READING LISTS FOR WORLD HISTORY

Vietnam War Book List – Academic, First Hand Accounts, and Novels

The Americas Reading List – Library of Congress Classifications E & F and Relevent Books From Other Classifications

The Dawn of Everything
Graeber, David and Wengrow, David. Farrar, Straus and Giroux , New York, 2021. CB19.G69 2021
A brilliant new account upends bedrock assumptions about 30,000 years of change. — William Deresiewicz

Discoveries That Changed The World
Rodney Castleden. Futura, London, 2008. CB9.C37 2008
More than 150 major discoveries are described in chronological order

The Penguin history of the world – sixth edition
J. M. Roberts & Odd Arne Westad. Penguin Books, London, 2014. D20.R653 2014
For generations of readers The Penguin History of the World has been one of the great cultural experiences – the entire story of human endeavour laid out in all its grandeur and folly, drama and pain in a single authoritative book — Publisher

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Frankopan, Peter. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, 2016. D21.3 .F73 2016
An ambitious Persian–centric rewrite of world history is full of insight but let down by factual errors. The Guardian

War: How Conflict Shaped US
MacMillan, Margaret, Random House, New York, D25.5 .M285 2020
MacMillan reveals the many faces of war--the way it shapes our past, our future, our views of the world, and our very conception of ourselves – Publisher

The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy
Peter H. Wilson. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 2009. D258 .W55 2009
A deadly continental struggle, the Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world. — Publisher

Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference
Burbank, Jane. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2010. D32 .B94 2010
With its investigation into the relationship between diversity and imperial states, Empires in World History offers a fresh approach to understanding the impact of empires on the past and present. — Publisher

The War That Ended Peace
MacMillan, Margaret, Penguin Books Canada, Toronto, D511 .M257
Margaret MacMillan provides a big picture of Europe between 1900 and 1914, a time of increasing international tension that was also, in Stefan Zweig's phrase, a "Golden Age of Security". - Piers Brendon

Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914?
Fromkin, David. Vintage, New York, 2005. D511.F746
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, it surprised a European population enjoying the most beautiful summer in memory. For nearly a century since, historians have debated the causes of the war. Publisher

Pandora's Box
Leonhard, Jörn, Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, D521 .L36513
With so many books, covering so many angles (e.g. specific battles, new weapons, politics) of the war, can any author provide an account with new insights and fresh information? With Pandora’s Box, the answer is definitely yes. - J.T. Harris

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East
Eugene Rogan. Basic Books, New York, 2015. D566 .R64 2015
An illuminating work that offers new understanding to the troubled history of this key geopolitical region. – Kirkus Review

Battle For The Bundu
Miller, Charles. Macmillan & Co. Ltd., New York, 1974. D567.G3M45
"Miller’s book is the most accurate and detailed account of this little known part of the First World War. A fascinating epic about an amazing German general, von Lettow-Vorbeck. It’s an account of his campaign against the Allies, which lasted throughout the entire war. — Richard Beeston

The Great War In Africa 1914 — 1918
Farwell, Byron. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1986. D575 .F37
"As [Farwell] so artfully reconstructs it, the African front comprised a series of conflicts full of schemes and maneuvers and heroics and disasters, as the Allies sought to conquer four German colonies in the region while contending as well with other problems caused by the inhospitable climate and geography and by the presence of winged pests. History buffs, especially military, will savor every episode on every page. — Booklist

Six Months In 1945
Dobbs, Michael, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, D749 .D63 2012
Six Months in 1945 brilliantly captures this momentous historical turning point, chronicling the geopolitical twists behind the fall of the Iron Curtain, while illuminating the aims and personalities of larger-than-life political giants. It is a vividly rendered story of individual and national interests in fierce competition at a seminal moment in history. – Publisher

Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath
Toland, John. Doubleday Books, New York, 1982. D767.92 .T63 1992
One of several views on the events of December 7, 1941

The Rising Sun: The Decline & Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–45
Toland, John. Random House, Inc., New York, 1970. D767.T58
….quite possibly the most readable, yet informative account of the Pacific war. — Chicago Sun–Times

Race for Empire: Koreans as Japanese and Japanese as Americans during World War II
Fujitani, Takashi. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2011. D769.8.A6
This is a masterful study. . . . An important and brave contribution to the fields of Japanese, Korean, Japanese American, and transnational histories. — Emily Anderson, Asian Studies Review

A History of the English–Speaking Peoples
Churchhill, Winston. Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1956. DA16 .C47
A four–volume history of the British Empire from the Roman invasions to the death of Queen Victoria and its influence upon the other English speaking peoples of the world.

