History Books

The best stories from history lie beyond the margins of textbooks, says Mike Dash. He tells us about five extraordinary tales from the past, from visions of the Virgin Mary to the golden age of American con artistry.

From the most brutal siege of World War I to the renewed significance of an ideology many of us had dismissed as defunct, 2019 was a good year for traditional history books on big themes. Paul Lay, editor of History Today, talks us through his picks of the best history books of the year.

Gandhi's peaceful resistance to British rule changed India and inspired freedom movements around the globe. But as well as being an inspiring leader, Gandhi was also a human being. Ramachandra Guha, author of a new two-part biography of Gandhi, introduces us to books that give a fuller picture of the man who came to be known as 'Mahatma' Gandhi.

We assume that many of our bodily functions—sleeping and smiling, for example—are 'natural' and culturally invariant. But their characteristics and expression are heavily influenced by their cultural milieu. Professor Karen Harvey explains how attitudes to the body in the 18th century were radically rethought in the light of changing scientific and cultural views of its nature and function.

While widely regarded as the world's worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl’s legacy remains fiercely contested, with death tolls ranging from 31 to 200,000. MIT historian Kate Brown, who has spent years in the Chernobyl archives, picks the best books on the disaster, compares its impact with atomic bomb testing, and argues for more research into low-dose radiation exposure

Historian Eric Foner chooses five books illustrating how concepts of American liberalism have changed over the past 50 years, and about the tension that lies at the heart of liberalism today.

What kind of books should we read to get a broader sense of history? Peter Frankopan,  professor of global history at Oxford University, talks us through the books that inspired him.

Every year the Wolfson History Prize sets out to pick the very best history books written in the past year. Historian and Wolfson prize judge, Diarmaid MacCulloch, talks us through the wonderful books that made the 2019 shortlist: history books that are both great reads and serious scholarship.

Racism is not innate but emerges under special conditions, says the King's College professor and author of the sweeping history Racisms: From the Crusades to the Twentieth Century. He chooses five books that inspired him.

Ancient history was a man’s world – but women were considered closer to the gods. The historian and TV presenter Bettany Hughes reveals the secrets of Athenian priestesses, Byzantine empresses and Stone Age fertility goddesses.