Everything I've read by Kurlansky has been awesome. Big fan of the thematic history genre. Simply great stuff. Gives adequate scope for authors to connect various dots without going all dry or embellishment.
Having studied (and written) histories myself, this sounds like an accurate description of histories in general. We don't need to make everything an encyclopedia. Sometimes it's fun to follow a conversational review of a breadth of material without getting in to the weeds. Kurlansky often includes personal anecdotes and has a good sense of where to dwell. This is what I appreciate in a writer: character and tact.
The same can be said for, well, 101-level class attendees.
People love to declare themselves experts on things; thus: the Expert Fallacy ("I know a lot about repairing carburators; let me tell you what is wrong with self-driving cars...")