King Edward III
Packe, Michael St. John . Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston, 1983. DA233 .P33
King Edward III ruled for fifty years. Under his genial splendor, the fractious wilderness inherited from his murdered father became transformed into an English nation. It was a reign outstandingly rich in dramatic events and sometimes violent in its contrasts. – Publisher

The Wars of the Roses: A Concise History
Charles Derek Ross. Thames and Hudson, London, 1976. DA250.R76
A concise illustrated history of struggle of the Houses of Lancaster and York for the English Crown in the 15th Century

God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot
Alice Hogge. Harper Collins, New York, 2009. DA392.H64
Alice Hogge follows "God's secret agents" from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys and lonely lives in hiding, to, ultimately, the gallows. She offers a remarkable true account of faith, duty, intolerance, and martyrdom — the unforgettable story of men who would die for a cause undone by men who would kill for it. Publisher

Lords of the Desert: Britain's Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East
Barr, James. Simon & Schuster, New York, 2018. DA47.9 .M628 B37 2018
Reminding us that the Middle East has always served as the arena for great power conflict, this is the tale of an internecine struggle in which Britain would discover that her most formidable rival was the ally she had assumed would be her closest friend. — Publisher

A Genius For War: The German Army and General Staff, 1807–1945
Dupuy, Trevor N.. Prentice–Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2002. DD103 .D86
This is a lively contribution to an inexhaustible subject.... Kirkus Review

Iron and blood : a military history of the German-speaking peoples since 1500
Wilson, Peter H. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 2023. DD175 .W55 2022
Oxford historian Wilson (The Thirty Years War) delivers an encyclopedic survey of the “German way of war” as it developed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from the 16th century to the present day. — Publishers Weekly

A People's Tragedy
Orlando Figes. Penquin Books, New York, 1998. DK260.F54
A brilliant history of the Russian Revolution from the onset of the revolutionary crisis to the period when the basic institutions of the Stalinist regime were in place. – Kirkus Review

The Poisoned Well: Empire and its Legacy in the Middle East
Hardy, Roger. Oxford University Press, USA, New York, 2016. DS62.8 .H37 2017
Looks at how Western imperialism shaped 10 states in the Middle East and led to today's conflicts — Publisher

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present
Oren, Michael B.. W. W. Norton Company, New York, 2007. DS63.2.U5054
Hugely ambitious, drawing on hundreds of original sources to create a finely balanced overview of this enormously complex subject.—Max Rodenbeck , New York Times Book Review

A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East
Barr, James. Simon & Schuster, London, 2012. DS63.B33
A carefully constructed chronicle of a shameful imperialist carve–up. Kirkus Review

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East
Fromkin, David. Owl Books, New York, 2001. DS63.G7
Of the vast array of books on the region, none is more relevant than Fromkin's sweeping epic. Richard Holbrooke

Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s)
Fujitani, Takashi. Duke University Press, Durham, NC, 2001. DS777.53 P44
A groundbreaking and critical intervention into debates about war memory in the Asia-Pacific region. - Publisher

Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
Harries, Meirion and Susie. Random House, Inc., New York, 1991. DS838.7.H37
A fine history that analyzes the military legacy of the Imperial Japanese Army and assesses moral responsibility for its excesses. - Kirkus Review

The Conquest of Morocco
Porch, Douglas, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, DT324.p6
The conquest of Morocco was a great game--a picaresque war of modern times . . . Porch has brought it all back, including the Camel Corps and the never-never land of Sidi Bararni. Throw in von Sternberg and Dietrich-Charles Boyer, too-and what a movie it might have made. — The Boston Globe

