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Are there any good books which are both accurate and engaging which talk about human world history? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Any era is welcome but I'm especially interested in modern history.

I know that having just one book which talks about the history of the whole world would be difficult but let's see if you guys know something (series are welcomed suggestions too).

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything was a fun read. And concise. Fast review here ruins nothing.

For US history, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States has been excellent. I'm 94% of the way through. I love that this book has spawned an entire education project.

I'm due a re-read of Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. It's not strictly a historical account, but it certainly casts a different light on late 20th c. and early 21st c. history.

I would be remiss if I did not include the 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones. This was one of the most important reads of my last 10 years. Again, not strictly history, but a lens on history.

Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan was also excellent, about the peace conference that ended the Great War.

If you're really on about the period in Europe between 1945 and 2005, though, I have to recommend Postwar by Tony Judt.

Maybe not where you want to start, but I ended up loving David Graeber and David Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything.