What is the best history book you have ever read?

LX200GPS

Yes, agree. Another couple of Bryson books I think you would like are Notes From A Small Island and One Summer.

shodan

I'm very slowly chewing my way through The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn.
Fascinating, informative, terrifying.

The Greyhound

Another vote for Stalingrad by Antony Beevor, great book.
Edward Rutherfurd is a good historical author too, he takes you on a journey through the ages. His book, New York was good, he does of course mix both fact & fiction.