Okay, great, thanks mods ( and a gut voch!) :).
Goq: I was a bit small and only beginning to develop my memories at the time but yes, I do know what a hanging chad is.
…
I learned it in AP US History. (Badadadum.)
(Have I made you feel old yet? 🙂 )
If you do want something further back, I like David McCullough’s biographies (such as Truman and John Adams) as well as Walter Isaacson’s biography of Einstein (also his Steve Jobs one, but you said you wanted to go back a bit further…)
I also like The Siege by Conor Cruise O’Brien, a nice and balanced account of the rise of Zionism and the State of Israel, if only for the introduction, in which the author tells about his experience as a delegate to the United Nations from Ireland, sitting between the delegates from Iran and Israel. A bit drier than the others but still fascinating.
Not dry at all: The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner lived up to all the hype I heard about it. Very interesting account- it’s more about Avner (and his obsession with Begin) than it is a mini-bio of the prime ministers, but his perspective as part of their governments is still worth reading.