The Greatest Histories
This selection of fifty-five historical works is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time and additional research into historical literature acclaimed by the world's readers, writers, critics and scholars.
The Greatest Histories focuses on major works of history, namely book-length publications. It includes both popular works aimed at educating the public on historical topics and original research intended to be read by those training or already trained in the field.
See also:
The list is continually updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older works evolves. Please note the revision date when citing the list.
Latest update: June 5, 2025
431–404 BCE
Histories
by Herodotus, Greece
History, alaso known as The History, originally Historíai
c.380 BCE
History of the Peloponnesian War
by Thucydides, Greece
History
c.350 BCE
Hellenica
by Xenophon, Greece
History
c. 50–42 BCE
Conspiracy of Catiline
by Sallust, Rome
History, originally Bellum Catilinae
27–9 BCE
History of Rome
by Livy, Rome
History, also known as Ab urbe condita (From the Founding of the City)
c.116 CE
Annals
by Tacitus, Rome
History, originally Annales
c.731
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
by Bede, England
History, orioginally Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, also known as A History of the English Church and People
c.1136
The History of the Kings of Britain
by Geoffrey of Monmouth, England
History
1776–1789
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
by Edward Gibbon, England
History, also known as Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
1835–1840
Democracy in America
by Alexis de Tocqueville, France
History, originally De la démocratie en Amérique
1845
Facundo
by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentina
History, subtitled Civilization and Barbarism
1848
The History of England from the Accession of James the Second
by Thomas Babington Macauley, England
History
1860
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
by Jacob Burckhaardt, Switzerland
History, originally Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien
1893
The Significance of the Frontier in American History
by Frederick Jsackson Turner, United States
History
1930
History of the Russian Revolution
by Leon Trotsky, Russia
History
1934–1961
A Study of History
by Arnold J. Toynbee, England
History
1935
The Strange Death of Liberal England: 1910-1914
by Gerorge Dangerfield, United States
History
1938
The Black Jacobins
by C.L.R. James, Trinidad and Tobago
History, subtitled Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
1948
The American Political Tradition
by Richard Hofstadter, United States
History, subtitled And the Men Who Made It
1948–1953
The Second World War
by Winston Churchill, England
History
1949–1966
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II
by Fernand Braudel, France
History, originally La Méditerranée et le Monde méditerranéen a l'époque de Philippe II
1958–1974
The Civil War: A Narrative
by Shelby Foote, United States
History
1960
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
by William L. Shirer, United States
History
1961
What Is History?
by E.H. Carr, England
History
The Origins of The Second World War
by A.J.P. Taylor, England
History
The Contours of American History
by William Appleman Williams, United States
History
1962
The Age of Revolution: 1789–1848
by Eric Hobsbawn, England
History
The Guns of August
by Barbara W. Tuchman, United States
History
1963
The Making of the British Working Class
by E.P. Thompson, United States
History
1968
The Pine Barrens
by John McPhee, United States
History
1970
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
by Dee Brown, United States
History, subtitled An Indian History of the American West
1972
The Great Bridge
by David McCullough, United States
History, subtitled The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
1973
Hidden From History
by Sheila Rowbotham, United States
History, subtitled 300 Years of Women's Oppression and the Fight Against It
1978
Orientalism
by Edward Said, United Sstates
History
1980
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn, United States
History
1982
Robin Hood
by James Holt, England
History
1984
The Good War
by Studs Terkel, United States
History, subtitled An Oral History of World War II
1985
Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade
by Assia Djebar, Algeria
History, originally L'Amour, la fantasia
1986
The Fatal Shore
by Robert Hughes, Australia
History, subtitled The Epic of Australia's Founding
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes, United States
History
1988
Battle Cry of Freedom
by James M. McPherson, United States
History, subtitled The Civil War Era
1990
The Search for Modern China
by Jonathan D. Spence, United States
History
1992
The Radicalism of the American Revolution
by Gordon S. Wood, United States
History
1997
Guns, Germs and Steel
by Jared Diamond, United States
History, subtitled The Fates of Human Societies or A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years
1998
Stalingrad
by Antony Beevor, England
History
2000
In the Heart of the Sea
by Nathaniel Philbrick, United States
History, subtitled The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
The Great Divergence
by Kenneth Pomeranz, United States
History, subtitled China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy
2003
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson, United States
History of science
2003–2008
The Third Reich Trilogy
by Richard J. Evans, England
History
2005
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin, United States
History, subtitled The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
by Tony Judt, England
History
2011
Sapiens
by Yuval Noah Harari, Israel
History, subtitled A Brief History of Humankind
The Opium War
by Julia Lovell, England
History, subtitled Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China
2013
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
by Svetlana Alexievich, Belarus
History, originally Vremya sekond khend
The Bully Pulpit
by Doris Kearns Goodwin, United States
History, subtitled Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
2014
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, United States
History
2018
Say Nothing
by Patrick Radden Keefe, Ireland
History, subtitled A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
