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Best History Books
Proper nonfiction history books, not historical fiction, about any period, event, area or topic you like. Just well-written, well-researched, informative and interesting books for historians, history students and history enthusiasts. I didn't mean this to be a list of pop history, but I think it's too late now, so you might as well go ahead.
See also:
Best History Books
Best Non fiction American History Books
Best Non fiction War Books
Best Popular History Books on Goodreads
History By Year:
2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
See also:
Best History Books
Best Non fiction American History Books
Best Non fiction War Books
Best Popular History Books on Goodreads
History By Year:
2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 799 |
|
The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities
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4.15 avg rating — 1,167 ratings
score: 196,
and
2 people voted
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| 799 |
|
A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present
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3.84 avg rating — 480 ratings
score: 196,
and
2 people voted
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| 799 |
|
جاسوس من أجل لا أحد: ستة عشر عامًا في المخابرات
by
Basel Saneeb (Goodreads Author)
4.05 avg rating — 65 ratings
score: 196,
and
2 people voted
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| 804 |
|
Bolsheviks: The Intellectual & Political History of the Triumph of Communism in Russia
by
3.83 avg rating — 100 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
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| 804 |
|
Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917
by
3.98 avg rating — 1,185 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
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| 804 |
|
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940
by
4.27 avg rating — 3,402 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 804 |
|
The Honourable Company: a History of the English East India Company
by
3.74 avg rating — 665 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
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| 804 |
|
Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
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4.10 avg rating — 3,938 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
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| 804 |
|
The Idea of History
by
3.95 avg rating — 703 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
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| 804 |
|
Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition
by
Buddy Levy (Goodreads Author)
4.47 avg rating — 3,585 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 804 |
|
Conspiracy U: A Case Study
by
Scott A. Shay (Goodreads Author)
4.43 avg rating — 30 ratings
score: 195,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 812 |
|
Ironclad: The Monitor & the Merrimack
by
Arthur Mokin (Goodreads Author)
3.88 avg rating — 50 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
Our Bones Are Scattered: The Cawnpore Massacres and The Indian Mutiny Of 1857
by
4.15 avg rating — 105 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
America's Christian History: The Untold Story
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4.15 avg rating — 110 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield
by
Kenneth D. Ackerman (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 2,940 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by
4.30 avg rating — 3,093 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty
by
Dan Jones (Goodreads Author)
4.03 avg rating — 2,817 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 812 |
|
Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story
by
3.81 avg rating — 1,783 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776
by
4.17 avg rating — 1,307 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
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| 812 |
|
The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs
by
4.58 avg rating — 140 ratings
score: 194,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 821 |
|
Pontifex Maximus: A Short History of the Popes
by
Christopher Lascelles (Goodreads Author)
3.92 avg rating — 132 ratings
score: 193,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 821 |
|
Empire of Cotton: A Global History
by
3.89 avg rating — 3,621 ratings
score: 193,
and
2 people voted
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| 821 |
|
The Gnostic Gospels
by
3.94 avg rating — 19,513 ratings
score: 193,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 824 |
|
The Fate of the Romanovs
by
4.09 avg rating — 898 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 824 |
|
Common Sense and Other Writings
by
3.92 avg rating — 11,184 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 824 |
|
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 1: The Middle Ages through the Restoration & the Eighteenth Century
by
M.H. Abrams (Founding Editor)
4.21 avg rating — 9,187 ratings
score: 192,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 824 |
|
The Red Fighter Pilot
by
3.92 avg rating — 1,172 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
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| 824 |
|
A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
by
4.12 avg rating — 6,574 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
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| 824 |
|
The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy
by
David E. Hoffman (Goodreads Author)
4.15 avg rating — 5,468 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
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| 824 |
|
Documents on the Rape of Nanking
by
Timothy Brook (Editor)
4.57 avg rating — 108 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 824 |
|
The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649 - 1815
by
4.33 avg rating — 446 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
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| 824 |
|
Showa 1926-1939: A History of Japan
by
4.27 avg rating — 2,805 ratings
score: 192,
and
2 people voted
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| 833 |
|
The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America, ca. A.D. 1000-1500
by
4.13 avg rating — 45 ratings
