The 50 best history books to read
The best history books ranked: world history, ancient Rome, the world wars and biographies. A top 50 with short reviews and where to read each one.
Good history reads like a story. The 50 books here range from sweeping accounts of human history, such as Sapiens and Guns, Germs, and Steel, to focused studies of ancient Rome, the world wars, South Asia and the American Revolution, all written for general readers.
These are editorial picks, ranked for readability and lasting appeal, and nobody pays to be on the list. Not sure where to start? Try the book finder and get three picks for your mood.
Top 50 history books, ranked
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Sapiens
A brief history of humankind.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Guns, Germs, and Steel
The fates of human societies.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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A People's History of the United States
American history from the perspective of ordinary people.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Silk Roads
A new history of the world.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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SPQR
A history of ancient Rome.
- Thoughtful
- Funny
Where to read
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
A history of Nazi Germany.
- Gripping
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Guns of August
The outbreak of the First World War.
- Gripping
Where to read
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A Distant Mirror
The calamitous 14th century.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Wager
A British warship is wrecked off Patagonia and the survivors turn on each other.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Warmth of Other Suns
The Great Migration of Black Americans.
- Thoughtful
- Moving
Where to read
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Caste
The origins of our discontents.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Team of Rivals
The political genius of Abraham Lincoln.
- Thoughtful
- Inspiring
Where to read
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1776
The year of the American Revolution.
- Gripping
- Inspiring
Where to read
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John Adams
The biography of the second US president.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
The classic history of Rome.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Histories
The ancient Greek history of the Greco-Persian Wars.
- Thoughtful
- Gripping
Where to read
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A History of the World in 100 Objects
World history told through objects.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Empire of the Summer Moon
The Comanche tribe and Quanah Parker.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
The history of the American West from the Native perspective.
- Moving
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Splendid and the Vile
Churchill and the Blitz.
- Gripping
Where to read
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In the Garden of Beasts
An American ambassador in Hitler's Berlin.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Devil in the White City
A serial killer at the Chicago World's Fair.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Band of Brothers
Easy Company in World War II.
- Gripping
- Inspiring
Where to read
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The Second World War
A history of World War II.
- Gripping
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Gulag Archipelago
An experiment in literary investigation.
- Thoughtful
- Moving
Where to read
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Postwar
A history of Europe since 1945.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Origins of Totalitarianism
How tyranny takes hold.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
The Mongol conquests.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Prize
The epic quest for oil, money and power.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Citizens
A chronicle of the French Revolution.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Wright Brothers
The pioneers of flight.
- Inspiring
Where to read
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb
The story of the Manhattan Project.
- Gripping
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Great Influenza
The 1918 pandemic.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Collapse
How societies choose to fail or succeed.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
Stalin and his inner circle.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Alexander the Great
The life of the conqueror.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Discoverers
A history of man's search to know his world.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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Cleopatra: A Life
The life of Egypt's last queen.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Crusades
The authoritative history of the Holy Wars.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Rubicon
The last years of the Roman Republic.
- Gripping
Where to read
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The Shadow of the Sun
Africa seen through a reporter's eyes.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Making of Modern Pakistan
A history of the state.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Great Partition
The making of India and Pakistan.
- Thoughtful
- Moving
Where to read
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The Anarchy
The relentless rise of the East India Company.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Midnight's Furies
The deadly legacy of India's partition.
- Gripping
- Moving
Where to read
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The Origins of Political Order
From prehuman times to the French Revolution.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Fall of the Roman Empire
A new account of why the Western Roman Empire collapsed.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
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The Fall of Constantinople 1453
The siege of the Byzantine capital.
- Gripping
Where to read
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Lords of the Horizons
A history of the Ottoman Empire.
- Thoughtful
Where to read
Each link opens that store’s search for the book. Availability and prices vary by store and country. We may earn a commission from some stores, which never changes the ranking.
Types of history books
Looking for something more specific? These are the main kinds of history, with the sort of story or subject each one covers.
World history
Big-picture views of humanity.
Ancient history
Greece, Rome and early empires.
World War I and II
Causes, campaigns and consequences.
American history
Revolution, civil rights and the West.
South Asian history
Partition, Mughals and empire.
Narrative history
True stories told with a novelist's pace.
Want to write and publish your own history book?
Many readers of this page are also writers. The stores in the lists above are where readers find books, while Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, IngramSpark, Lulu and Draft2Digital are the tools authors use to publish and distribute a book to those stores. You can also publish to Barnes & Noble Press and Google Play Books directly.
Our free KDP calculators help with print cost, royalties and cover size, and our publishing services can take care of setup for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best history book for beginners?
Sapiens, A People's History of the United States and A Short History of Nearly Everything are accessible places to begin.
Are these history books written by academics?
Many are by academic historians who write for a general audience, while others are by journalists and narrative historians.
Where can I read or buy the best history books?
Each of the 50 books has links to Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Google Play Books. Authors who want to publish their own history book can start with our free guides to Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Lulu and Draft2Digital.
Not sure what to read next?
Pick a genre and a mood and the book finder will suggest three books to try.