• The best books on Austria - Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends by Lonnie Johnson
  • The best books on Austria - The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent by John Stoye
  • The best books on Austria - Maria Theresa by Edward Crankshaw
  • The best books on Austria - Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World by Richard Cockett
  • The best books on Austria - The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil
  • The best books on Austria - The Capuchin Crypt (aka The Emperor's Tomb) by Joseph Roth

The best books on Austria, recommended by Nicholas Parsons

Today, the Republic of Austria is a small country in Central Europe, but for centuries, it was the fulcrum of events going on in Europe, as the Habsburgs led the Holy Roman Empire—and later the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire—until it all fell apart after World War I. Nicholas Parsons, author of the excellent The Shortest History of Austria, introduces us to books and novels that bring to life the history of a political, intellectual, and cultural powerhouse.

  • The best books on Modern Greek History - Freedom and Death by Nikos Kazantzakis
  • The best books on Modern Greek History - Che Committed Suicide by Petros Markaris
  • The best books on Modern Greek History - That Greece Might Still Be Free by William St Clair
  • The best books on Modern Greek History - A Concise History of Greece by Richard Clogg
  • The best books on Modern Greek History - Byron's War: Romantic Rebellion, Greek Revolution by Roderick Beaton

The best books on Modern Greek History, recommended by Yanni Kotsonis

If you’re heading to Greece this summer, it might be worth learning more about the modern history of the country you’re visiting. Yanni Kotsonis, a professor of history at NYU and author of The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism, recommends a variety of books to get you started, from a short history of Greece to a novel by one of the country’s greatest writers.

  • The best books on The Lessons of History - On History by Howard Zinn
  • The best books on The Lessons of History - Why History Matters by John Tosh
  • The best books on The Lessons of History - The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal
  • The best books on The Lessons of History - Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin
  • The best books on The Lessons of History - Anarchy in Action by Colin Ward

The best books on The Lessons of History, recommended by Roman Krznaric

History is too complex to be an easy guide for navigating the present, but that doesn’t mean the experience of those who came before can’t shed valuable insights into our current dilemmas. In his latest book, History for Tomorrow, social philosopher Roman Krznaric looks at ten crises currently facing the world and how lessons from the past might be able to help.

  • The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2024 Duff Cooper Prize - The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748–1789 by Robert Darnton
  • The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2024 Duff Cooper Prize - France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain by Julian Jackson
  • The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2024 Duff Cooper Prize - Monet: The Restless Vision by Jackie Wullschläger
  • The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2024 Duff Cooper Prize - Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848-1849 by Christopher Clark
  • The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2024 Duff Cooper Prize - Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das

The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2024 Duff Cooper Prize, recommended by Susan Brigden

If you’re looking for nonfiction with a literary sensibility and a historical bent, the books highlighted by the annual Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize are a great place to start. British historian Susan Brigden, author of Thomas Wyatt: The Heart’s Forest and one of the prize’s judges, talks us through the 2024 shortlist — from war and revolution to the splendours of Mughal India and Monet’s garden at Giverny.

  • The best books on Modern Indian History - A Concise History of Modern India by Barbara Metcalf & Thomas Metcalf
  • The best books on Modern Indian History - India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha
  • The best books on Modern Indian History - A Part Apart: The Life and Thought of B. R. Ambedkar by Ashok Gopal
  • The best books on Modern Indian History - Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum by Katherine Boo
  • The best books on Modern Indian History - Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta

The best books on Modern Indian History, recommended by Dinyar Patel

Whether we're thinking about democracy versus authoritarianism, corruption versus good governance, or rich versus poor, there is a lot we can learn from India's recent history, says Dinyar Patel, a historian at SPJIMR in Mumbai. He talks us through some good books on the modern history of a country that has long been the world's largest democracy and is now its most populous country.

  • The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize - The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe by James Belich
  • The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize - Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945 by Halik Kochanski
  • The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize - Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers by Emma Smith
  • The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize - The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British Empire by Henrietta Harrison
  • The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize - African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History by Hakim Adi
  • The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize - Vagabonds by Oskar Jensen

The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize, recommended by Sudhir Hazareesingh

The Wolfson History Prize is the UK’s most prestigious history book prize. The judges, all professional historians, pick out books that combine excellence in research with readability. Oxford University historian Sudhir Hazareesingh, one of the Wolfson judges and author of Black Spartacus, talks us through the six terrific books that made the 2023 shortlist, from the Black Death and its critical impact on economic development to the magic of our relationship with books.