided invaluable context for understanding the Civil War and its enduring impact.
This first volume of Shelby Foote's classic narrative of the Civil War opens with Jefferson Davis’s farewell to the United Senate and ends on the bloody battlefields of Antietam and Perryville, as the full, horrible scope of America’s great war becomes clear. Exhaustively researched and masterfully written, Foote’s epic account of the Civil War unfolds like a classic novel.
Includes maps throughout.
"Here, for a certainty, is one of the great historical narratives…a unique and brilliant achievement, one that must be firmly placed in the ranks of the masters."—Van Allen Bradley, Chicago Daily News
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
Over the years, I’ve lived and worked in the US, and I find it endlessly fascinating. With its mix of cultures, regional identities, and historical tensions, it often felt like several nations merged into one, forged initially against Britain with the help of France. Living there and reading extensively about its history gave me a personal perspective on the forces shaping the nation.
Researching the year 1865 around Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, I discovered far more than I expected, deepening my understanding of the era. I wanted to share a selection of American novels—works that influenced my thinking or mirror the historical mystery and adventure central to that period.
Blends psychological thriller, historical fiction, and detective mystery, set in New York City in 1896.
Journalist John Schuyler Moore and psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, aided by a young Theodore Roosevelt, investigate brutal murders that shock the city. Carr’s meticulous research brings Gilded Age New York vividly to life, from opulent drawing rooms to grim tenements.
The novel explores the roots of criminal profiling and human darkness, reflecting techniques I use in my own book's character’s investigations, including incorporating real historical figures for authenticity.
The internationally bestselling historical thriller, now a major Netflix series starring Luke Evans, Dakota Fanning and Daniel Bruhl.
Some things never change.
New York City, 1896. Hypocrisy in high places is rife, police corruption commonplace, and a brutal killer is terrorising young male prostitutes.
Unfortunately for Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, the psychological profiling of murderers is a practice still in its infancy, struggling to make headway against the prejudices of those who prefer the mentally ill - and the 'alienists' who treat them - to be out of sight as well as out of mind.
Over the years, I’ve lived and worked in the US, and I find it endlessly fascinating. With its mix of cultures, regional identities, and historical tensions, it often felt like several nations merged into one, forged initially against Britain with the help of France. Living there and reading extensively about its history gave me a personal perspective on the forces shaping the nation.
Researching the year 1865 around Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, I discovered far more than I expected, deepening my understanding of the era. I wanted to share a selection of American novels—works that influenced my thinking or mirror the historical mystery and adventure central to that period.
Set in antebellum New Orleans and Haiti during the 1830s, it follows Benjamin January, a free man of colour and physician-musician, as he investigates stolen treasure and family secrets.
Hambly masterfully intertwines political intrigue, racial tension, and personal courage, evoking the heat, music, and danger of the era. Her atmospheric prose and historical authenticity resonate strongly with the immersive storytelling I strive for in my own work.
Benjamin January is forced to travel to Haiti to seek his family’s lost treasure, in order to save everything he holds dear
When Jefferson Vitrack – the white half-brother of Benjamin January’s wife - turns up on January’s doorstep in the summer of 1838 claiming he has discovered a clue to the whereabouts of the family’s lost treasure, January has no hesitation about refusing to help look for it. For the treasure lies in Haiti, the island that was once France’s most profitable colony – until the blood-chilling repression practiced there by the whites upon their slaves triggered a savage…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Over the years, I’ve lived and worked in the US, and I find it endlessly fascinating. With its mix of cultures, regional identities, and historical tensions, it often felt like several nations merged into one, forged initially against Britain with the help of France. Living there and reading extensively about its history gave me a personal perspective on the forces shaping the nation.
Researching the year 1865 around Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, I discovered far more than I expected, deepening my understanding of the era. I wanted to share a selection of American novels—works that influenced my thinking or mirror the historical mystery and adventure central to that period.
Pearl reimagines Edgar Allan Poe’s final days. Set in mid-19th century Baltimore and Paris, young lawyer Quentin Clark becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind Poe’s mysterious death.
Pearl blends historical fact with fiction, capturing gothic tones and intellectual intrigue. The novel explores obsession, identity, and genius, rendered with meticulous period detail, echoing my book's major character’s global and investigative journeys.
Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who died a drunkard is accepted by all. But none of this deters Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who risks his own career and reputation in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe's.
