Genre
The best History books
Popular and academic history written for readers who want the period rendered seriously. Comparative, narrative, or revisionist; what matters is the prose.
15 reviews in this genre.
Editor's picks
Highest-rated history on the shelf
The Demon of Unrest
by Erik Larson
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson 2024 review. The five months between Lincoln's November 1860 election and Fort Sumter. Larson's follow-up to The Splendid and the Vile and one of the canonical narrative non-fiction books of the year.
The Lost City of Z
by David Grann
The Lost City of Z by David Grann 2009 review. The 1925 disappearance of British explorer Percy Fawcett in the Amazon. Grann's debut narrative non-fiction and the basis for the James Gray film.
Just Mercy
by Bryan Stevenson
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 2014 review. The Equal Justice Initiative founder's memoir of his Alabama capital-case work. Carnegie Medal winner and the basis for the 2019 film.
Moneyball
by Michael Lewis
Moneyball by Michael Lewis 2003 review. Billy Beane's data-driven 2002 Oakland A's season. The Brad Pitt film source and the canonical contemporary book on sabermetrics.
The Big Short
by Michael Lewis
The Big Short by Michael Lewis 2010 review. The four investor groups who saw the 2008 mortgage collapse coming and made fortunes shorting it. The basis for the Adam McKay film.
The Devil in the White City
by Erik Larson
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson 2003 review. The 1893 Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer H. H. Holmes, whose hotel operated three blocks from the fairgrounds. The narrative-nonfiction bestseller that defined the contemporary popular-history register.
The Wager
by David Grann
The Wager by David Grann 2023 review. The 1741 shipwreck of HMS Wager off Patagonia and the two contradictory mutiny narratives that returned to England. Grann's third major narrative non-fiction book and the canonical contemporary maritime-disaster story.
Empire of Pain
by Patrick Radden Keefe
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe 2021 review. The Sackler family and the operational mechanics of Purdue Pharma's OxyContin marketing strategy across three generations. The canonical contemporary investigative non-fiction book on the opioid crisis.
Bad Blood
by John Carreyrou
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou 2018 review. The Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes blood-testing fraud. Carreyrou's investigative account built from his Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal reporting.
Caste
by Isabel Wilkerson
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson 2020 review. A comparative history of American racial hierarchy, the Indian caste system, and Nazi Germany's racial laws. Wilkerson's second book after The Warmth of Other Suns.
Killers of the Flower Moon
by David Grann
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann 2017 review. The 1920s murders of dozens of Osage people in Oklahoma after the discovery of oil. The Apple TV / Scorsese film source and Grann's narrative non-fiction breakthrough.
Say Nothing
by Patrick Radden Keefe
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 review. The 1972 disappearance of Belfast mother Jean McConville and the broader IRA history of the Troubles. Keefe's first major book and the basis for the 2024 FX Hulu limited series.
Going Infinite
by Michael Lewis
Going Infinite by Michael Lewis 2023 review. The Sam Bankman-Fried embedded account of the FTX and Alameda collapse. Lewis's most-contested book.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari 2014 review. A single-volume history of Homo sapiens from cognitive revolution to the present. The popular-history bestseller that defined the 2010s book-club shelf, with the trade-offs that ambition requires.
Dangerous Games
by Joan Aiken
A Joan Aiken Wolves Chronicles entry. Dido Twite in Roman Britain and Aiken at her wild best.
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