Barbara W. Tuchman (January 30, 1912 - 1989) was an historian and author. She wrote literally popular history, selling millions of copies. Her clear, dramatic storytelling gave her surveys of the 14th century, World War I and the Fin De Siecle, the last being the interest of a novel of hers.
A homemaker writing in her own home, Tuchman was an unlikely author of books that continue to be more popular than the classics of the field. Inventing the Middle Ages[?] by Norman Cantor[?], a history of medieval historians, describes her context or lack there of.
Her works include:
A Distant Mirror[?]: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century, an overview of 14th Century medieval Europe. A good place to start.
The Guns of August[?] covers the breaking out of World War I. The book that established her reputation.