score: 191,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 833 |
|
Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
by
William Blum (Goodreads Author)
3.97 avg rating — 915 ratings
score: 191,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 835 |
|
Blind Ambition: The White House Years
by
4.03 avg rating — 1,773 ratings
score: 190,
and
3 people voted
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| 835 |
|
Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers
by
3.99 avg rating — 88 ratings
score: 190,
and
2 people voted
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| 835 |
|
The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
by
3.97 avg rating — 1,073 ratings
score: 190,
and
2 people voted
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| 835 |
|
The Invasion of Canada: 1812-1813
by
4.13 avg rating — 887 ratings
score: 190,
and
3 people voted
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| 835 |
|
For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War
by
3.92 avg rating — 302 ratings
score: 190,
and
2 people voted
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| 835 |
|
...And Sometimes The Bear Eats You: Tempting Fate on a Magic Carpet: A Helicopter Pilot's Odyssey in Alaska
by
4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings
score: 190,
and
2 people voted
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| 835 |
|
The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington
by
Brad Meltzer (Goodreads Author)
3.81 avg rating — 13,689 ratings
score: 190,
and
2 people voted
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| 835 |
|
The World of Yesterday
by
4.51 avg rating — 27,985 ratings
score: 190,
and
2 people voted
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| 843 |
|
Capture the Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism
by
3.81 avg rating — 27 ratings
score: 189,
and
2 people voted
|
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| 843 |
|
Den oövervinnerlige: om den svenska stormaktstiden och en man i dess mitt
by
4.23 avg rating — 258 ratings
score: 189,
and
2 people voted
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| 843 |
|
Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy
by
3.72 avg rating — 3,573 ratings
score: 189,
and
3 people voted
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| 843 |
|
Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family
by
4.30 avg rating — 66,261 ratings
score: 189,
and
3 people voted
|
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| 847 |
|
Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz
by
4.01 avg rating — 3,988 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 847 |
|
Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered
by
4.22 avg rating — 93 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 847 |
|
Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas
by
4.24 avg rating — 1,531 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 847 |
|
The World Rushed in: The California Gold Rush Experience
by
4.17 avg rating — 197 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 847 |
|
A Woman of Egypt
by
4.19 avg rating — 405 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 847 |
|
The Mis-Education of the Negro
by
4.49 avg rating — 10,013 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 847 |
|
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
by
4.52 avg rating — 84,502 ratings
score: 188,
and
3 people voted
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| 854 |
|
The Age of Reagan: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order, 1964-1980
by
4.31 avg rating — 247 ratings
score: 187,
and
2 people voted
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| 854 |
|
The Prophet Unarmed: Trotsky, 1921-1929
by
4.42 avg rating — 557 ratings
score: 187,
and
2 people voted
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| 854 |
|
Contra Armada: la mayor catástrofe naval de la historia de Inglaterra
by
4.50 avg rating — 56 ratings
score: 187,
and
2 people voted
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| 854 |
|
U.S. Constitution (Saddlewire) (Books of American Wisdom)
by
4.52 avg rating — 27,077 ratings
score: 187,
and
3 people voted
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| 858 |
|
Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837
by
3.96 avg rating — 772 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 858 |
|
A Train in Winter (The Resistance #1)
by
3.85 avg rating — 8,731 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 858 |
|
In the Shadow of the Temple: The Discovery of Ancient Jerusalem
by
4.12 avg rating — 8 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 858 |
|
Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States
by
4.03 avg rating — 2,058 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 858 |
|
Breaking the Silence
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3.87 avg rating — 15 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 858 |
|
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
by
4.55 avg rating — 9,939 ratings
score: 186,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
Chickenhawk: Back in the World: Life After Vietnam
by
Robert Mason (Goodreads Author)
4.22 avg rating — 497 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe
by
3.94 avg rating — 435 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
The King's Trial: Louis XVI vs. the French Revolution
by
3.85 avg rating — 94 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution: 1980-1989
by
4.11 avg rating — 228 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties
by
3.75 avg rating — 978 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918
by
Edward G. Lengel (Goodreads Author)
4.13 avg rating — 266 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century
by
4.30 avg rating — 1,138 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness
by
Joel Gold (Goodreads Author)
3.76 avg rating — 487 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 864 |
|
No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam
by
4.12 avg rating — 28,503 ratings
score: 185,
and
2 people voted
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| 873 |
|
Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe
by
3.80 avg rating — 4,639 ratings
score: 184,
and
2 people voted
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| 873 |
|
The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences
by
4.12 avg rating — 9,521 ratings
score: 184,
and
