Good Non-Fiction Books?

You might like either "Starvation Heights" or/and "Charlatan".

Both are crime/history/health books!

I also like the books by Mary Roach, especially "Stiff - The Curious Life of Cadavers" wich is history/health/science.

"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

"The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece"
by Jonathan Harr

"In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick

"Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans" by Jed Horne

"Quicksands" by Sybille Bedford

"Forbidden Archeology" by Michael Cremo(sp?)

one of the most fascinating books that I have ever read

Crime, History, Food..

Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb

also liked his Death in Brazil, more reporting on history (including fairly current) with an interweaving of various crimes, and food.

"I Was Vermeer" by Frank Wynne. Its the story of Han van Meegeren, who was very good at being a forger of Vermeer's early style of painting (his religious scenes). He was so good, in fact, that he was able to sell works to Hermann Goerin. So, after the war, van Meegeren was brought up on charges in front of the Nuremburg Tribunals as a Nazi collaborator who was charged with selling Dutch National treasures to the NAzis. His only defense was to paint a fake Vermeer to try to save his own life. He was a fascinating guy and a very accomplished draftsman who exposed the art critics of Europe as a bunch of incompetents.

Theres a couple more like "Hoax", and the life of Otto Wacker. about accomplished art forgers.

"I Was Vermeer" by Frank Wynne. Its the story of Han van Meegeren, who was very good at being a forger of Vermeer's early style of painting (his religious scenes). He was so good, in fact, that he was able to sell works to Hermann Goerin. So, after the war, van Meegeren was brought up on charges in front of the Nuremburg Tribunals as a Nazi collaborator who was charged with selling Dutch National treasures to the NAzis. His only defense was to paint a fake Vermeer to try to save his own life. He was a fascinating guy and a very accomplished draftsman who exposed the art critics of Europe as a bunch of incompetents.

Theres a couple more like "Hoax", and the life of Otto Wacker. about accomplished art forgers.

AS my mom stated
"In the old days everybody just dropped dead. Today they want to know why"

Well they would wouldn't they?

Once it ceases to be the will of God it has to be somebody's fault and if it's somebody's fault the relatives have a case and cases are why the legal profession thrives on and they comport themselves accordingly.

It's either God or lawyers in the final analysis. Or the Blood against the Money as Spengler has it.

There's a good book jessica; The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler.

I like the sound of farmerman's book although it might contain some grisly scenes. He likes a bit of grisly does fm.

You could try Michael Holroyd's 4 volume biography of George Bernard Shaw. There a "real love" subtext as well.

And Richard Ellmann anything but especially his James Joyce and Oscar Wilde biogs.

Follow the leads in them and you have a lifetimes interest.