A Page From History: 24 of the Best History Books of All Time

An extensive look at the history of the LGBTQ+ movement, from centuries of injustices to recent hard-won victories. Faderman offers personal glimpses into history with interviews from many people who were on the front lines of the battle for equality and have worked to help the LGBTQ+ community gain ground.

In 1947, British India gained independence from India and became two states: India and Pakistan. But before this, in 1946, fighting broke out in Calcutta and the violence perpetrated in that summer changed what was supposed to be a peaceful event for all. Hajari explains how it all turned and how the results still influence that region today.

Widely considered to be the greatest book about the Vietnam War, or any war, American correspondent Herr used his notes from front-line reporting and interviews with the soldiers and turned them into this masterpiece. It was one of the first works to truthfully highlight the experiences of the American soldier in the Vietnam War.

Using recently uncovered and released documents and interviews, Higginbotham recreates the events of one of the world’s greatest nuclear disasters, the explosion of Reactor Number Four of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station. He explains how negligence and secrecy allowed the 1986 catastrophe to become as wide-scale and dangerous as it did, and the coverups and corruption that occurred after the disaster.

Keefe discusses the Troubles, a 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland, by way of the true story of Jean McConville. She was a 38-year-old widow and mother of ten who was kidnapped from her Belfast home in 1972 by the IRA. Say Nothing, a riveting true crime read and an excellent history book, gives a detailed examination of the conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath.

Kendi and Blain have edited this collection of pieces by 90 writers that each cover a different five-year period from the last 400 years of Black history in America. From the arrival of enslaved Africans in 1619 to the present day, this variety of works creates a detailed work of human suffering, endurance, and hope.

This is a wildly fascinating look at the history of plane hijackings. They started out as mostly protests over the war and politics, and then became about money (like the story of the elusive D.B. Cooper), and then became about terror. In between the history is the tale of the couple responsible for the longest-distance hijacking in American history.

Historian McPherson took on the daunting task of explaining the politics and unrest that started the American Civil War, up through Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. This tome received the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, and is widely considered one of the greatest overviews on the subject.

And this is the most recent winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction! Combining memoir, history, and investigative reporting, Perry recounts her experiences driving through the American South, where she grew up as a child, and seeing it with fresh eyes. It’s a fascinating exploration of historical erasure, racism, and resilience.

This Pulitzer-winning biography reads like a swashbuckling adventure! It’s the story of General Alex Dumas, a French soldier in Napoleon’s army and father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas, whose exploits influenced his son’s classic works The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

Reséndez explains how new information sheds light on the often-ignored mass enslavement of tens of thousands of Indians, which was responsible for the decimation of Indian populations in North America. Despite being “illegal” it was still carried out across the continent.

The basis for the hit movie of the same name, this is the true story of the brilliant Black women who helped America win the space race despite not being treated as equals, or even allowed to dine with the other workers at NASA.

This was the first time the American people heard first-hand accounts from Black soldiers who fought in Vietnam. In interviews with 20 veterans, the men describe the racism and prejudice they experienced from white soldiers and high-ranking officials, while explaining how disproportionate numbers of Black men were sent overseas to fight.

For the first time, this award-winning book uses newly uncovered and declassified information about the famous 1971 uprising that resulted in the deaths of dozens of people and the injuries of 100 more. Thompson explains the events leading up to those four days, and how four decades later, family members of the deceased still don’t know the truth of what happened to their loved ones.

Treuer, who is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, explains how most information about Native Americans found in history books stops after the massacre at Wounded Knee. This is a detailed look at Native Americans and their achievements and history in America over the last century since Wounded Knee.

Compared to World War II, there are far fewer books on the First World War. This is widely considered the greatest on the subject, and one of the top history books of all time in general. This is historian Barbara W. Tuchman’s award-winning comprehensive look at the first 30 days of the summer of 1914 that began the conflict.

And this is Pultizer Prize–winning author Wilkerson’s account of the Great Migration, when over the course of 60 years, over six million Black people fled the south for northern and western towns and cities, which changed the face of the country. Many personal accounts of their journeys are captured in this fascinating book.

In 1949, fearful of what Mao’s new Communist Revolution would do to them and their country, mass numbers of people fled Shanghai. Zia interviewed four of those people and recounts the story of that period in time, their escape from the city, and where they ended up after they fled.