Clark discovers that Poe's last days are riddled with vital unanswered questions. But just when Poe's death looks destined to remain a mystery, Quentin seeks out the one person who can solve this strange case: the real-life model for Poe's brilliant fictional detective character, C.…
I’ve been a fan of military history since I was an army officer in the 1970s. Military history is fascinating, dynamic, exciting—it deals with people on the edge of real-world circumstances making life-or-death decisions. Of all military history, the Revolutionary War in the South is my favorite. It has been blessed with the richest trove of intriguing stories. Southerners love a great tale, and the southern war has provided volumes of them. The Southern Campaign teemed with such larger-than-life characters as Banastre Tarleton, the British officer everyone loved to hate, as well as Francis Marion, the beloved Swamp Fox of legend. Anyone who enjoys a great story will love the lore of the southern war.
Who was Nathanael Greene? An excellent question, and one that has puzzled Americans since he took command of the southern army in 1780.
He was a man of intense contradictions. A lapsed Quaker from Rhode Island, his claim to fame had been as a staff officer to George Washington. Unused to command, he lost battles but conducted the most successful campaign in the war. How he did it is a tale for the ages, brilliantly brought to light in this book.
Golway covers the campaign’s strategy and battle tactics admirably, but there was much more. There are many legends of Greene. Lord Cornwallis, we are told, said Greene was as dangerous as Washington, and he never felt secure when camped near him.
My favorite story of Greene holds that when he arrived in Salisbury, North Carolina, in early 1781, exhausted and beaten, a local woman took pity on him and…
The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the American Revolution's crucial southern campaign and helped to set up the final victory of American independence at Yorktown
Nathanael Greene is a revolutionary hero who has been lost to history. Although places named in his honor dot city and country, few people know his quintessentially American story as a self-made, self-educated military genius who renounced his Quaker upbringing-horrifying his large family-to take up arms against the British. Untrained in military matters when he joined the Rhode Island militia in 1774, he quickly rose to become Washington's right-hand man and heir apparent.…
I was always interested in history but didn’t pay much attention to the American Revolution because I thought I knew the story. When I began to read more on the topic, I found it was far more complex and more interesting than I’d realized. Eventually I wanted to go beyond the standard storyline of Lexington-Concord-Bunker Hill-Washington’s road to victory at Yorktown. I started researching the Revolution, looking at original documents, including British materials that historians did not often consult. I found a treasure trove of fascinating stories and perspectives that I hadn’t been aware of. I’ve been researching and writing on the topic ever since.
After having read so much on George Washington and the Continental Army, I found this book on the British army to be a refreshing change as well as highly informative. I was impressed with how the author humanized British soldiers, challenging the stereotype that they were the dregs of British society who only fought because of the brutal discipline imposed on them by their officers.
Spring shows that most British soldiers were patriotic, skilled fighters who fought very well despite a host of hardships. They quickly adapted to American conditions and achieved much success in battle, even though they were usually outnumbered. I was pleased with the author’s perspective on a subject that hasn’t received much attention.
The image is indelible: densely packed lines of slow-moving Redcoats picked off by American sharpshooters. Now Matthew H. Spring reveals how British infantry in the American Revolutionary War really fought.
This groundbreaking book offers a new analysis of the British Army during the ""American rebellion"" at both operational and tactical levels. Presenting fresh insights into the speed of British tactical movements, Spring discloses how the system for training the army prior to 1775 was overhauled and adapted to the peculiar conditions confronting it in North America.
First scrutinizing such operational problems as logistics, manpower shortages, and poor intelligence, Spring then…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I’ve been a fan of military history since I was an army officer in the 1970s. Military history is fascinating, dynamic, exciting—it deals with people on the edge of real-world circumstances making life-or-death decisions. Of all military history, the Revolutionary War in the South is my favorite. It has been blessed with the richest trove of intriguing stories. Southerners love a great tale, and the southern war has provided volumes of them. The Southern Campaign teemed with such larger-than-life characters as Banastre Tarleton, the British officer everyone loved to hate, as well as Francis Marion, the beloved Swamp Fox of legend. Anyone who enjoys a great story will love the lore of the southern war.
In a world populated by official reports and officers’ memoirs, Babits and Howard dug into an untapped resource, the pension applications from the thousands of ordinary soldiers who had fought the battles.
In a flash, gone were the dry ponderings of commanders, lucky and unlucky, looking to resurrect or burnish their reputations. The soldiers fought the do-or-die moments on the front lines and told their stories just as they remembered them.
This book carries all the dash, the heroism, and the slug-in-the-gut terror of the men in the trenches. The authors are true wordsmiths of the old school.