2 people voted
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| 875 |
|
Your Money or Your Life: Economy and Religion in the Middle Ages
by
3.84 avg rating — 393 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 875 |
|
A Wicked Company: The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment
by
4.11 avg rating — 740 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 875 |
|
Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture
by
Ann Spangler (Goodreads Author)
4.31 avg rating — 1,989 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 875 |
|
Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity
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4.07 avg rating — 1,115 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 875 |
|
The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan
by
4.04 avg rating — 941 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 875 |
|
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II
by
William Blum (Goodreads Author)
4.26 avg rating — 2,023 ratings
score: 183,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s
by
4.17 avg rating — 602 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
The Russian Revolution
by
4.06 avg rating — 923 ratings
score: 182,
and
4 people voted
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| 881 |
|
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
by
3.74 avg rating — 14,511 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
Like Hidden Fire: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire
by
4.26 avg rating — 794 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
How to Survive the Titanic: or, The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay
by
3.48 avg rating — 832 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
The King's War
by
4.18 avg rating — 146 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
The Age of Voltaire (The Story of Civilization, #9)
by
4.42 avg rating — 964 ratings
score: 182,
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2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War
by
3.94 avg rating — 648 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 881 |
|
Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
by
4.28 avg rating — 11,550 ratings
score: 182,
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3 people voted
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| 881 |
|
The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
by
3.74 avg rating — 2,045 ratings
score: 182,
and
2 people voted
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| 891 |
|
Trial by Fire: The Hundred Years War, Volume 2
by
4.54 avg rating — 345 ratings
score: 181,
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2 people voted
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| 891 |
|
The Story of the Titanic As Told by Its Survivors
by
Jack Winocour (Editor)
4.17 avg rating — 877 ratings
score: 181,
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2 people voted
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| 891 |
|
City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920
by
3.93 avg rating — 225 ratings
score: 181,
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2 people voted
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| 891 |
|
Kings, Queens, Bones & Bastards: Who's Who in the English Monarchy from Egbert to Elizabeth II
by
3.88 avg rating — 481 ratings
score: 181,
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2 people voted
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| 891 |
|
The Prophet Outcast: Trotsky, 1929-1940
by
4.36 avg rating — 500 ratings
score: 181,
and
2 people voted
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Poltava: Berättelsen om en armés undergång
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One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon
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The History of Hip Hop: Volume One
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Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics
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Tags:
17th-century-history, 18th-century-history, 19th-century-history, 20th-century-history, 21st-century-history, aboriginal, aboriginal-history, academic, african-american, african-american-history, african-american-studies, afro-american-studies, america, american, american-history, american-politics, american-president, american-presidents, american-revolution, american-revolution-history, american-revolutionary-war, american-studies, american-war-of-independence, autobiographies, autobiography, biographies, biography, black-american, black-history, british-history, colonial-america, colonial-history, early-american-republic, european-history, first-nations, first-nations-history, founder, founders, founding-family, founding-father, founding-fathers, french-revolution, history, history-american, indigeneity, indigenous, indigenous-history, medieval, memoir, memoirs, middle-ages, native-american, native-american-history, non-fiction, political-history, political-science, politics, president, presidents, revolution, u-k-history, u-s-history, u-s-politics, uk-history, united-states, united-states-history, united-states-politics, united-states-president, united-states-presidents, us-history, us-politics, us-president, us-presidents, usa, war-of-independence, women, womens-history, womens-studies
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 75 (75 new)
message 1:
by
Abi
(last edited Apr 24, 2010 02:41AM)
(new)
Feb 13, 2009 03:40AM
I really wish I could disqualify anything that has the words 'epic story' in the title. Great history books make an argument based on an interpretation of the past; a history book that just tells you a story has a seriously limited value.
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I cant seem to add books to the list but could I suggest A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich.
I went ahead and did disqualify a couple of works of fiction. But really, I don't think the "epic story" label should eliminate a work from consideration. You could start with Herodotus and Thucydides whose work is undeniably epic, but also epochal, in that we would have no history without them. Serious history has scholarly obligations, but it has artistic ones as well. If the matter isn't interesting, then ultimately no one is going to care about the footnotes or the argument.
Water for Elephants is most emphatically not a work of history.
