• The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist - Out of China: How the Chinese Ended the Era of Western Domination by Robert Bickers
  • The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist - The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris
  • The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist - A Deadly Legacy: German Jews and the Great War by Tim Grady
  • The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist - Black Tudors: The Untold Story by Miranda Kaufmann
  • The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist - Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation by Peter Marshall
  • The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist - Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea by Jan Rüger

The Best History Books: the 2018 Wolfson Prize shortlist, recommended by Carole Hillenbrand

Which were the best history books published this past year? Each year, the UK’s Wolfson Prize tries to sort through the hundreds of history books that are published to find outstanding books that are both important and readable. Wolfson Prize judge Carole Hillenbrand introduces the six books that made 2018 shortlist.

  • The best books on The Reformation - Christianity In The West 1400-1700 by John Bossy
  • The best books on The Reformation - Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe by Brad Gregory
  • The best books on The Reformation - Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper
  • The best books on The Reformation - The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village by Eamon Duffy
  • The best books on The Reformation - For The Sake Of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation by R W Scribner

The best books on The Reformation, recommended by Peter Marshall

On October 31st 1517, Martin Luther, an unknown friar in an obscure town in eastern Germany may or may not have posted a list of complaints to the door of his local church. His actions would lead to what was later called ‘the Reformation’ — a grisly period in European history that nonetheless paved the way for a more tolerant and pluralistic society. Peter Marshall, one of the period’s leading scholars, talks us through the best books on the Reformation.