I have read it a dozen times and still marvel at their storytelling.
This is the first book-length study of one of the Revolutionary War's most important battles. On March 15, 1781, the armies of Nathanael Greene and Lord Charles Cornwallis fought one of the bloodiest and most intense engagements of the American Revolution at the Guilford Courthouse in piedmont North Carolina. Although victorious, Cornwallis declared the conquest of the Carolinas impossible. He made the fateful decision to march into Virginia, eventually leading his army to the Yorktown surrender and clearing the way for American independence.In the first book-length examination of the Guilford Courthouse engagement, Lawrence Babits and Joshua Howard - drawing from…
I chose this focus because it fulfills one of my main goals of writing—to empower young readers by showing how what they do matters. Even the simplest actions can have huge consequences, no matter what someone’s age is. Whether someone saves another person’s life, like Allen Jay did, or stand up to a bully, doing what’s right makes a difference. Also, I like to right children into history so they understand that they’ve always played a key role in bettering this world.
Most people learn in school about Paul Revere’s ride in 1775 to warn colonists that British soldiers were coming to attack them. But few learn about the 16-year-old girl who made a similar run to gather militia for a surprise attack. Sybil supposedly rode alone at night about 40 miles in pouring rain, ultimately gathering 400 men to battle the British soldiers. She rode farther than Paul Revere in worse weather, and didn’t get captured as he did. This ordinary teenager, Sybil, was able to complete an ordinary feat.
On a dark, cold, and rainy night in April 1777, Sybil Ludington sets out on a journey to warn American soldiers that danger is headed their way. The British are coming! They have already attacked a nearby town, and it is up to sixteen-year-old Sybil to make sure that she reaches the American soldiers before the British do. With only a large stick to defend herself, and her horse, Star, for company, Sybil rides off into the perilous night and changes the course of the American Revolution. The true story of Sybil's bravery and perseverance are faithfully related by Marsha…
I’ve been a history nut since junior high trips to prehistoric Indian Mounds in Ohio. I transcribed an early town settler’s diary as a high school project. Traveling with my Air Force hubby gave me a window into faraway places. Allan Eckert’s narrative history of pioneer times grabbed my imagination. My children would love these gripping tales of settler versus Shawnee, yet they’d never crack the two-inch thick volume. I tried writing historical fiction on their level by bringing a young protagonist into the story. I had no idea I’d follow that first book with eight more, delving into the history of various famous Ohioans.
Paul Revere’s name is famous, but I loved how this book made his home life real. Sarah, the middle child in a large family, reflects the whispering, the suspicions, and the taking sides among their friends as the British take over Boston. Sarah fears for her father when he begins to ride to warn nearby towns; now he’s a marked man. More than the history, Sarah’s regret at waiting too long to make up with a dear friend warns modern readers to learn from her.
Thirteen-year-old Sarah Revere knows her father is a hero. But she also knows that Paul Revere guards a secret about the start of the Revolutionary War that he'll tell no one--not his new wife, not his best friend, not even his trusted daughter. It seems everyone in her family has secrets. Sarah's even got one of her own--and it's tearing her apart. Reader's guide included.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I love history as did my mother and her family. I am English by birth and, so, it is English history I am most interested in. To know who you are and where you are from is, to me, very important. At school history was the subject I excelled at. In my mature years I worked as a Business Unit Manager at a University and took history papers for amusement, but I never continued with a degree as BA papers were too basic and an MA and PhD too expensive. I did, however, write academic peer-reviewed papers that were published.
Being British I dislike reading books where we come off second best. The American Revolution (more accurately, The Anglo-American Civil War) is a classic example. Much of my, and I suspect most people’s view of the war, comes from American films and TV programmes. So, why did I read The Fort? Well I love Bernard Cornwell’s style of writing: he manages to bring a lot of background information and knowledge without you noticing what he has done.
The Fort is about American incompetence during said war and shows just how much of their written history is, in fact, inaccurate legend.
Reading it led me to buy and read textbooks about the war and learn just what it was all about and just how wrong American propaganda on the topic is.
The Penobscot Expedition is an extraordinary story, one that has fascinated the author for years, and will now fascinate his readers. Summer 1779, a British force of fewer than one thousand Scottish infantry were sent to build a garrison in the State of Maine. The war of Independence was in its third year and no other British troops stood between Canada and New York. The State of Massachusetts was determined to expel the British, but when they sent a fleet of forty vessels to 'captivate, kill and destroy' they underestimated their enemies, calm in battle and ready for victory. Told…
