In the 20th century, Germany suffered defeat in two world wars and withstood two kinds of dictatorship. Yet today it is Europe’s strongest economy. Hester Vaizey, fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and author of Born in the GDR, selects five brilliant books on a tumultuous century.

There are few 18th century French aristocrats with as much name recognition as the Marquis de Sade. His life was an eventful one and his books remain shocking. Will McMorran, Sade’s translator, reflects on the man, his life and his literary works. He recommends the best books by or about the Marquis de Sade.

Ancient Greece’s legacy can be seen all around us, including in our political system — but many of us don’t know that much about it. Fortunately, we have someone who has devoted his life to studying this remote time and place to give us a reading list. Chris Pelling, Emeritus Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, recommends his top five books on Ancient Greece.

If you’re going to look at the past, you have to understand the people who were living there and see the world through their eyes, says historian and Renaissance specialist Kenneth Bartlett. He explains that while Machiavelli is much misunderstood and maligned, Donald Trump is a Machiavellian in the truest sense of the word. He picks the best books of the Italian Renaissance.

True crime can be all too easily chalked up as a genre of grisly murders and cheap, voyeuristic thrills—but to do so would be to overlook compelling evidence to the contrary. David Grann, whose new book revisits long-forgotten, or concealed, crimes in the Osage community of Oklahoma, raises the bar with examples rich in historical discovery, literary merit and the kind of political inquiry these murky times are calling for

The Best Books to Read on Late Antiquity — a Five Books List

Heroes are universal to human culture and, in Christian culture, they manifested themselves as saints. Historian Simon Yarrow recommends the best books to understand the saints, from their widespread appearance in late antiquity to their continuing influence in modern America.

Churchill hailed the Allied victory at the Battle of El Alamein as “the end of the beginning” for Hitler in World War II. But in that very same speech, he downplayed its significance. Historian Simon Ball separates clichés from facts and chooses the best of the vast number of books written about El Alamein, the Desert War and World War II in general.

The Vikings discovered America and traded slaves in Baghdad. They sometimes buried their dead in ships, but probably did not burn them. And they did not wear horned helmets. Historian Eleanor Barraclough separates myth from reality and recommends books on the medieval Norse pillagers who have fascinated everyone from Hollywood to Hitler.

The failure of the Stuarts to win back the English or Scottish throne changed the course of history, enabling the buildup of a highly centralized British state and, possibly, America’s war for independence. Murray Pittock chooses the best books on Jacobitism, the 18th century phenomenon that nearly overthrew the British government.

How can one get to grips with a subject as huge as the history of Christianity, a 3000 year-old religion with adherents in every corner of the globe? The popular and distinguished Oxford historian, Diarmaid MacCulloch, recommends books that will help you make a start.

Which are the best books on American history? Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the world’s largest museum devoted to telling the story of America, chooses five standout books in a crowded field.

The term ‘eugenics’ elicits queasiness amongst those who associate it with the Nazis. But Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Margaret Sanger were among its many proponents in the interwar period. Why? Philippa Levine, professor of history at the University of Texas, explains.

A century-and-a-half ago the Swiss art historian, Jacob Burckhardt, popularized the idea of a ‘Renaissance’ in 14th century Italy. For most people, the term still conjures up works of art by the likes of Michelangelo or Leonardo. But there is much, much more to it than that. Professor of Renaissance studies, Jerry Brotton, picks the best books to read for a more complete understanding of the Renaissance.

Few people have had their ideas reinvented as many times as the German intellectual and political activist, Karl Marx. Professor of political theory, Terrell Carver, takes us through the most influential books, in English, about Marx, Marxism and his friend, publicist and financial backer, Friedrich Engels.

A “powerful and aggravating absence of consensus” came to define the Irish political experience, says the historian Richard Bourke. Here he picks the best books for gaining a range of perspectives on Irish history, singling out James Joyce as offering insight into the divergence of nationalist opinion.

The professor of religion explains how medieval Jews and Christians collaborated. He recommends five books that have changed the way we look at medieval art.

He was one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century, but a people person with little interest in publishing books. Henry Hardy, the editor who helped publish many of them, chooses the best books by (and one about) Isaiah Berlin.