Removed for being fiction:Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
I am of two minds about The Devils of Loudun, so I left it.
The Devils of Loudun is really not a novel, despite Huxley's reputation as a novelist. It is as "literary" as Barbara Tuchman. If you are thinking of the dreadful Ken Russell film based on the book, all I can say is, please don't.
Adding "Benedict Arnold's Navy" by James Nelson.Had it not been for Horatio Gates, who stole Arnold's genius at Saratoga and threw him to the wolves causing Arnold to "turn coat", Benedict Arnold could quite possibly been a greater American Hero than George Washington.
This book is of Benedict Arnolds building of a small fleet in the harbor of Skenesborough (modern day Whitehall, NY) to sail north and interdict the British fleet arriving via the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Richelieu river.
The ensuing "Battle of Valcour Island" is considered to be the very first naval engagement by the American Navy.
All of the Edward Rutherfurd books on the list (Sarum, London, Russka, New York) are novels. If you include them, you have to open the field to Michener.
I was only able to find Russka. I have deleted it. Cheers.
I found the others, on page 3. I'll delete them.ETA: Also removed "The Great Indian Novel." Because it, too, is a novel.
Too much american history.You're not the world y'know ?
You could, of course, add works about non-American history to the list.
Removed: The Killer Angels - a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
Removed for being novels:Midwives, by Chris Bohjalian
Chesapeake, by James A. Michener
Removed for being poetry:
The Ballad of the White Horse, by G.K. Chesterton
You could add him. It's easy to add books to lists; at the top of the page, at the tab next to "all votes."
David & Russ - any clue as to what book "Unknown Book 9379560" is at No. 147 on this list? You were the ones who voted for it.
The list is a little ethnocentric. Just a thought...if you know of a good book that is also the history of women, or Native Americans, or any other underrepresented group, you may want to add it. I added a few, but it could still use some rounding out.
D. wrote: "The Guns of August is a great, great book...but it is HISTORICAL FICTION. It is strong, well-researched historical fiction, but it is fiction This list is supposed to be strictly nonfiction."It is most certainly not historical fiction. What is your evidence that it is?
It won the Pulitzer for "general nonfiction."
Removed, for being novels:Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield
The Pale Criminal, by Philip Carr
Queen Margot, by Alexandre Dumas
A Philosophical Investigation, by Philip Kerr
Oh, it's a great book. It really does "read like a novel."
Revisited Feb 10 and asked the system to find duplicates, because I spotted one (Sherman's memoirs). The system found and removed 5 duplicates.I sympathize with the person who pointed out there is too much American history here. I went back and found some good books I had read (primarily Russian Revolution and Cuba) and added those; I can't reasonably add anything I haven't read, but have added some "want to reads" from the wider world.
Removed, for being novels:One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Quo Vadis
The Death of Ivan Ilych
Prince of the Atlantic: An Epic Novel Based on the True Exploits of Captain Luke Ryan Irish Swashbuckler & American Patriot Benjamin Franklin's Most Dangerous Privateer
And this is one of the times when I wish I had more than 100 votes!
I admire your fantastic library of golden books. Thank you.
I only had a hundred books I could add!
Wow, so many great sounding books that I've missed. Might have to read John Adams now, since it's at the top of the list. How about a history book that was just "fun" to read? Like "One of a Kind" about Stu Ungar, or "Vegas and the Mob," about, well, Las Vegas? Or are those too low-brow to admit at guilty pleasures?
Ron wrote: "Wow, so many great sounding books that I've missed. Might have to read John Adams now, since it's at the top of the list. How about a history book that was just "fun" to read? Like "One of a Kind" ..."Not familiar with these, but in order to qualify as history books, they must refer to a period at least 50 years before the publication date...at least I think so. Susanna CBG would know for sure.
I'm having a terrible time whittling my choices down to 100!
I wish I could pull books OFF this list. How about anything by Joseph Ellis is on this list is beyond me.
Socraticgadfly wrote: "I wish I could pull books OFF this list. How about anything by Joseph Ellis is on this list is beyond me."Exactly how I feel when I see Gone With the Wind as "best" historical fiction, when it is myth, and not even benign myth. But on the other hand, the First Amendment right to say what books we like is even more critical.
