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  1. Genres
  2. ›History

Best History Books

Historical events and periods

508 summaries

Showing 97–120 of 508

  1. The Bhagavad Gita

    Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

    ★ 4.1 (55k) average on GoodreadsSpirituality

    During a battle, a divine charioteer reveals cosmic truths about duty, devotion, and self-realization to a conflicted warrior, guiding him from despair to enlightened action.

  2. What Happened

    Hillary Rodham Clinton

    ★ 3.9 (53k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Hillary Rodham Clinton removes her public persona to offer a raw, personal account of her 2016 presidential campaign, her defeat, and her thoughts on sexism, Russian interference, and a new political era.

  3. Flags of Our Fathers

    James D. Bradley

    ★ 4.2 (51k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    The son of a reluctant hero uncovers the harrowing truth behind the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising, revealing the disconnect between myth and the devastating reality faced by soldiers and those who returned.

  4. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

    Jack Weatherford

    ★ 4.0 (50k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Before 'globalization' was a buzzword, Genghis Khan created the largest contiguous empire in history, breaking old worlds and starting a new, interconnected one through brutal conquest and unexpected cultural growth.

  5. Survival in Auschwitz

    Primo Levi

    ★ 4.3 (48k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    In the inferno of Auschwitz, a young chemist confronts systematic dehumanization, showing the resilience of the human spirit amidst cruelty.

  6. The Power of Myth

    Joseph Campbell

    ★ 4.3 (44k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    Explore the classic stories that shape human experience, from old rituals to modern love, as Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers show how myths reveal life's deepest truths.

  7. My Life

    Bill Clinton

    ★ 3.7 (44k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    From his difficult Arkansas childhood to the White House and impeachment, Bill Clinton openly discusses his life, showing a charming but flawed man dealing with public successes, private struggles, and the constant effort of political maneuvering.

  8. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

    Edmund Morris

    ★ 4.2 (44k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    This book follows a privileged, asthmatic boy's journey to becoming the charismatic, trust-busting President who changed American power at the turn of the 20th century.

  9. Theodore Rex

    Edmund Morris

    ★ 4.2 (43k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Edmund Morris's biography shows how Theodore Roosevelt's two-term presidency used 'big stick' diplomacy to handle corporate trusts, global conflicts, and conservation, shaping America as a rising world power.

  10. Homage to Catalonia

    George Orwell

    ★ 4.1 (43k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Orwell's memoir details his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, exposing the brutal realities and political betrayals that shaped his lifelong commitment to democratic socialism.

  11. The Symposium

    Plato

    ★ 4.0 (42k) average on GoodreadsPhilosophy

    At an Athenian drinking party, intellectuals discuss 'eros,' its social effects, gender roles, and how love might lead to spiritual growth.

  12. The Histories

    Herodotus

    ★ 4.0 (42k) average on GoodreadsPhilosophy

    Herodotus leads readers through the ancient world, chronicling the unlikely Greek victory over the Persian Empire and sharing tales of Egyptian wonders, European lake-dwellers, and even dog-headed men.

  13. No One Here Gets Out Alive

    Danny Sugerman

    ★ 3.9 (38k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Explore Jim Morrison's complex life, the Doors' frontman, through the eyes of those closest to him, showing the poet, rebel, and self-destructive figure who challenged reality until his early death.

  14. Thunderstruck

    Erik Larson

    ★ 3.7 (38k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    In an era of scientific marvels and Edwardian opulence, a meek doctor's desperate attempt at the perfect murder collides with Marconi's revolutionary wireless, igniting the first global manhunt across the vast, once-silent Atlantic.

  15. Lincoln

    Gore Vidal

    ★ 4.2 (38k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Gore Vidal strips away the myth to reveal Abraham Lincoln as a shrewd, melancholic political animal, navigating personal tragedy and a deeply divided capital to reluctantly emancipate a nation teetering on the brink of collapse.

  16. The World Without Us

    Alan Weisman

    ★ 3.8 (38k) average on GoodreadsScience

    Explore a post-human Earth where New York's subways flood, cities become forests, and our most lasting legacies are plastic, bronze, and radio waves.

  17. Cheaper by the Dozen

    Frank B. Gilbreth Jr.

    ★ 4.0 (37k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    Meet the Gilbreths, a family of twelve children whose efficiency-expert parents apply their industrial principles to everything from chore charts to synchronized tonsillectomies, all with hilarious and heartwarming results.

  18. Slouching Towards Bethlehem

    Joan Didion

    ★ 4.2 (37k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Joan Didion's 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem' examines the fractured American psyche of the 1960s, showing the unsettling truths beneath the counterculture's facade through personal disquiet and societal decay.

  19. Decision Points

    George W. Bush

    ★ 3.8 (37k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    George W. Bush recounts his presidency's defining choices, from 9/11's aftermath to the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina, in the Situation Room and Oval Office.

  20. The Social Contract

    Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    ★ 3.8 (37k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Rousseau's work questions how governments are formed, arguing that people are truly free only when they agree to a 'social contract' that creates and is subject to sovereign power.

  21. Apology

    Plato

    ★ 4.2 (36k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Before the Athenian court, Socrates, charged with impiety and corrupting youth, shows his commitment to truth and the examined life, a defense that seals his fate but makes his philosophy immortal.

  22. The Souls of Black Folk

    W.E.B. Du Bois

    ★ 4.3 (36k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    W.E.B. Du Bois's important work examines post-Reconstruction America, asking for true equality and an end to the 'double consciousness' that limits Black people.

  23. Silent Spring

    Rachel Carson

    ★ 4.0 (36k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" uncovers humanity's destructive use of pesticides, sparking a global awakening that created the modern environmental movement.

  24. The Federalist Papers

    Alexander Hamilton

    ★ 4.1 (35k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    Hamilton, Madison, and Jay defended the new U.S. Constitution, explaining its structure and purpose to shape American governance.

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