Top History Books in my Library

As a graduate student of History you can imagine I have read my fair share of books over the years. What makes these books among the few favorites in my library is certainly within the stories they tell, the effect and timing of when I read them and my inability to later sell them, but indeed hold on to all them despite the financial pains of book buying and selling in college.

Here are just a few that are my favorite or rather that I am rather fond of:


My favorite classical history book is none other than The Rise of Rome-Books 1-5, by Livy. Livy delivers a history of Rome early beginnings, starting with the horrible conception of Romulus and Remus and takes the reader through to the Gaul’s sacking of Rome in 390 B.C. This is a thorough book yet the information is given to you quickly and precisely. I read this book in my junior year of undergraduate in a brief ten week course on Roman History and I loved this book.


My favorite World History book is Tom Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses. This is by far the most interesting book I have read in my graduate studies thus far. Standage approaches the history of the world through an entirely different style of writing history, by looking at history as a cause and effect and the importance of different beverages that he states propels the world and civilizations forward to progress. It is definitely an entertaining book to say the least. I just finished reading this book for my current World History seminar course and I literally could not put it down. It really makes you want to go out and buy a beer, a bottle of wine and eventually a crisp bottle of Coca-Cola.


My favorite early American History book would have to be Carol Berkin’s A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution. Berkin’s delivers another concise rendition of how the Founding Fathers establish the most important document in America’s history, The United States Constitution. Berkin’s really brings to life the struggles and realities of creating a government in an age without cell phones, fax or word processors. This book truly brings history alive. I read this book in my first graduate course called U.S. Constitutional History and this made me truly proud to be an American.


My favorite early African American History book is without a doubt John W. Blassingame’s The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South.  This is more than a history on an era that typically considers just the plantation owners and a little on the slave, this book is all about the African American’s ability to survive and find some kind of normalcy during an excruciating period of their history. Blassingame focuses on the culture and experiences of the African American’s journey from Africa to America to which they had no control over. I read this book in my undergraduate with my favorite professor (Dr. Barbra Green at Wright State University).  This book really for the first time opened my eyes to the fact that the Slaves did not choose to be there, they were there without choice and as a young white woman that was appalling and made me want to learn as much as I could about the experiences of the Slaves during this period in American history.


My favorite Civil-War and post-civil War (Reconstruction) history book is unquestionably Eric Foner’s Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution. This is a book that again dives into the story of African American history demonstrating the eagerness and abilities of a culture to struggle to find equality. In many regards the period found success in the north, but in the South during the Reconstruction the obstacles and inability of the whites to allow progress to take place was too great. Foner really dives into the trials of the south and ultimate failure to assimilate the former slaves into a society attained by the Northern victory of the Civil War. I read this book in my undergraduate study of the Reconstruction period (also with Dr. Green). This is another book that was hard to put down and one that I just could not sell back at the bookstore at the end of the term.


My favorite go to American History book is really Howard Zinn’s A People of the United States: 1492 to Present. This is really a good read and a good source of information when you just need a book that is all encompassing concerning United States History. Zinn approaches US History tactfully but delivers the information quickly that does not draw out unnecessarily. I have used this book as a resource in many classes in my undergrad and later in my graduate coursework.


My favorite History book of all time is without a doubt is Alison Weir’s The Children of Henry VIII. When it comes to Tudor history Alison Weir is the master of the era. In this book Weir tactfully approaches the succeeding years of the British monarchy following the death of the beloved yet tyrannical King Henry VIII and his four heirs. Beginning with his son King Edward VI, followed by a distant relative Lady Jane Grey, then the barbaric duration of Mary I who history would remember as Bloody Mary, and ending finally with Elizabeth I that would then lead into Weir’s next book The Life of Elizabeth I. This book means a lot to me and I have grown rather fond of the Tudors (not the television series) as a result. When I read this book I had just graduated from college in 2008 when the bottom fell out of the economy and I was working a dead-end job that was not, shall we say, intellectually stimulating. This book showed me that I was more than where I was at and that I should pursue my dreams. Beyond my own revelation this book is a thoroughly researched and amazingly articulated history of the rollercoaster of the lives of Henry VIII’s heirs.

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