The Five Greatest Books according to Ferguson

Niall Ferguson is a historian who challenges history mainstream. His point is that in WWI the guilty was not Germany. What would have happened if events were to develop differently in 1914? His answer: Europe would have not known either Communism or Fascism. His best-known book, The War of the World, tries to follow some scenarios: what if Great Britain had stayed out of the First War World? Would the conflict have remained local? Would the outcome have been quick and very limited?

Well, one should read the book to see his arguments.

Niall Ferguson gave in today's Newsweek his top list of books and authors:

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: the book that, more than any other, persuaded him to be a historian (splendid way to understand your love for a book)
2. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon: the greatest achievement of historical writing; the irony of Gibbon's prose is the literary equivalent of Turkish Delight (as a Romanian I would say that the comparison is double-edged - two different languages lead sometimes to huge differences of meaning for the same word)
3. Diaries by Viktor Klemperer: a unique view of the Third Reich and Holocaust from the view of a German-Jewish academic (I think that Niall Ferguson views the Holocaust very much the way Zygmunt Bauman does - not a temporary regression of civilization; rather the outcome of a modern perfect organized society)
4. Gold and Iron by Fritz Stern: a masterpiece of scholarship; it sheds light on the relationship between Bismarck and his banker (let's note here Mr. Ferguson's focus on economy and finances as essential dimensions for history)
5. At Swim-Two Birds by Flann O'Brien: the book that has made him laugh the most.

(A Life in Books)

(Zygmunt Bauman)