The Pursuit of Glory: The Five Revolutions that Made Modern Europe: 1648-1815 (The Penguin History of Europe). European history from the end of the Thirty Years' War to Waterloo. Great stuff.
Don John of Austria - the life of one of the most romantic European heroes that nobody's ever heard of. Victor of the Battle of Lepanto, Philip II of Spain's beloved illegitimate little brother, ridiculous swashbuckling. Unbelievable historical connections to practically everyone important in the 16th century.
Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax. One-half hour before the end of WWI, a French General ordered an offensive. The men (who knew about the armistice) had to go anyway, including a detachment of Americans under his command. Imagine surviving four years in the mud and gas and rats of the trenches and having to make a useless attack into the machine guns thirty minutes before the peace. This one will make your blood boil.
Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America - research for a book Publius and I are finishing about the Federalist Papers. This one's about how the war redirected the lives of the men and women involved.
Thanks for the ping. “Revolutionaries” is on the way to me from Amazon.