Best History Books
Looking for good history books to read? This is my recommended list of the best history books of all-time. Go ahead and check them out.
Top History Book List
> One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?... Find out more about this book >>
> Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples... Find out more about this book >>
A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age
> From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose, and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth-the dense explosion of energy that spawned some of history's greatest poets, philosophers, painters, adventurers, and reformers, as well as some of its most spectacular villains- the Renaissance.... Find out more about this book >>
The History of The Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome is about the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history... Find out more about this book >>
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
> In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying eighteen emaciated men.
> During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle... Find out more about this book >>
The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
> In this book, Thomas Asbridge covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, readable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.
> From Richard the Lionheart to the mighty Saladin, from the emperors of Byzantium to the Knights Templar, Asbridge’s book is a magnificent epic of Holy War between the Christian and Islamic worlds, full of adventure, intrigue, and sweeping grandeur... Find out more about this book >>
> In this landmark, Pulitzer Prize–winning account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world... Find out more about this book >>
1491 by Charles C. Mann is groundbreaking study that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of the Europeans in 1492.... Find out more about this book >>
> Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is a powerful drama written with extraordinary narrative vitality.
> It is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the King’s men, the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known... Find out more about this book >>
> Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War... Find out more about this book >>