You don't give any reason for writing that Joseph Ellis shouldn't be on the list. At least one historian places him among the five best historywriters today (http://practicallyhistorical.net/2011...)
A New Age Now Begins: A People's History of the American Revolution, Vol 1\This 8 volume set written as a popular history is essential to understand the continuity of the development of the United States. This history is readable, does not focus on politics, politicians or generals and warfare. Rather all the above are included as they apply to the social fabric, and cultural development that caused America to become what it has. Here you will understand why normal people did what they did and the events that impacted peoples lives for good or evil. This set can be collected for about $8 or less per volume in used book stores. If you have any interest in history find any volume in a library and read a chapter.
Cameron wrote: "Siddhartha, being a novel, should be removed."Open ended listopia such as this one rely largely upon volunteer librarians, such as myself. If a title is misplaced on this list and you want to see it removed, please indicate on what page of the list you found it. This is a very long list, and I can't see scrolling through 18+ pages searching for 1 book, but I will zap it if I know where it is. Thanks.
page 2 Neil Shubin Your Inner Fish is not a history book. The only way that it is historical is if broad-stroke paleontology can be classified as historical
Whats wrong with novels? My interest in history started from The Other Boleyn Girl that is pretty much fiction. I wanted to know how the real story went, and the rest is "history". Recently I went to Amsterdam. As usual, before I have read few books about history of Netherlands. Some were unnecessary long and boring. In between I read The Coffee Trader, a novel, intertaining and very close to reality.So, whatever gets you going. Besides, the author disclaims in the book what is fiction and whats not.
Irina wrote: "Whats wrong with novels? My interest in history started from The Other Boleyn Girl that is pretty much fiction. I wanted to know how the real story went, and the rest is "history". Recently I went ..."Nothing is wrong with novels, but a fictional story set during an historic period is classified as historical fiction. There are a number of listopias for that genre. There are also some mixed listopias that include both history and historical fiction; the first that comes to mind is the American Civil War listopia, where both genres are welcome.
The listmaker determines the parameters, and by definition a history book is nonfiction. The subscript below the title specifies no historical fiction, so it's as clear as a bell.
If you dislike the listmaker's parameters, you are also free to start a new list, but it's best to check and make sure (using the search bar for listopias) that the list you want to vote on doesn't already exist.
Jonas wrote: "page 2 Neil Shubin Your Inner Fish is not a history book. The only way that it is historical is if broad-stroke paleontology can be classified as historical"History is defined as beginning when there is written language, so no, it's not historical.
Removed for genre reasons from page 3:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The system found and removed 14 duplicates.
Dear Donna, goodreads is not University History department recommended reading, it's for people who like reading. How about Herodotus Histories? It is a history book, however I quote from experts "is bedevilled with the questions that still haunt it today concerning the relationship between truth and storytelling, SUBJECTIVE witnessing and objective record."
Irina wrote: "Dear Donna, goodreads is not University History department recommended reading, it's for people who like reading. How about Herodotus Histories? It is a history book, however I quote from experts "..."Thanks for the education, yo. If you want the parameters of the list changed, talk to Goodreads employees. I'm a volunteer, and I'm done with this thread.
Same here - GR librarians are not GR staff; we are all volunteers. You want to change the parameters of this list, I suggest you either argue with its creator, or contact GR staff and make a persuasive argument.
Otherwise your choices are to follow the parameters of this list, or to start another one. There are a ton of lists here on Listopia, and more every day.
Removed for genre reasons:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
and from page 8:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
And from page 4, the death of Bin Laden being too recent to qualify as history:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Was surprised this wasn't on the list: Jerusalem The Biography - by Simon Sebag Montefiore - a spectacular read, and listen.
Mark wrote: "Was surprised this wasn't on the list: Jerusalem The Biography - by Simon Sebag Montefiore - a spectacular read, and listen."Did you add it to the list? If not, you can do that using the tabs at the top of the list.
Historical fictionWinds of War, Herman Wouk, page 4
War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk, page 7
Sally wrote: "Historical fictionWinds of War, Herman Wouk, page 4
War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk, page 7"
Removed as fiction:
Winds of War, #374:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
War and Remembrance, #651:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Removed as out of genre, When Breath Becomes Air, which is a groundbreaking memoir but not history. History is defined as factual and having taken place at least 50 years prior to the time in which it is written. From page 4:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Removed #1960 Follow the River---fiction
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