Cliometrics - noun, the use of statistical analysis to construct or present a historical argument. There are other options! A random scattering of my favorites follows, but I must caution that the reading I do as a grad student has definitely shaped my ideas of "good, well-written and engaging":

• Jeffrey Bolster, The Mortal Sea (2012). An account of the devastation caused by human fishing in the North Atlantic before we began collecting statistics in the late 1900s. Statistics are used, but very creatively.
• Shannon Lee Dawdy, Building the Devil's Empire (2009). As an alternative to statistical approaches to imperial history, Dawdy examines the material realities of life as revealed by archaeologists in colonial New Orleans.
• Robert Harms, The Diligent (2002). Another study that eschews statistical approaches, tracing the reality of a single voyage of the slave trade.
• Peter Brown, Cult of the Saints (1982). Brown rejects statistics-based studies of the Roman economic and social collapse and instead argues that much of the 'post-Roman' world is better understood in very Roman terms. A foundational work for early medieval scholars.

You should also check out the book list.

I hope some of those interest you! And regarding the Western Front, if you haven't read Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel or Henri Barbusse's Under Fire, they should be at the top of your list.

The History of Civilization by Will Durrant, 1936. Most engaging book I ever read of its kind.

We actually have a recommend book list which you can find in the sidebar.

Here is the direct link http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books

I imagine I'll get roundly mocked for this but I love those TV tie-in books. Time Team and Victorian/Edwardian etc Farm and the like. I like the short chunks of text and yes, the pictures too :) because my memory is awful and I just can't retain things from 'serious' history books.

Check out the books listed here: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1lo7q9/request_looking_for_history_books_that_read_like/

Re my comment on that thread--I've since read (on this thread EDIT: This subreddit, I meant) that Carthage Must Be Destroyed is not as accurate as it seems. I can now also recommend Empire of the Summer Moon firsthand.

Also, I'd add Robert Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers, a collection of biographies of the great economists.

The Last Pagan by Adrian Murdoch. About the life of Julian the Apostate. The book is relatively short and very readable, almost suspenseful. Julian's story is absolutely fascinating, had he lived and ruled for another 30 years, we might live in a very different world than we do now.. It also gives a good picture of the late Roman empire in its decline."

If you want to stick within WWII then read Neptune's inferno. A great book surrounding the naval campaign at Guadalcanal.

Or staying in a similar area I liked Let the Sea Make a Noise which is a grand history of the Pacific. The book is huge and cotains lots of awesome stuff.

I myself am looking for more books on the age of exploration, Cook and Vancouver, and those sorts of dudes.

Rocket Men by Craig Nelson

This is one of my favourite accounts of the Apollo program. (The audiobook version is terrifically narrated too!)

One representative example from the book goes something like this...

Nelson is describing the fact that the Gemini program had ejection seats installed, mostly as a response to the faulty hatch in Liberty Bell 7. Unfortunately, the standard ejection seats used were angled slightly, so that they would launch the astronauts straight into the ground if they had to eject before launch. The engineers looked at the problem, but ultimately found no solution that would really work.

In the end, they wound up tilling the field where the seats were pointed in order to 'fluff' up the ground a bit and make it softer.

Crazy. But in the words of the engineer quoted in the book: "What else could we do? No really what else could we do?"

Fascinating read overall.

Also not to be missed is Gunter Wendt's (aka the 'Pad Führer') lead pipe story. Which if you like, you can read Wendt's The Unbroken Chain, which is funny and interesting in its own right, but isn't as broad a view of the program overall.

Rebels Against the Future has always been one of my favorites about the Luddite revolt. It gives a great analysis and depiction of life at that time and the reasons for resisting the new technology of the industrial revolution.

I love all of Robert Massie's books on Russian history, from Peter the great to the Romonov's, he writes compellimg, animated books backed up with ample research. I highly recommend.

Agincourt by Juliet Barker, and Conquest - on the following Hundred Years War.

Have just finished both, and as well as being extremely readable, are filled with interesting facts and figures about 15th century life in England and France. Highly recommended.

Also Return of a King by William Dalrymple; superbly written book about 19th century Afghanistan. Best book I've read in a long time...

I think you are ready for a different type of history. Try Oral History. Studs Terkel did it best. I think his book on the Great Depression called Hard Times is best.

Oral History takes the history down to the individual level. Everyone's experience is common and different. I highly recommend his books as a supplement or as a stand alone from other readings because they are touching.

Give a whirl.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59651.Hard_Times?from_search=true

I think this question is a little too open-ended for this sub. Any of the books on our book list would be fine, or you could repost the question in our weekly "reading and sources" feature thread.

Guns, Germs and Steel.

Huge but fascinating read.