5 Books that you should read if you’re a history buff!

If you love reading about history and can’t stop Googling about what happened and when then these books will really interest you. As rightly said, “ If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday”. Here are some of the great history books for the history buff in you:

The greatest generation, Tom Brokaw:

A book by journalist, Tom Brokaw which talks about people who grew up in the United States during the Great Depression. He goes across the country to talk about stories of men and women across this generation. He talks about the American citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America.

Histories by Herodotus:

This book is considered among the greatest works and the earliest works of historical literature in the west. The book talks about lives, customs and history of nations that existed during Herodotus’ time through his skilful writing. You can read the translated edition from Penguin, which does full justice to the amazing body of work that it was. There’s a generous addition of endnotes as well, so do go through those if you want to understand the full picture.

Rise and fall of great powers, by Paul Kennedy:

This book was first published in 1987 and it explores the politics and economics of the great powers from 1500 to 1980. You will go through 500 years of history of grand strategy providing a convincing argument for the rise and decline of post-Renaissance powers. Throughout the book, he reiterates his early statement (page 71): “Military and naval endeavours may not always have been the raison d’être of the new nation-states, but it certainly was their most expensive and pressing activity”, and it remains such until the power’s decline. Just going through the book you will realise that combining so many years of data and providing it in such a systematic way with such expert presentation, requires skill.

Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan:

This is a historical narrative about the events of Paris peace conference of 1919 written by Margaret Macmillan. This describes six months of negotiations that took place in Paris following World War 1. The negotiations were done by the “Big Three” –  America’s President Woodrow Wilson, British prime minister David Lloyd George, and French premier Georges Clemenceau. The book talks about conditions imposed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles and argues that it did not lead to the rise of Adolf Hitler.

SPQR: A history of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard:

This book was written in 2015 and Mary Beard explores the glorious history of Rome.  From its start as a tiny hamlet to the prelude of the third-century crisis. She also attempts to give insights to the lives of Romans, even some untold stories of Julius Caesar. The book will help readers separate facts from fiction and challenge common assumptions about what we know today as ancient Rome.

If you’re a History buff, then you can look to study History at some of the best Universities in the world:

1. Yale University
2. Cambridge University
3. Oxford University
4. Harvard University
5. Stanford University
6. Princeton University
7. University of Toronto

The authors challenge the usual topics and show us a history which is untold to us. If you know of any more such history books which are challenging as well as a great read, do let us know in the comments section below. Here are some great classic books you can read as well. Happy reading!

North-West University

51 Reviews

Student

5

"Looking back on my time at North-West University, I can vividly recall the excitement and..."

Read the review