The historian, whose latest book explores the destructive relationship between Marguerite de Valois and her mother Catherine de’ Medici, explores pivotal mother-daughter relationships in five memoirs.

The historian defines and discusses micro-history, choosing five books that use historical minutiae to answer big questions about the past.

The historian argues London is an intrinsically addictive city. He charts its history through its dependencies on chocolate, tobacco, coffee, tea, and LSD.

More than 100 years after the Armenian genocide, author Tom de Waal chooses books that sidestep the politics and bring us back to the human story. He picks the best memoirs of the Armenian genocide.

Americans remember Reagan fondly, but what did the Gipper really stand for? The historian chooses the best books on Ronald Reagan and his time.

The Professor of History outlines how our understanding of deceit has changed: from a devilish sin in the Middle Ages, to a social necessity in the Enlightenment

The acting director of the Writing Program at Boston University argues that cowardice can still be part of our ethical vocabulary, but that we must learn from history's mistaken identification of the traumatised as cowards.

What are the best books on the Enlightenment? Jonathan Israel, the leading historian of early modern Europe, recommends his top five.

William Wordsworth probably did not get his greatest creative impetus from solitude, but from his extremely close relationship with his sister, suggests Oxford scholar Lucy Newlyn

History is not about understanding the past for the sake of it, it's about understanding human nature, says the historian and novelist

The friend and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr, who contributed to the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, tells us how great speeches come about and what they can mean.

The historian and biographer of London picks five books that shine a light on parts of this vast, complex and confusing city where, he says, pathos and pantomime meet

The author of Into the Silence tells us that the consequences of the Great War were much more than merely political. He says the war had a noticeable impact on exploration, arts and literature, and modernity itself

The best presidential biographies contain insights into both the personal and the political, says the historian HW Brands. He chooses the best biographies of some of the greatest American presidents.

The Pulitzer prize-winning history professor tells us how the Constitution came to be written and ratified and explains why, after more than 200 years, Americans are still so deeply wedded to it.

Cultural and philosophical changes that occurred in late antiquity are essential to our understanding of the world today, but few us know much about that period. Historian Robin Lane Fox recommends the best books to read to get a good sense of late antiquity.

When, in 1688, William of Orange came from Holland to take the English throne was it a foreign invasion or a revolution from within? Yale historian, Steven Pincus, talks us through the conflicting views on the Glorious Revolution and argues for new perspective.

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.

The rise of China means the study of its history is suddenly in vogue. But, says the historian, there’s as much to learn, if not more, from looking at states that have disappeared

As the Olympics open, David Runciman looks back at the two previous times that the Games have been staged in London and finds that the thrift of today looks modest compared with austerities of the past

The Belle Epoque combined a preoccupation with the noblesse of the old regime with the seeds for modernism, says the Oxford professor of history. She picks the best books on a golden period in France before the outbreak of World War I.

The freedom to pick up a book is something we take almost for granted today but women readers have faced all manner of obstacles throughout history, as the author of The Woman Reader explains

The Harvard professor and Pulitzer prize-winning historian recommends reading on three centuries of empire, conflict and slave trading between the Americas, Europe and Africa

The scholar of language tells us about the progress of the spoken word from 3000 BC to today, how two languages disappear every month, and the 50,000-word novel written without using the letter “e”

We can learn about the past not just through what was written but how it was read. The historian of books tells us about reading aloud in Roman times, Gutenberg-era marginalia, and Middle Age solutions to information overload

The author of The Pursuit of the Nazi Mind tells us what we can learn from attempts to use psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis to understand Nazism

Many thought that 9/11 was the start of an Al-Qaeda assault on the West, but it turned out to be Bin Laden’s Pearl Harbor – a victory that led to strategic defeat – says one of the few reporters who met the Saudi-born militant

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

The historian and author pilots us through a century of aviation, from the excitement that greeted the first airplanes to the transformative role of World War II.

The historian prescribes reading on medical practices of the past, from treatments of madness and non-existent disease, to drug use and the origins of hypochondria

The 19th century opium war marked the clash of the world’s great empires of the age – Britain and China. The historian says its legacy of Chinese humiliation is still felt keenly in Beijing