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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
22,652 members, 342 reviews
4.11 stars (4.11 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
2,224 members, 17 reviews
3.94 stars (3.94 stars)

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

Score: 13.67

4
1776
by David McCullough
11,666 members, 231 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

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

Score: 10.4

5
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
by Paul Kennedy
2,610 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
3,478 members, 76 reviews
3.6 stars (3.6 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
2,424 members, 68 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
547 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
247 members, 4 reviews
3.3 stars (3.3 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (2), ABVR (5)

Score: 6.04

10
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
by Tony Horwitz
1,687 members, 53 reviews
3.87 stars (3.87 stars)

Lists: DaynaRT (2), John_Vaughan (12)

Score: 5.51

11
Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350
by Janet L. Abu-Lughod
342 members, 3 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: ABVR (4), HxBuff (6)

Score: 5.38

12
The Tribes of Britain
by David Miles
236 members, 1 review
3.55 stars (3.55 stars)

Lists: DaynaRT (3), John_Vaughan (14)

Score: 5.11

13
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by Jared M. Diamond
11,278 members, 172 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
682 members, 5 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: Rensslaer (5), John_Vaughan (16)

Score: 4.68

16
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
by Jack Weatherford
2,677 members, 78 reviews
4.03 stars (4.03 stars)

Lists: HxBuff (8), John_Vaughan (18)

Score: 4.32

18
A History of the Arab Peoples
by Albert Hourani
2,933 members, 17 reviews
3.74 stars (3.74 stars)

Lists: thorold (1)

Score: 4

19
The Waning of the Middle Ages
by Johan Huizinga
2,932 members, 33 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Nicole_VanK (1)

Score: 4

20
Decisive Moments in History: Twelve Historical Miniatures
by Stefan Zweig
500 members, 13 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)

Lists: lewbs (1)

Score: 4

22
The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War
by Leonard L. Richards
133 members, 5 reviews
3.81 stars (3.81 stars)

Lists: sjmccreary (1)

Score: 4

23
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
by Simon Singh
5,405 members, 72 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)

Lists: lewbs (2)

Score: 3.36

24
A History of Britain: The Wars of the British 1603-1776
by Simon Schama
1,246 members, 4 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (2)

Score: 3.36

25
The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community
by William H. McNeill
644 members, 6 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: ABVR (2)

Score: 3.36

27
Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties
by Paul Johnson
1,029 members, 18 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: lewbs (3)

Score: 3.04

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

Lists: ABVR (3)

Score: 3.04

29
The Anatomy of Revolution
by Crane Brinton
507 members, 4 reviews
3.73 stars (3.73 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (3)

Score: 3.04

30
The Lessons of History
by Will Durant
1,478 members, 30 reviews
3.87 stars (3.87 stars)

Lists: lewbs (4)

Score: 2.83

31
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
by Samuel P. Huntington
2,986 members, 34 reviews
3.56 stars (3.56 stars)

Lists: lewbs (5)

Score: 2.68

33
Plagues and Peoples
by William H. McNeill
1,664 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
1,019 members, 20 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: AnnaClaire (6)

Score: 2.56

36
The Ascent of Man
by Jacob Bronowski
2,386 members, 17 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
436 members, 3 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
1,320 members, 6 reviews
4.2 stars (4.2 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (9)

Score: 2.31

41
The Days of the French Revolution
by Christopher Hibbert
673 members, 8 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (11)

Score: 2.2

42
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
by Tom Standage
2,330 members, 80 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
231 members, 2 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (20)

Score: 1.89

45
The English: A Portrait of a People
by Jeremy Paxman
1,429 members, 21 reviews
3.37 stars (3.37 stars)

Lists: John_Vaughan (21)

Score: 1.87

46
On the Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
12,484 members, 103 reviews
4.12 stars (4.12 stars)

Lists: DaynaRT (4), John_Vaughan (8)

Thumbs down: Bretzky1, Edward

Score: 1.21

47
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin Franklin
6,435 members, 98 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 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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