My knowledge in history is very poor. I want to know some basic history. Please recommend some books that don’t dwell on a single incident or period but rather gives an overview. Preferably, books on medieval history. It would be a plus if the book has beautiful prose.
Thank you.
The Times Complete History of the World. Naturally it comes with some western bias, and unless you buy it second hand it’s expensive.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years - David Graeber
And while you’re at it, The Dawn of Everything by him, which will refute most of Sapiens suggested in another reply.
2nded.
These two books upend a lot of “conventional” thinking; and, it’s glorious. Graeber is a notorious contrarian and sometime — but he has the receipts.
For more on debt, read Margaret Atwood’s Massey lectures, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.
- Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall: A broad introduction to geopolitics that argues geography quietly constrains the choices available to nations. Marshall uses maps, mountains, rivers, plains, seas, and borders to explain why countries behave as they do and why some conflicts or alliances are hard to escape.
- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford: A revisionist history of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire that emphasizes their role in connecting Eurasia through trade, law, communication, and cultural exchange. Weatherford presents the Mongols not only as conquerors, but as builders of systems that helped shape the modern world.
- The Anarchy by William Dalrymple: A history of how the British East India Company transformed from a trading corporation into a territorial power that conquered much of India. Dalrymple frames the story as one of corporate violence, political fragmentation, financial ambition, and imperial opportunism.
- Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson: A history of the effort to understand how Polynesian peoples settled the vast Pacific Ocean. Thompson blends anthropology, navigation, linguistics, archaeology, and European exploration history to explain both the achievement itself and the long-running debate over how it happened.
- The Restoration of Rome by Peter Heather: A history of attempts to rebuild or revive Roman imperial power after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Heather focuses especially on Theodoric, Justinian, and Charlemagne, showing how each tried to claim Rome’s legacy under very different political and military conditions.
- Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond: A sweeping attempt to explain why some societies became globally dominant by emphasizing geography, agriculture, domesticated animals, disease, and technology rather than innate human differences. The book is influential but controversial, with critics arguing that it can be overly deterministic and too broad in its conclusions, though it still contains useful observations about environment, food production, and historical development.
I’m saving this post so I can track down these books later.
Later edit: Thankyou Anna!
Thanks a ton!! The Anarchy seems very interesting. I will read that one first
A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn.
Another excellent book. Much more the history of America than the offerings of high school history courses. Especially under the aegis of Project 2025.
I guess especially the medieval period is interesting…
‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson sounds right up your alley. The follow-up ‘At Home - A short History of Private Life’ is good as well. The titles kind of explain themselves pretty well. He’s a very engaging writer.
Tim Snyder’s books but he is more modern history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Snyder?wprov=sfla1
also a few of his talks on YT
Timothy David Snyder (born August 18, 1969) is an American historian specializing in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust
The Canterbury Tales is a good one. It isn’t a “learn about history” kind of book, but it gives plenty of insight into the common man in Medieval times, and it might fit the Medieval/prose vibe you’re looking for. It’s also well written and funny at times, along with being one of the most important writings of middle-english some time around 1400.
Read Paris, 1919 by Margaret MacMillan.
Read Postwar by Tony Judt
Read the Warfare State by Fred J. Cook
And, while not strictly an historical work, The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein rounds out this series on how institutions “fuck up the endgame” — to quote from Charlie Wilson’s war.
Great request, seconded.
Sapiens
Not quite fair to call it hogwash, but pretty much every professional historian and academic I’ve heard talk about this book considers it a bad introductory source with dubious credibility. It’s not a good rec.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapiens:_A_Brief_History_of_Humankind#Scholarly_reception
Also I’ve heard of some controversy about Yuval Noah Harari few years ago.
I forgot what it was.
The age of extremes by Eric Hobsbawm gives an overview of the twentieth century and is an amazing read.
The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins. It is about cold war history and how the US shaped the third world to its advantage. I think every American should read it.
This may be too specific, but I really enjoyed Unruly by David Mitchell (as in Peep Show). It hits all the high/lowlights of each monarch of ‘England’ between Roman Britain to Elizabeth I.
I mean, it depends on “history of what”?
If you’re looking for a generalized Western history, that’s more of a textbook kind of thing.
If you want specific locations and eras:
Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York by Lucy Sante is a great read:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374528997/lowlife/
Be aware, some older editions are published under her deadname.
Idk man, what is a good place to start?
Well, what are your interests? Chinese history is totally different from Western history
History of language (etymology) is totally different from the history of places, and the history of things or artifacts is even more different.
“History” isn’t really a single category. It’s incredibly broad, pretty much any category you might be interested in has a history.
I think I’ll be interested in the history of south asian countries like India and its neighbors and also their relationships with other parts of the world in history. That would be the most relevant to me.
Well there you go then!
I’d say start with “The Discovery of India” by Jawaharlal Nehru". Nehru was India’s first Prime Minister, so it would make sense reading a history from his perspective vs. that of some white European.
A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India by Upinder Singh also sounds fascinating, though I have not read it.
I’m told that, as far as white European perspectives go, “India: A History” by John Keay is very good. As is “The Wonder That Was India” by A.L. Basham. The latter book sounds like the focus is on pre-Muslim India, and the phrasing of the title in THAT context sounds like it could be problematic.
Now, that being said, I’d argue you might also want to find histories of the other countries around India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Burma. But I don’t have good sources there.
One other thing: India has a deep religious and mythological history. You’d want to be aware of the content of the Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana, and Mahabharata. But that’s a MASSIVE amount of original texts to read first hand and I’m not sure of what the best translations there are.
I really want to get my hands on the comic book adaptation but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet:
https://us.amarchitrakatha.com/products/epics-mytho-pack-of-25
Thanks a lot
I’d like to color outside the lines of your request just slightly by recommending a palate cleanser, if you will: The Dollop podcast with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds. Their schtick is finding an oddball story from history, and doing a narrowlt focused deep dive on that subject. One host tells the story, the other is usually totally oblivious. Both are comedians by trade, so they riff throughout.
The educational value takes a backseat to the comedy bits, but there’s still a pretty impressive amount of research which goes into the episodes, and their emphasis on weird, niche stories means that they’re often talking about subjects which go unmentioned in general history education. A personal favorite episode of mine is The Jackson Cheese, which talks about a couple enormous wheels of cheese which were gifted to Andrew Jackson following his election to be President in the 1830s. That may sound dull as dishwater, but I’ve yet to hear anyone that’s listened to the episode express that it was a waste of their time.
At any rate, if you want a break from “serious” history education, you can do a lot worse!
