History for Adults

This isn't some sketchy R-rated section for those 18 and over. The heading merely indicates that these aren't titles of a specifically "educational" nature, in the sense that they'd fit well into a K-8 curriculum. That said, you probably don't want your kiddos reading Intellectuals by Paul Johnson.

We believe it's important for parents to know at least as much history as their children, especially during a child's formative years, and especially especially if you're teaching him or her at home. This isn't just so you can answer questions more easily—how can we impart a sense of the trajectory of the human story to our kids if we have a truncated or incomplete view ourselves?

A lot of the books here aren't "comprehensive" in the sense that they span continents and epochs. Many of them are, but the point isn't to give you the whole picture, but to fill in gaps and make connections. Plus, history is just plain interesting, and while it's still beneficial, reading about the Chinese dynasties or the first overland railroad is as fun as it is instructive.

These aren't primarily "literary" histories. Many excellent writers are represented, but most of them are first and foremost professional historians, and they approach their subjects as academics and scholars rather than artists. Sadly, the two have grown increasingly apart since the days of men like Hakluyt and the Venerable Bede.

Have fun browsing our collection. Its construction has been less intentional on our part than that of many other categories, but we haven't chosen anything that looks boring, weighted too heavily against (at the least) a fairly conservative worldview, or treats topics best unconsidered. While we specifically designate "adults" as the prime beneficiaries of this section, many high school students would be just as comfortable and have just as much fun here. If you think learning shouldn't be fun, we could surely find you some really dreary titles if you ask nicely.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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188 Items found Print
Active Filters: 11th grade (Ages 16-17)
1066: The Year of the Conquest
by David Howarth
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.00
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.99
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
African Kingdoms
Great Ages of Man
by Basil Davidson
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Enlightenment
Great Ages of Man
by Peter Gay
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Exploration
Great Ages of Man
by John R. Hale
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Faith
Great Ages of Man
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Faith
Story of Civilization IV
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Age of Kings
Great Ages of Man
by Charles Blitzer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Louis XIV
Story of Civilization VIII
by Will & Ariel Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Age of Progress
by S. C. Burchell
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Reason Begins
Story of Civilization VII
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Age of Religious Wars
by Richard S. Dunn
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
America the Beautiful
by Ben Carson with Candy Carson
from Zondervan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Ancient America
Great Ages of Man
by Jonathan Norton Leonard
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Ancient China
Great Ages of Man
by Edward H. Schafer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Ancient Egypt
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Assassins
by Bernard Lewis
from The Folio Society
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Autobiography of Charles G. Finney
by Charles G. Finney
from Bethany House
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose, Foreword by Tom Hanks
25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$19.99
Barbarian Europe
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Battle Cry of Freedom
Oxford History of the United States
by James M. McPherson
from Oxford University
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$28.99
Battle for the Falklands
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
for 9th grade-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Berlin Diary
from Open Road Integrated Media
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Big Burn
by Timothy Egan
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Birth of the Modern
by Paul Johnson
from HarperCollins
Social Commentary for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00
Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Byzantium
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Caesar and Christ
Story of Civilization III
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Centennial History of the Civil War - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
from Konecky & Konecky
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Christ in the Camp
by J. William Jones
from Sprinkle Publications
Historical Reference for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Christopher Columbus and His Legacy
Opposing Viewpoints Series
by Mary Ellen Jones, Editor
from Greenhaven Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Citizen Soldiers
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$21.99
Civil War: 1850-1895
American History by Era Volume 5
by Auriana Ojeda, book editor
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
by Shelby Foote
1st Vintage Books Ed from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$88.00
Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance
by John R. Hale
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Classical Greece
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Confederate War
by Gary W. Gallagher
from Harvard University Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cradle of Civilization
by Samuel Noah Kramer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Crusades
by Hilaire Belloc
1992 Printing from Tan Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Crusades
by Michael Paine
from Chartwell Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Czech Reader
by Jan Bazant, Nina Bazantova, and Frances Starn, editors
from Duke University Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
D-Day: June 6, 1944
by Stephen E. Ambrose
from Touchstone
for 9th-Adult
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
Daily Life in Johnson's London
by Richard B. Schwartz
1st edition
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Dante
Penguin Lives
by R.W.B. Lewis
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Daughter of Auschwitz
by Tova Friedman and Malcolm Brabant
from Hanover Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
Debunking Howard Zinn
by Mary Grabar
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$16.00
Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter, edited and introduced by Marc Raeff
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$26.00
Distant Mirror
by Barbara W. Tuchman
from Ballantine Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$20.00
Early Islam
Great Ages of Man
by Desmond Stewart
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Early Japan
Great Ages of Man
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Easy Company Soldier
by Sgt. Don Malarkey
from St. Martin's Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Egyptian Religion
by Sir Wallis Budge
from G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Eighteenth Century Europe
by Isser Woloch
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
End of a Berlin Diary
from Open Road Integrated Media
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Everyday Life in the Viking Age
by Jacqueline Simpson, drawings by Eva Wilson
from Dorset Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Flags of Our Fathers
by James Bradley & Ron Powers
from Bantam Books
for 11th-Adult
in WWII: Pacific Theater (Location: HISA-20WW2P)
Flushed
from Atria Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Flyboys
by James Bradley
2nd edition from Back Bay Books
for 10th grade-adult
in World War II (1939-1945) (Location: HISA-20WW2)
Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Founding Brothers
by Joseph J. Ellis
from Vintage Classics
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
From a Name to a Number
by Alter Wiener
from Authorhouse
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.40 (1 in stock)
Galileo's Daughter
by Dava Sobel
from Penguin Putnam
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Gandhi and India
by Gianni Sofri, translated by Janet Sethre Paxia
from Interlink Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Ghost Map
by Steven Johnson
from Riverhead Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Gilded Age: A History in Documents
Pages From History
by Janette Thomas Greenwood
from Oxford University
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Girl in the Picture
by Denise Chong
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Glory and the Dream - Volume 1
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Glory and the Dream - Volume 2
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Glory Road
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
God's Battalions
by Rodney Stark
Reprint from HarperOne
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.99
Grant Moves South
by Bruce Catton
from Back Bay Books
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Great Bridge
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.00
Great Crash: 1929
by John Kenneth Galbraith
from Mariner Books
for 10th-Adult
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$13.59
Higher Call
by Adam Makos with Larry Alexander
from Dutton Caliber
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$22.00 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Historic India
Great Ages of Man
by Lucille Schulberg
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
History of the American People
by Paul Johnson
from HarperCollins
for 11th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$22.99 $14.00 (1 in stock)
History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume 1
by Winston S. Churchill
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 7th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
History of the Twentieth Century
by Martin Gilbert
Reprint from William Morrow & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$23.99
History of the World in 6 Glasses
by Tom Standage
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.99
Home: A Short History of an Idea
by Witold Rybczynski
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in Houses & Homes (Location: HISMC-HH)
$16.00
How We Got to Now
by Steven Johnson
from Riverhead Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Imperial Rome
Great Ages of Man
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Indians of the Woodlands
by George E. Hyde
from University of Oklahoma Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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