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Best General History Books

Members: 26 participating members (show all)

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date
1
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
21,324 members, 320 reviews
4.12 stars (4.12 stars)

Lists: HxBuff (1), aanilsakaryali (1), tedhought (1), Percevan (1), DaynaRT (1), John_Vaughan (1), SylviaC (1), timspalding (1), norabelle414 (1), aulsmith (1)

Thumbs down: SJaneDoe, eromsted

Score: 36

2
A History of Warfare
by John Keegan
2,104 members, 17 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: Rensslaer (1), andejons (1), timspalding (2), ABVR (9)

Score: 13.67

4
1776
by David McCullough
10,792 members, 221 reviews
4.06 stars (4.06 stars)

Lists: AnnaClaire (1), Rensslaer (2), sjmccreary (3)

Score: 10.4

5
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
by Paul Kennedy
2,423 members, 17 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: dmofnd (1), Rensslaer (4), lewbs (6)

Score: 9.38

6
The Map that Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
by Simon Winchester
3,284 members, 73 reviews
3.61 stars (3.61 stars)

Lists: seabear (1), HxBuff (3), John_Vaughan (5), AnnaClaire (7)

Thumbs down: ABVR, DaynaRT

Score: 8.17

7
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
by Steven Pinker
2,131 members, 57 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: Percevan (2), HxBuff (4)

Score: 6.19

8
Maps of Time : An Introduction to Big History
by David Christian
514 members, 12 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: sjmccreary (2), HxBuff (5)

Score: 6.04

9
Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations
by Brian Fagan
243 members, 4 reviews
3.3 stars (3.3 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (2), ABVR (5)

Score: 6.04

11
Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350
by Janet L. Abu-Lughod
322 members, 3 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: ABVR (4), HxBuff (6)

Score: 5.38

12
The Tribes of Britain
by David Miles
228 members, 1 review
3.58 stars (3.58 stars)

Lists: DaynaRT (3), John_Vaughan (14)

Score: 5.11

13
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by Jared Diamond
10,767 members, 167 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: Percevan (3), John_Vaughan (19)

Score: 4.96

14
The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870
by Hugh Thomas
631 members, 5 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: Rensslaer (5), John_Vaughan (16)

Score: 4.68

16
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
by Jack Weatherford
2,429 members, 73 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: HxBuff (8), John_Vaughan (18)

Score: 4.32

18
The Waning of the Middle Ages
by Johan Huizinga
2,753 members, 30 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: Nicole_VanK (1)

Score: 4

19
A History of the Arab Peoples
by Albert Hourani
2,720 members, 16 reviews
3.72 stars (3.72 stars)

Lists: thorold (1)

Score: 4

20
Decisive Moments in History: Twelve Historical Miniatures
by Stefan Zweig
459 members, 13 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: lewbs (1)

Score: 4

22
The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War
by Leonard L. Richards
122 members, 4 reviews
3.85 stars (3.85 stars)

Lists: sjmccreary (1)

Score: 4

23
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
by Simon Singh
5,093 members, 71 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: lewbs (2)

Score: 3.36

24
A History of Britain: The Wars of the British 1603-1776
by Simon Schama
1,137 members, 3 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (2)

Score: 3.36

25
The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
by William H. McNeill
608 members, 6 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: ABVR (2)

Score: 3.36

28
Millennium: A History of the Last Thousand Years
by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
733 members, 8 reviews
3.55 stars (3.55 stars)

Lists: ABVR (3)

Score: 3.04

29
The Anatomy of Revolution
by Crane Brinton
476 members, 4 reviews
3.68 stars (3.68 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (3)

Score: 3.04

30
The Lessons of History
by Will Durant
1,301 members, 24 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: lewbs (4)

Score: 2.83

31
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
by Samuel P. Huntington
2,775 members, 32 reviews
3.56 stars (3.56 stars)

Lists: lewbs (5)

Score: 2.68

33
Plagues and Peoples
by William H. McNeill
1,564 members, 19 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: ABVR (6)

Score: 2.56

35
Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot
by Antonia Fraser
975 members, 16 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: AnnaClaire (6)

Score: 2.56

36
The Ascent of Man
by Jacob Bronowski
2,242 members, 16 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (7)

Score: 2.46

38
Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America
by Sara M. Evans
408 members, 2 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: AnnaClaire (8)

Score: 2.38

40
A History of the English-Speaking Peoples
by Winston S. Churchill
1,218 members, 6 reviews
4.23 stars (4.23 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (9)

Score: 2.31

41
The Days of the French Revolution
by Christopher Hibbert
616 members, 8 reviews
3.79 stars (3.79 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (11)

Score: 2.2

42
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
by Tom Standage
2,118 members, 66 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (15)

Score: 2.03

44
The Great Republic: A History of America
by Winston S. Churchill
216 members, 2 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (20)

Score: 1.89

45
The English: A Portrait of a People
by Jeremy Paxman
1,379 members, 19 reviews
3.38 stars (3.38 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (21)

Score: 1.87

46
On the Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
11,631 members, 97 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: DaynaRT (4), John_Vaughan (8)

Thumbs down: Bretzky1, Edward

Score: 1.21

47
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin
5,931 members, 89 reviews
3.77 stars (3.77 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (10)

Thumbs down: ABVR

Score: 0.25

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date

About this list

Started by: John_Vaughan (January 2012)

Type: Numbered and unnumbered

Related tags

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