Wellington – the Years of the Sword (Elizabeth Longford)

Biography through Waterloo.  The lines at Torres.

MiddleMarch (George Eliot, 1871-72 (serialised))

As best I can tell - deservedly on various lists of the best novels in English literature.

Main story involves Dorothea - something of a do-gooder - drops the fiance folks that she would marry (with every expectation of a good match) to marry a middle-aged, not-robust scholar (Casaubon) who she thought was involved in a great work, and she thought it would be great to be his assistant.  This didn't work out so well.  There were a few other story lines as well, quite a few characters.

Would be worth a re-read.

Tomorrow's Gold (Marc Faber)

Economist reviewing history, recommending commodities Asia.  Not very interesting.

The Tsar's Last Armada (Constantine Pleshakov)

Battle of Tsushima, 1905.  Russian unpreparedness.  Consequences for Russian politics.

Empire - How Spain Became a World Power (1492-1763) (Henry Kamen)

Per title

The Victorians (A. N. Wilson)

Victorian era - I like Wilson's writing.

The Origins of American Slavery (Betty Wood)

Role of English colonies in slave trade.

Victory: An Island Tale (Joseph Conrad, 1915)

European businessman living in Indonesia travels to a town on some island to do whatever business; saves a girl (playing in the hotel band) from an attacker and takes her back to the island where he lives; they fall in love.  The attacker seeks revenge, including via sending three guys to the protagonist's island to kill him. 

The Bridge at No Gun Ri (Charles Hanley et al)

Difficult situation in Korean War.

A Brilliant Solution (Carol Berkin)

Constitutional convention.  The Constitution as written is a marvel.

August 1914 (Alexander Solzenitsyn)

Battle of Tannenbaum.  Solzenitsyn writes wonderfully.

Lords of the Horizons (Jason Goodwin)

Introductory re Ottoman Empire.

Hard Times (Charles Dickens, 1854)

Charles Gradgrind insisting on "facts" to his children; Josiah Banderby exposed. 

Hirohito and the making of modern Japan (Herbert Bix)

Biography.  Ordinary person; treated as divine; surrender message; cooperation with Allies; relationship with MacArthur.

The First Salute: A View of the America Revolution (Barbara Tuchman, 1988)

Saint Eustatius was a Dutch-held island somewhere in the Caribbean; it was a place where the American colonies were able to purchase arms for their struggle against Britain.  Tuchman writes about a November 1776 incident where somebody in charge at S.E. fired a cannon in salute to an American vessel - this was the first international acknowledgment of the independence of the United States.

Among other consequences:  Britain was quite displeased, leading to problems for the Netherlands (including a temporary takeover of S.E.)