The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
Scheidel, Walter. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2017. HM821 .S235 2017
Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that it never dies peacefully. Publisher

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors
Wade, Nicholas. Penguin Press, New York, 2007. GN281 .W33 2006
In his groundbreaking Before the Dawn, Wade reveals humanity's origins as never before-a journey made possible only recently by genetic science.... Publisher

Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
King, Charles. Doubleday Books, New York , 2019. GN308.3.U6 K55
This superb narrative of debunking scientists provides timely reading for our "great–again" era. Kirkus Review

A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History
Wade, Nicholas. Penguin Press, New York, 2014. GN365.9 .W33 2014
A freethinking and well-considered examination of the evidence “that human evolution is recent, copious, and regional.” – Kirkus Review

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed
Cline, Eric H.. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2014. GN778.25
Winner of the 2014 Award for the Best Popular Book, American Schools of Oriental Research

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
Scott, James C.. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2017. GN799.A4 S285 2017
We used to think moving on from a hunter–gatherer lifestyle meant improvement. Not any more, argues this excellent study of the earliest states — The Guardian

After 1177 B.C.
Cline, Eric H., Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, GN780.25 .C55 2024
Eric Cline tells the story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed – Publisher

A Brief History of Secret Societies
David B. Barrett. Constable &Robinson, London, 2007. HS125 .B36 2007
A Brief History of Secret Societies examines the significant hidden power wielded by clandestine organisations from ancient times right up to the present day. Publisher

Freedom An Unruly History
De Dijn, Annelien, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, JC585.D4865
At a time when the very survival of both freedom and democracy seems uncertain, books like this are more important the ever. -- The Nation

The States of the Earth
Meziane, Mohamed Amer, Verso Books, New York, JV105 .A6713 2024
Mohamed Amer Meziane's breathtaking analysis of the making of fossil states opens to a new genre of history writing where the very layers of earth's riches are at its center. – Ann Laura Stoler

The War of The World: Twentieth–Century Conflict and The Descent of The West
Ferguson, Niall. Penquin Press, New York, 2006. JZ6385 .F47 2006
Historian Fergusson provides a revolutionary reinterpretation of the modern era that resolves its central paradox: why unprecedented progress coincided with unprecedented violence, and why the seeming triumph of the West bore the seeds of its undoing.

Climate chaos : lessons on survival from our ancestors
Fagan, Brian & Durrani, Nadia. Public Affairs, New York, 2021. QC884.2.C5 F34
Complete with maps and illustrations, this wide-ranging historical survey is international in scope, while remaining accessible. A title for every reader, no matter their academic background. – Library Journal

The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization
Fagan, Brian. Basic Books, New York, 2005. QC981.8.C5F34
A fascinating history of climate shifts over the past 20000 years – Ecologist

The great warming : climate change and the rise and fall of civilizations
Fagan, Brian. Bloomsbury Press, New York, 2008. QC981.8 G56F34
Superbly integrating the human and climatological past, Fagan's expertise wears easily in a fine popular treatment relevant to contemporary debate about climate. – Booklist

Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate
Ruddiman, William F.. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2005. QC981 .R763 2005
Phi Beta Kappa science award, 2006

The Little Ice Age
Brian Fagan. Basic Books, New York, 2009. QC989.A1 F34
A compelling subject passably treated by prolific archaeology author Fagan – Kirkus Review

Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization
Manning, Richard. North Point Press, New York, 2005. S419 .M26 2004
Richard Manning's important new book is radical in the very best sense, taking agriculture by the roots to make a bracing case that unless we manage to tame this environmental juggernaut it will ruin our health and the health of the planet. — Michael Pollan

An Instance of Treason: Ozaki Hotsumi and the Sorge Spy Ring
Johnson, Chalmers. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1990. UB271.R92 O93
A detailed account of the Soviet spy ring in Japan that proved critical in the Soviet defeat of the German invasion. Chalmers Johnson is one of the giants of 20th century Asian studies.