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Best General History Books

Members: 20 participating members
John_Vaughan, ABVR, AnnaClaire, HxBuff, lewbs, Rensslaer, DaynaRT, Percevan, sjmccreary, aulsmith, timspalding, Nicole_VanK, dmofnd, thorold, aanilsakaryali, norabelle414, SylviaC, tedhought, andejons, seabear

Rank Title Author Added

1

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond

23,804 members

359 reviews

4.1

10 Members: timspalding, DaynaRT, norabelle414, aulsmith, SylviaC, Percevan, HxBuff, John_Vaughan, tedhought, aanilsakaryali, ,

2

A History of Warfare

2,364 members

20 reviews

3.9

4 Members: timspalding, ABVR, Rensslaer, andejons

3

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West

by Stephen E. Ambrose

7,055 members

70 reviews

4.1

4 Members: Rensslaer, AnnaClaire, HxBuff, John_Vaughan

4

by David McCullough

12,434 members

237 reviews

4.1

3 Members: Rensslaer, AnnaClaire, sjmccreary

5

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

by Paul Kennedy

2,760 members

19 reviews

4

3 Members: Rensslaer, dmofnd, lewbs

6

The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology

by Simon Winchester

3,652 members

77 reviews

½ 3.6

4 Members: seabear, AnnaClaire, HxBuff, John_Vaughan,ABVR ,DaynaRT

7

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

by Steven Pinker

2,617 members

71 reviews

4.1

2 Members: Percevan, HxBuff

8

Maps of Time : An Introduction to Big History

by David Christian

572 members

12 reviews

4.1

2 Members: sjmccreary, HxBuff

9

Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations

256 members

4 reviews

½ 3.3

2 Members: ABVR, aulsmith

10

A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World

by Tony Horwitz

1,779 members

53 reviews

3.9

2 Members: DaynaRT, John_Vaughan

11

Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350

by Janet L. Abu-Lughod

362 members

3 reviews

3.9

2 Members: ABVR, HxBuff

12

The Tribes of Britain

251 members

1 review

½ 3.6

2 Members: DaynaRT, John_Vaughan

13

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

by Jared M. Diamond

11,734 members

179 reviews

4

2 Members: Percevan, John_Vaughan

14

The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870

733 members

6 reviews

3.8

2 Members: Rensslaer, John_Vaughan

15

The Middle East: 2000 Years of History From the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day

by Bernard Lewis

1,518 members

14 reviews

½ 3.5

2 Members: HxBuff, John_Vaughan

16

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

by Jack Weatherford

2,941 members

84 reviews

4

2 Members: HxBuff, John_Vaughan

17

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

by Steven Johnson

4,178 members

180 reviews

4

2 Members: AnnaClaire, John_Vaughan,sjmccreary

18

A History of the Arab Peoples

by Albert Hourani

3,111 members

18 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: thorold

19

The Waning of the Middle Ages

by Johan Huizinga

3,108 members

35 reviews

4

Member: Nicole_VanK

20

Decisive Moments in History: Twelve Historical Miniatures

by Stefan Zweig

539 members

14 reviews

4

Member: lewbs

21

Let the Sea Make a Noise...: A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to Macarthur

by Walter A. McDougall

191 members

2 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: ABVR

22

The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War

by Leonard L. Richards

139 members

5 reviews

3.8

Member: sjmccreary

23

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

5,715 members

73 reviews

4.2

Member: lewbs

24

A History of Britain: The Wars of the British 1603-1776

by Simon Schama

1,321 members

4 reviews

4

Member: John_Vaughan

25

The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community

by William H. McNeill

677 members

7 reviews

4.2

Member: ABVR

26

The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time

1,563 members

58 reviews

3.9

Member: AnnaClaire

27

Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties

by Paul Johnson

1,085 members

16 reviews

4.1

Member: lewbs

28

Millennium : A History of the Last Thousand Years

by Felipe Fernández-Armesto

814 members

9 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: ABVR

29

The Anatomy of Revolution

by Crane Brinton

528 members

5 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: aulsmith

30

The Lessons of History

1,609 members

30 reviews

3.9

Member: lewbs

31

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

by Samuel P. Huntington

3,179 members

36 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: lewbs

32

Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors

by Peter Ackroyd

1,166 members

27 reviews

3.9

Member: AnnaClaire

33

Plagues and Peoples

by William H. McNeill

1,759 members

19 reviews

4

Member: ABVR

34

The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World

by Daniel J. Boorstin

1,131 members

6 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: John_Vaughan

35

Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot

by Antonia Fraser

1,064 members

21 reviews

3.9

Member: AnnaClaire

36

The Ascent of Man

by Jacob Bronowski

2,485 members

18 reviews

4.2

Member: John_Vaughan

37

The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000

by William H. McNeill

460 members

1 review

4.2

Member: ABVR

38

Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America

by Sara M. Evans

443 members

3 reviews

3.8

Member: AnnaClaire

39

The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century

by Daniel R. Headrick

204 members

1 review

½ 3.7

Member: ABVR

40

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples

by Winston S. Churchill

1,416 members

6 reviews

4.2

Member: John_Vaughan

41

The Days of the French Revolution

by Christopher Hibbert

730 members

9 reviews

3.8

Member: John_Vaughan

42

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

by Tom Standage

2,515 members

82 reviews

3.8

Member: John_Vaughan

43

The Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru [Abridged]

by Garcilaso de la Vega

214 members

3 reviews

3.8

Member: John_Vaughan

44

The Great Republic: A History of America

by Winston S. Churchill

252 members

2 reviews

4

Member: John_Vaughan

45

The English: A Portrait of a People

by Jeremy Paxman

1,476 members

21 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: John_Vaughan

46

The Origin of Species

by Charles Darwin

13,461 members

114 reviews

4.1

2 Members: DaynaRT, John_Vaughan, ,

47

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

by Benjamin Franklin

6,839 members

105 reviews

3.8

Member: John_Vaughan,ABVR

48

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

by Thomas L. Friedman

12,674 members

168 reviews

½ 3.7

49

The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its Prospects

by Lewis Mumford

1,327 members

9 reviews

4.1

50

Mankind and Mother Earth: A Narrative History of the World

by Arnold Joseph Toynbee

174 members

2 reviews

3.8

About This List

Started: John_Vaughan
January 2012
Type: Numbered and unnumbered

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