by Charles Oman
Recommended by Paul Graham and Sam Altman
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See customer reviews on Amazon →Recommended by 4 sources and appears in Books Recommended by Paul Graham, Most Recommended Books, and History.
Masterhistorian Charles Oman tells the story of the evolution of military combat from the end of the Roman Empire through the Dark Ages and into the Middle Ages. Oman's beautiful prose captures the tactically complexity and the emotional horror of war in the Middle Ages. Richly illustrated throughout to enhance the reading experience. Contents inc...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 4 sources and appears in Books Recommended by Paul Graham, Most Recommended Books, and History.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.

Paul Graham
Co-founder of Y Combinator; essayist
“Q: What should I read to learn more about history PG: Here are the most exciting ones I can think of.”
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Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.