Those who don’t know history can’t make history. History as a subject might be boring for some people until they don’t discover that people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them. To make more sense of your today, read these 15 books and you will be amazed that besides battles, successions and conflicts. History carries a vast ocean in itself that is waiting to be discovered.
Top 15 Historical Books That Will Blow Your Mind
1. A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft is one of the pioneers who laid the foundations of feminist ideology and openly voiced women’s discomforts and grievances. She was unabashedly apologetic for demanding equality for women. This book became one of the firsts in history where the norms were questioned fearlessly.
2. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
The Prince is one of the best classics written till date. The book served as a guide to all those who wished to be leaders and kings of their states and kingdoms. The Prince shows us what it actually is required to make a person great than the rest in order to lead or govern.
3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Diary of a Young Girl is a masterpiece written by a young girl. It throws light on the brutality on the war and the people who suffer at the hands of their fellow human beings all because of distinctions of race and religion. The book opens layers of the psychological impact of Holocaust on Jews during Nazi rule in Germany.
4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy is rejoiced till date for his marvelous book War and Peace. The book discusses what war does to people and how people and their lives are changed and affected by it forever. Many universities even have this book in their syllabus due to Tolstoy’s literary genius incorporated in his work.
5. A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson
This is the most delightful book you will ever read. It do captures everything mostly from the Big Bang to the rise of civilizations and Bill makes it more interesting by his writing style.
6. Step Aside, Pops by Kate Beaton
If Kate Beaton can’t make you love history, I don’t know who can. She pulls from history, literature, and different cultures and spins it into a hilarious gem.
7. Guns, Germs and steel by Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond in the book beautifully argues that the modern world is shaped greatly by geographical and environmental factors. Guns, Germs and Steel also won the Pulitzer award too. It is a must-read.
8. The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer
A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own. The beauty of the works of Susan is that she gives utmost attention to the individual lives that lead to abstract assertions about the history of humans.
9. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
It is a book that is centered around the pre- Columbian Americas. This book gives certain facts and chilling revelations that make the reader think a lot for sometime. This book beautifully covers so many different cultures, and putting everything into a context you can’t imagine.
10. The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir
In this book, the author discusses the treatment of women throughout history. The book highlights the importance of accepting women as equal, not as a subordinate or objects of masculine desire. If you wish to understand what real feminism should look like as the word “FEMINISM” is hotly debated today. Read this amazing book.
11. The Crusades by Thomas Asbridge
The author excellently presents things from both a Christian and Muslim perspective without passing any judgement. Asbridge wonderfully covers all the major campaigns and battles of the Crusade Era and vivid portraits of all the major players involved.
12. Orientalism by Edward W. Said
This book is one of the best gems of post-colonial studies. It has been a reference book for many post-colonial researches and readings. Said himself faced the pangs of racism and dehumanizing ideology regarding Muslims and his book is a product of his own experiences. The book talks about the treatment of the Orient by the Occident and also dwells deeply on the ideology of the colonizer.
13. Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson
It’s the most read book on nationalism. To understand what is the nationalist feeling, do read this book as its historical, sociological and political analysis of nations as imagined communities is worth a read.
14. Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
This book makes you question everything about human beings in general. One of the pleasures of reading this book is that the author calls on readers explicitly and implicitly to think about what we know and think we know.
15. The Boundless Sea by David Abulafia
Global History has made great strides in the last 15 years or so and The Boundless Sea is a very good example of how history on a global scale is being written in Britain at the moment.
Read also – Top 15 Weirdest Psychological Disorders
