Books whose title is a specific year?

August 24, 2008 4:04 PM

Looking for popular history books whose title is or starts with a specific year - 1776, 1491, 69 A.D., etc. A subtitle after the year is fine, but the title needs to start with a specific date. Thanks!

London 1945 doesn't quite fit, since it doesn't start with a year, but something like The Year 1000 and April 1865 are borderline ok. So far I've found 1215, 1421, 1434, 1453, and 1700.

posted by mediareport to media & arts (28 comments total)

1421 the year china discovered the world, by Gavin Menzies.
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:11 PM on August 24, 2008

Oops, sorry - missed that you'd already got 1421.
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:12 PM on August 24, 2008

1968.
posted by jessamyn at 4:19 PM on August 24, 2008

To make up, I'll offer
1066 & All That (there's quite a few starting with 1066)
1939: Baseball's tipping point (sport history)
and
1914, a history of the British Expeditionary Force
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:20 PM on August 24, 2008

1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare
posted by little apollo at 4:21 PM on August 24, 2008

1920: The Year of Six Presidents and 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon, both by David Pietrusza. I've read the first one, a good read.
posted by TPIRman at 4:23 PM on August 24, 2008

1066 and All That.
posted by rodgerd at 4:24 PM on August 24, 2008

There's 1916 but it's not a very good book. Neither is its follow-up, 1921. See also 1916: The Easter Rising and so forth.
posted by jamesonandwater at 4:27 PM on August 24, 2008

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Very interesting book, too.
posted by librarina at 4:39 PM on August 24, 2008

2001: A Space Odyssey

what? 2001 was 7 years ago, it's history!
posted by jozxyqk at 4:46 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

historical fiction? 1919 by John Dos Passos is one of my favorite books
posted by jus7brea7he at 5:30 PM on August 24, 2008

These are great. Just nonfiction history, though, no fiction. Thanks again!
posted by mediareport at 5:42 PM on August 24, 2008

Masur, Louis P. 1831: Year of Eclipse. Hill and Wang, 2002.
posted by k8lin at 5:43 PM on August 24, 2008

1421 and 1434 are popular books, but they are not popular history books.
posted by Flunkie at 6:02 PM on August 24, 2008

1215: the Year of Magna Carta
posted by Zed_Lopez at 6:16 PM on August 24, 2008

1587: A Year of No Significance by Ray Huang on the decline of the Ming Dynasty is highly acclaimed (though I haven't read it myself yet).
posted by Abiezer at 7:21 PM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the pointer about the ridiculous nature of Menzies' books, Flunkie. I'd only seen the covers and never tried to find out more about them; good to know they're pure crap.
posted by mediareport at 7:53 PM on August 24, 2008

1688: A Global History
posted by kiltedtaco at 8:06 PM on August 24, 2008

I actually own a copy of 1421 (was a present) and it's quite an interesting read. It is however about as factual as a Dan Brown book.
posted by ArkhanJG at 11:43 PM on August 24, 2008

1848, 1848 again, 1791 and 1982
posted by TheRaven at 5:27 AM on August 25, 2008

1915: the Death of Innocence and 1898: the Birth of the American Century.
posted by marxchivist at 9:37 AM on August 25, 2008

1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs--The Election that Changed the Country
posted by fancypants at 10:10 AM on August 25, 2008

OK... here are some from my own bookshelves...

1066 - The Year of the Three Battles by Frank McLynn

1688 - A Global History by John E Willis

1914 by Lyn MacDonald

1915 - The Death of Innocence by Lyn MacDonald

War 1914 - Punishing the Serbs, Uncovered Edition

August 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn

Route 66AD - On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists by Tony Perrottet

1776 - America & Britain at War by David McCullough


And, at a push, you could include these:

Millennium by Felipe Fernandez-Armetso

The Year of Salamis by Peter Green


These are just what I have in the living room. I'm sure there are a great many more.
posted by Mephisto at 9:00 PM on August 25, 2008

Ah, nuts. Now I see you already had 1215. OK, 1973 Nervous Breakdown: Watergate, Warhol, and the Birth of Post-Sixties America, 1979: The Year that Shaped the Modern Middle East, 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World.

Mind if I ask why? 'cause they'd look cool next to each other as a chronological history of (select topics in) the world?
posted by Zed_Lopez at 8:25 AM on August 26, 2008

'cause they'd look cool next to each other as a chronological history of (select topics in) the world?

Yeah, it's a possible gift idea - a group of good history books that also look fun on the shelf together. I may do it in my own living room, too, if I can find enough that I want to read. :) Thanks for the additions to the list. I've found some others nosing around Amazon (I should have realized pretty much every year of WW's I and II would work); I'll keep looking and post whatever else I find here.
posted by mediareport at 3:38 PM on August 26, 2008

April 1865 by Jay Winik. I really liked it.
posted by lilac girl at 8:07 PM on August 26, 2008

Rats! Shows me for skimming the thread. Sorry.
posted by lilac girl at 8:09 PM on August 26, 2008

1942 : Australia's Greatest Peril by Bob Wurth
posted by goshling at 7:02 PM on August 28, 2008